Detailed Explanation of Efficient Grafting Techniques for Carambola (Starfruit) Seedlings

Carambola is a fruit native to China. When planting, many fruit growers often use grafting methods to cultivate plants in order to improve the plants' disease resistance and increase yield, thereby increasing income. So how do you graft carambola seedlings? Attached is an introduction to efficient grafting techniques!

1. Selecting the Rootstock

To graft good saplings, there must be certain standards for selecting the rootstock. The rootstock seedling must be more than 30cm tall, and the stem must be more than 0.7cm thick. In addition, when cultivating rootstock seedlings for grafting, management must be strengthened, especially regarding water and fertilizer, loosening the soil and weeding, pests and diseases, and pruning. Through these processes, the rootstock seedlings grow neatly and uniformly, making them top-grade rootstock seedlings.

2. Selecting the Scion

Just like rootstock selection, the scion also has strict selection standards. It should be cut from a mother plant with good variety characteristics, strong growth, high and stable yield, and strong resistance to pests and diseases. The scion branches cut should be current-year or one-year-old branches about 0.5cm thick from the sunny side of the canopy, cut to about 30-50cm, and the branches should carry green leaves and buds, which is conducive to successful grafting. After cutting, promptly remove the compound leaves and tender shoots, then cut the long branches into two sections, wrap them well in a wet towel, and place them in a cool place. It is best to graft within 48 hours, otherwise the grafting will fail.

3. Grafting Time

Carambola is a tropical and subtropical fruit and prefers a mild climate environment. Apart from growing extremely slowly between winter and spring grafting, it grows continuously the rest of the time, so the grafting period is extremely long; grafting can be done from late spring to late autumn. Experiments have proven that in the extremely high-temperature environment of the south, the survival rate is highest when grafting in March-April, while during May-October the survival rate is between 70-80%. When grafting, try to avoid sunny weather; cloudy and rainy weather or the morning of a clear day is best, while grafting at noon under high temperatures results in an extremely low survival rate.

4. Grafting Methods

There are many grafting methods for carambola, but the most commonly used is single-bud cut grafting. First prepare the tools used for grafting, then cut off the rootstock seedling at 25cm above the ground, and then begin whittling the scion. The specific method is: face the base of the scion outward, press the left index finger tightly against it, cut a 40-50 degree slant about 1-2cm below the bud, then remove the epidermis on the back side of the cut surface, then place the whittled scions in a bud dish containing clean water. After that, cut the rootstock: at the smooth part after cutting, cut vertically downward with a knife, cutting a 40-50 degree cut opening the same as the scion, then join the scion closely to the cut opening, and wrap it tightly with plastic film. In this way, the grafting is complete. After grafting, check promptly; if grafting failure is found, re-graft in time. When the grafted plant succeeds and begins to sprout, promptly pierce the film to let the buds extend and grow.

The above is the carambola grafting technique introduced by Tuliu.com. The content about carambola grafting is introduced here. To learn more, please follow Tuliu.com.