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The North Coast

I like to use the hole insertion method as a way to graft melons. The main advantages are that it requires no clips and stem sizes can vary greatly between the two plants. However, after lack luster grafting success this season I have changed my technique. I now use the method in the video below. It pertains on how to create the poking tool and the position of the hole.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv8sLfYV60E&list=PLE6CD262AC7E6B19B

This new tool style cuts it's way into the rootstock while the pointed tools must grind and bore it's way. I am thinking that my tool is damaging the tissue in the rootstock and giving me mixed results.

Notes on the tool and method- The flat tip of the tool is as wide as your watermelon stems. Make a line on the tool approx. 3/16" so that you know how far you have inserted the tool and stop just before the line. Cutting the watermelon is a bit more of a challenge, do some practicing. Try not to let the tool poke out the sides of the rootstock. If your watermelon taper is too long you can trim it slightly so that it fits the depth. Grow extra rootstock. Start squash 3 and lagenaria 5 days earlier than melon. A developed rootstock is much easier to work with.

Just received two varieties of commercial lagenaria rootstock to go along with the two varieties of squash. If you are interested send a bubble with 2.07 paid postage to PO Box 127 Bat Cave, NC. 27810. I will send you an assortment. This offer valid thru 5/1/13.

3/26/2013 10:23:07 AM

Muddy Waters

Thanks Nathan!

3/26/2013 6:05:03 PM

Muddy Waters

Looks easier Master then hole insertion.signed grasshopper!

3/26/2013 6:09:19 PM

Bethlehem CT

Nate have you had any problems busting through into the hollow part of the rootstock's stem with that method?

3/27/2013 6:57:11 AM

The North Coast

That is a potential if you poke and insert too deep. The lagenaria that I have been working with have basically a solid stem for about a half inch. Squash may be a bit different but it should still be effective. I remember that AG stems hollow out all the way up to the bottom of the cotyledon and caution should be used when using them.

Fortunately I have never had a watermelon try to send a root down the inside of the stem. Cucumber on the other had can be a real challenge because they start sending out roots almost immediately with the high humidity of the healing conditions.

What is most important is to make the mark on the end of the tool about 3/16" up from the tip. Before I did this I plunged the tool far too deep and it blew out the sides of the rootstock. As you prepare to poke, if your first finger and thumb are positioned under the mid points of the cotyledon you can feel the tool start to poke out the sides. The goal is to stop just when you start to feel the tool and it just starts to poke through. So with a little practice you can see and feel when you get the correct depth.

Other benefits to me are that the watermelon sticks straight up out of the rootstock and not off to the side. This helps to keep the melon from falling out. Also I feel that the vascular system of the two plants are better aligned and there is more contact between the two.

I would have better confidence in the angled technique if I cut the rootstock off and allowed it to wilt a bit like in the U of Arizona video and if I used a metal tool and not wood. I feel that the wood grinds a bit when making the hole.

3/27/2013 9:20:43 AM

The North Coast

Clarification on the previous post. Your poker should not poke out the sides if at all avoidable. If it does poke out the wound will open up much further in the healing process as I am now seeing. At the end of the video mentioned above you can see that when he pushes the melon into the rootstock it pokes out the side. This is not ideal and if you have more rootstock you should try again.

If you look at the stem of the watermelon before it is cut you will see a wider side and a narrower side. Make your cuts on the narrower side, this makes the width of the melon as small as possible. Fashion your tool to this width or slightly smaller.

Also worth mentioning is the moisture level of the soil during the healing process. Typically the rootstocks are transplanted during the process and the soil should be very dry, even more dry than germinating moisture level. Last year the mix I used was moist enough right out of the bag. Failure to keep the moisture low may be one of the reasons the poke outs eventually run lengthwise up and down the stem. While some of the grafts taken where these wounds open up will take, it will reduce your odds. After a few days of misting you can add just a bit of water if needed.

If this method doesn't keep me from loosing a great seed to the unknown I a will give this method a try. It is probably the method Bartoli used. It produces ugly grafts but if it works it works. Also to note in this video is the difference of stem diameters. They vary greatly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiBx_hp8rSY

3/27/2013 2:16:12 PM

Ky

I used this method, and so far the graft is healing good, except a small split in the side of the root stock and part of the graft is sticking out of the root stock, Do you think this will be ok in the long run to still be a viable graft.


Thanks

otis

3/28/2013 9:47:31 AM

Ky

Here are a couple photos of the graft



http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryView.asp?season=2013&grower=59395&action=L

3/28/2013 6:39:00 PM

Muddy Waters

Looks Good Otis!

3/28/2013 7:42:32 PM

Piqua, Ohio

I use the single cot method with 80% taking. I grafted 10 cantaloupes 5 weeks ago, and kept the two most aggressive. They are starting to vine! No grafted watermelons this year I worked up some ground that hasn't been touched in 40 years, but the lopes will be in the same patch as last year. Nate, do you cut the roots off the root stock when grafting? I tried that on half my grafts I dipped em in Jellyfish by Plant Success (thanks WWGG) and the roots went nuts! All 5 plants made it through the healing chamber. I can only give one tip STERILIZE everything, I learned the hard way last year.

3/28/2013 11:30:28 PM

The North Coast

@Otis- usually you try to keep one of the cotyledon leaves on the rootstock. I did try some experimenting with no cots on the roostock and they didn't pull through. The cots feed the rootstock during the process. If yours continues to look the way it does now you will be in good shape.

@Josh- I am going to start some more experimentation soon. I'll try some approaches and maybe some single cots if I can find some clips locally.

There is a good chance that the root structure formed by a rooting hormone will be better than initial root structure. I agree with you. I am going to try that also with my next batch of squash.

Sanitation is everything. I am now beaching the seeds also. Anyone else wonder why we run into fungal issues and the videos you see show guys grafting out in the greenhouse with dirty tools. How do they get away with it...a commercially produced rootstock and a commercially produced watermelon. Over the next few years we are going to have a much better understanding of seed borne diseases and how they lurk in many, many seeds.

3/29/2013 8:45:36 AM

Piqua, Ohio

Nate
I'll send you some clips in exchange for some of your lagenaria seeds. If that's ok I'll mail em monday.

3/29/2013 9:20:39 PM

The North Coast

Sweet...I could get the seeds out right away if you need em quick. Let me know.

3/29/2013 10:24:50 PM

Piqua, Ohio

clips went out today

4/1/2013 10:42:23 PM