Best Time to Graft a Pomelo Tree, How to Do It, and Whether It Can Be Grafted onto a Mandarin Orange Tree

The pomelo tree is also known as “wendan,” “luan,” and “pao.” Its fruit is eaten fresh or processed, and aromatic oil can be extracted from its flowers, leaves, and peel. It is widely cultivated in southern regions. So when is the best time to graft a pomelo tree? How do you graft it? Can it be grafted onto a mandarin orange tree?

When is the best time to graft a pomelo tree?

Pomelo trees can be cleft-grafted before the spring flush buds or at the start of bud break (around the first to middle ten days of March, 1-3 weeks before this variety buds out), side-grafted in May-June, or bud-grafted from mid-September to early October.

How do you graft a pomelo tree?

1. The rootstock should be well grown. Seedling rootstock can be used, or a winter sweet (Chimonanthus praecox) stump dug from the hills; after a year of care, once it has survived and is growing vigorously, bud-graft it the following year.

2. The best time for bud grafting is from late May to the end of August, because after late May the lower part of the new shoots of that year has already become woody and the bark slips well; this is also the peak growing season for winter sweet, so the survival rate of bud grafting is relatively high.

3. Select good buds. Generally, bud grafting of flowering shrubs uses new buds on the current year's growth shoots, but for winter sweet bud grafting you should choose latent buds on the previous year's growth shoots and use the “T”-shaped bud grafting method; the procedure is the same as other “T”-shaped grafting methods. Twenty days after the graft takes, the latent buds begin to swell; when 2-3 leaves have grown, remove the tying string and strengthen care, being careful that strong winds do not break them. If grafted before early June, the grafted plant can grow to 50 cm to 65 cm in the same year, and some can bloom in winter; if grafted after mid-June, most can sprout in the same year and grow to 15-30 cm, while a few buds, after surviving, will not sprout until the following spring, but they grow very vigorously and, with proper protection, can reach about 1 m the following year and bloom abundantly in winter. Winter sweet grafting must use latent buds on the previous year's growth shoots; this is the key to successful winter sweet bud grafting.

4. When bud grafting with latent buds, there is another point to note: each winter after the winter sweet flowers have finished blooming, when pruning and shaping, deliberately leave some vigorously growing branches to serve as material for summer bud grafting; without this preparation, it will be very difficult to find suitable latent buds for bud grafting when the time comes.

Can a pomelo tree be grafted onto a mandarin orange tree?

1. Pomelo trees cannot be grafted with citrus varieties; the compatibility is poor, and even if the graft survives, the later growth will be poor and the quality of the fruit produced will be affected; in fact, it generally will not even reach the fruiting stage! Pomelo can only be grafted with pomelo types or lemon types, either is fine!

2. Pomelo trees can be grafted using mandarin orange, lemon, orange, trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata), and similar trees as rootstock. Generally, branch grafting is done after spring bud break, and bud grafting in autumn. First, sour pomelo should be chosen as the rootstock; second, a high-quality pomelo tree that has already fruited should be used as the scion. Bud grafting is the preferred grafting method, and the grafting season can be spring or autumn.