Bench Grafting

[Steven J.]

Last night, while I laid awake thinking about figs, I thought I had the most brilliant and unique idea. It turns out it is a thing already. There truly is nothing new under the sun.

It is called bench grafting. To put it simply, you do tour grafting first, and then you try to root the rootstock.

Has anyone ever tried this with figs?

 

[rNexus]

Theoretically it works, but there is not a big enough market for grafted figs to justify doing it that way. Only certain high dollar varieties sell well grafted. The market is entirely different than Persimmons and Paw paws, since both of those must be grafted to replicate the variety in significant numbers. Figs create new trees from sticks..as we know.

So it makes more sense if you are going to graft a high dollar variety that you only have a few nodes of, to graft it to extra large root stock, such as 7 gallon +.

 

[grasshopper]

Grafting on cuttings - I did that in my first season when I didn't have any rootstock. Just to clarify, I have grafted on both rooted and unrooted cuttings.

I think bench grafting usually refers to grafting indoors, on a bench. I can be wrong but that is what I saw/heard from a few videos.

I prefer bench grafting as we have very hot weather here, even early in the season and it can be quite a struggle dealing with swarming mosquitos at the same time you are grafting.

I live in a windy area. I have literally lost the scion (got blown away) while pulling out a piece of tape trying to bind it. Took me over 5 mins to find that scion. Also field grafting requires on your feet thinking as you need to adjust to the surrounding environment.

 

[Steven J.]

Grafting on cuttings - I did that in my first season when I didn't have any rootstock. Just to clarify, I have grafted on both rooted and unrooted cuttings.

I think bench grafting usually refers to grafting indoors, on a bench. I can be wrong but that is what I saw/heard from a few videos.

I prefer bench grafting as we have very hot weather here, even early in the season and it can be quite a struggle dealing with swarming mosquitos at the same time you are grafting.

I live in a windy area. I have literally lost the scion (got blown away) while pulling out a piece of tape trying to bind it. Took me over 5 mins to find that scion. Also field grafting requires on your feet thinking as you need to adjust to the surrounding environment.

Aw man. I don't blame you for grafting indoors. That sounds rough. I am sensitive to mosquito bites, so I get it.
I think you are right. Bench grafting is done in a controlled invironment. Maybe we can still name the scion to cutting technique. How about stick grafting?