T-Budding

This is a method of budding often used on roses, ornamental and fruit trees.

Preparation -

In late autumn (October - November) plant your 1 year old rootstocks. These should be the briar rose Rosa Canina for roses, Malling or Malling Merton for apples (standard trees), Malling Quince A for pears, Mazzard or Gean for cherries, Brompton for apricots, nectarines and peaches, Myrobalan for plums. Use a naturally occurring species as the rootstock for ornamental trees. The actual budding will be done the following summer or late autumn (June - September).

Method -

The buds of the variety to be propagated should be plump, well-developed and carried on the current years shoots.

Remove one of these shoots from the plant with a number of buds attached and cut off the leaves leaving the petioles (leaf stalks). This is called a 'budstick'. The buds should only be removed from this immediately prior to inserting them into the rootstock.

Prepare the rootstock by making a 'T' shaped cut into the bark. For roses this cut should be at ground level and for fruit and ornamental trees, it should be 6 - 8 inches (15 - 20cm) above the ground.

Using an extremely sharp knife, remove a bud from the budstick. This should include a small sliver of wood and be shield shaped, about 1 inch (25mm) long. Carefully remove the wood sliver from the bark.

Carefully lift the bark on the rootstock and insert the prepared bud into the slot by holding the leafstalk. Slide the bud down into the vertical piece of the cut behind the bark. Wrap and tie raffia around the wound leaving the bud exposed.

The following spring (February - March), cut the rootstock off, just above the bud, using a sloping cut. Shortly after, the bud will start to into growth and by the autumn you will have a new bush or tree.