Knife for budding and grafting: what you need to know

For reproduction trees and shrubs use a method called budding. The procedure is performed quickly using a special budding knife. To obtain high-quality planting material, you should know how to properly perform budding.

Content:

Budding is the most common method of propagating fruit and ornamental plants. When budding with a scion, a single bud or eye is used. Budding can be carried out in spring or summer. In the spring, grafting is carried out with a bud formed last summer. The bud will begin to grow if taken from cuttings that were prepared in the fall. During summer budding, vaccination is carried out with a bud that has formed in the current season. It will begin to grow only next spring.

Budding has its advantages:

Budding is carried out in early spring or early August. During this period, the bark can be easily separated from the wood. Budding is quite simple: take a bud with wood with your left hand and hold it with the finger of your right hand on the knife. Next, take it in your left hand and use a knife to cut the bark, first along and then across in the shape of the letter “T”. Then carefully bend the edges of the cross-section to form a gap.After this, insert the shield with the kidney into the slot from top to bottom. It is important that the upper part of the shield is under the bark.

Next, take electrical tape and plastic tape and tie the shield, starting from the bottom. If the operation is performed correctly, after 3 weeks the bud should germinate during spring budding. If the procedure was carried out in the summer, the petiole will be easily separated from the bud. Many gardeners perform budding using their butts. Cut off the bark shield of the rootstock and replace it with a shield of the same size only with a bud. During budding, cuttings should be stored in a bucket of water. Used cuttings placed in the soil in the middle between the rows of plants.

The main purpose of a budding knife is to make a long and even cut to reduce injury and damage to the edges of the bark. The budding knife is designed for grafting various plants with a single bud. Used to cut the shield and form a T-shaped cut on the rootstock. Folding budding knives have a retractable bone on the handle, which is used to separate the bark from the wood.

The blade of the budding knife is rounded with a sharp blade. Thanks to this, thin sections can be made. The knife has a steel blade and a smooth handle. The knife must always be clean during operation. To do this, tie your left wrist with a soft cloth and always wipe the knife blade. The survival rate of the kidney decreases when dust gets on the knife blade or wound.

Before starting work, thoroughly disinfect tool. For this purpose, use alcohol or a weak solution of potassium permanganate. When working with a budding knife, you need to choose comfortable positions, since if you are careless, you can not only injure yourself, but also damage the plant. The tool must be well sharpened. The quality of the procedure performed depends on this. You need to sharpen the knife on both sides on a coarse-grained whetstone. To determine the sharpness of a knife, you need to place the blade vertically towards the sun with the tip up. If there are shiny spots, this means that the knife is dull.

Before sharpening, the block must be moistened with water. When sharpening, apply the knife correctly with its entire plane. You need to drive along the block, performing straight-line movements. The knife should be ground until burrs appear on the blade. You can remove them using a fine-grained whetstone. You should always ensure the sharpness of the knife. The tip must be sharpened at an acute angle. Then you need to polish the plane of the blade. The budding knife should be used only for its intended purpose. It is not advisable for them to cut anything. After finishing work, wipe the tool with a dry cloth.

When buying a knife, you need to pay attention to the thickness of the blade, which should be at least 2 mm. To check the quality of a knife, you need to cut a regular sheet of paper by weight. The steel is of high quality if the cut remains smooth even after 7 strips. Every gardener should have various tools to care for trees and plants. One of the required tools is a budding knife. It is used to graft fruit trees and decorative plants.

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