Grafting question

[nao57]

So... I ran into the idea of grafting a few years ago. (This time I mean fruit tree grafting, not honey bee grafting.) And the first few times I ran into it, I didn't think it actually worked. No one I knew actually could say yes, I've done that and it works.

Well, anyway, recently I was reminded about that guy Balthazar Forrestiere, that had that underground house in California. He built an underground house in this hard pan area of California that is genius and has natural air conditioning. He also made it so his trees are sheltered with the roots under the heat, in the design to let him grow stuff in areas that wouldn't normally grow there. (Very interesting story if you are interested in learning, re: B. Forrestiere.)

Anyway, some of the videos about grafting, they don't specify which groups of species can and cannot work together. But I ran into 1 of them that said they 'should be from the same genus'. That's not very definitive on why though. Any thoughts on this?

And part of the reason why I wanted to know this and ask, is... is it possible to graft fruit trees that cannot endure cold winter climates on a different tree that CAN endure cold winter climates? Like... I've always liked oranges. So I wonder if there's a way if I can graft orange tree branches onto something like, apple, plum, or some other hardy tree. Especially PLUM TREES are VERY hardy. If anything could be put onto anything else, plum trees are very hardy both for winter and for low water/drought resistant areas.

And this explains why I'm wondering about this, and hoped someone might know what works and doesn't? How close do the 2 types of fruit trees being grafted together have to be?

Thank you.

 

[TooCheep]

No- a citrus plant will not survive cold weather when attached to a colder-weather plant. The citrus part will still die in cold weather.

Not all fruit trees are compatible and yes, staying within the same genus gives you a much higher chance of success. The farther away the plants are on the taxonomic chart, the less compatible they will likely be.

Some standard compatible groups:
-Apple & crab apple
-Pear & quince
-Stone fruits- plum, peach, apricot, cherry, nectarine
-Citrus- lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit
-Nuts- almonds, pecan, walnut

I use grafting to primarily increase fertilization/production. I have a smaller plot of land, so I use grafts to improve cross-pollination on a single tree. Some trees are self-fertile but still benefit from another pollinator nearby. Some are not self-fertile and must have a different (compatible) pollinator. Compatible mostly means that the two plants produce flowers at the same time.

As one example, I have one Red Haven peach tree. A friend has a Belle of Georgia peach. The two are compatible, so I've attached some branches from each tree onto the other. It gives us a little variety of fruit and helps with quantity.

Just as an extreme example, someone has created the Tree of 40 Fruits with many stone fruit plants grafted together.

 

[nao57]

No- a citrus plant will not survive cold weather when attached to a colder-weather plant. The citrus part will still die in cold weather.

Not all fruit trees are compatible and yes, staying within the same genus gives you a much higher chance of success. The farther away the plants are on the taxonomic chart, the less compatible they will likely be.

Some standard compatible groups:
-Apple & crab apple
-Pear & quince
-Stone fruits- plum, peach, apricot, cherry, nectarine
-Citrus- lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit
-Nuts- almonds, pecan, walnut

I use grafting to primarily increase fertilization/production. I have a smaller plot of land, so I use grafts to improve cross-pollination on a single tree. Some trees are self-fertile but still benefit from another pollinator nearby. Some are not self-fertile and must have a different (compatible) pollinator. Compatible mostly means that the two plants produce flowers at the same time.

As one example, I have one Red Haven peach tree. A friend has a Belle of Georgia peach. The two are compatible, so I've attached some branches from each tree onto the other. It gives us a little variety of fruit and helps with quantity.

Just as an extreme example, someone has created the Tree of 40 Fruits with many stone fruit plants grafted together.

That is soo cool. I'm not that obsessed to do 40 kinds of fruit on the same one. But it still would be interesting to do a few different kinds of... something. And its neat that someone could do things like this.