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Post by michaeljohnson on Oct 16, 2010 1:06:30 GMT -5
A well known seed merchant in the UK is offering grafted plants of a watermelon for sale, this next season- and it says they come weeks earlier than normal and produce a lot more during the season./ I have never heard of grafted watermelons before-I wonder what sort of rootstock they would be grafted onto ?
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Post by starlight1153 on Oct 16, 2010 8:20:51 GMT -5
Michael... Here ya go. Here a great article on grafting watermelons and even has the pics to show how to do several different types of grafts and their advantage s and disadvantages. edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/HS/HS33000.pdfhere some more info for you what I had found interesting in this article was the fact that when grafting with squash, pumpkin, or gourd that plants are less susceptible to Fusarium Wit. findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3741/is_7_53/ai_n14858691/I have several different kind of gourd seeds if you want to try using it to graft with.
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Post by michaeljohnson on Oct 17, 2010 0:47:03 GMT -5
Thanks-Starlight, those are very interesting articles to read, I am digesting the info-slowly
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Post by aednik on Jun 12, 2011 3:34:05 GMT -5
For some years ago, I tried to graft watermelons onto squashes - but without a remarkable succsess: though the grafts actually did take somehow, they just refused to grow. This spring, I tried again and it seems that succsessfully. I used three varieties of squashes (Gribovski, Tigress and Plato), Cucurbita ficifolia and Citrullus 'Knight'. Grafts took well and are growing nicely this time - much more vigorously than melons and watermelons on their own roots. 'Knight' seems to be not so good for melons, though - grafts don't grow very well and have smaller leaves. But this is only my very first impression, let's see what will happen further. I planted part of my melons and watermelons (both grafted and own-rooted plants) under plastic already in the middle of the May. Unfortunately, the weather turned pretty cold shortly after planting and remained so nearly for two weeks (with daily temperatures barely above +10 and nights, naturally, were cooler). A couple of grafted plants died (probably due to poor connection between rootstock and graft) and the others look very nice now. For the own-rooted plants, such a cold weather was a complete disaster - most of the plants died and those that remained, have recovered only by now (being much weaker than the grafted ones). Three days old watermelon grafts.
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Post by raymondo on Jun 13, 2011 6:14:42 GMT -5
Interesting. I don't have much luck here with watermelons. Most years, the nights are too cool for too long. I keep growing them though. My only real success so far is Orangeglo. Perhaps I should try grafting onto squash, which does very well usually.
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Post by aednik on Jun 13, 2011 6:39:13 GMT -5
... My only real success so far is Orangeglo. Perhaps I should try grafting onto squash, which does very well usually. Yes? Orangeglo isn't that early (at least in my conditions) and this is one of the varieties that does not succseed outdoors here.
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Post by toad on Jun 14, 2011 14:51:38 GMT -5
Aednik: What cultivars of watermelon do you graft on squash and Cucurbita ficifolia? I think I should give it at go next year.
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Post by aednik on Jun 14, 2011 23:59:05 GMT -5
Aednik: What cultivars of watermelon do you graft on squash and Cucurbita ficifolia? I think I should give it at go next year. I have not so much experience with grafted plants so far. Actually, this is the first year to use grafting seriously (around 300 plants)... And I have no any clues to choose which variety is good for grafting or which is not. I only hope that later and/or tenderer varieties do better as grafted plants in my conditions.
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Post by Hristo on Jun 15, 2011 5:52:35 GMT -5
Years ago grafting watermelons on to gourd (Lagenaria) was common here because they ripen 1-2 weeks earlier. Latter on this practice was abandoned and I do not know why. Probably this lowers the quality of fruit, but I'm not completely sure, I should ask someone to confirm. I didn't knew Cucurbita spp is good match for watermelons. After so many failures with Tetra Baby this year I grafted it on to gourd and I'm hopping at least for a few fruits because I'm running out of seeds.
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Post by lavandulagirl on Jun 15, 2011 10:34:31 GMT -5
This seems extrordinarily labor intensive. I'll be interested in seeing your successful graft rate, and full fruit rate, Aednik. How long did doing all your grafts take?
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Post by aednik on Jun 15, 2011 12:35:30 GMT -5
This seems extrordinarily labor intensive. I'll be interested in seeing your successful graft rate, and full fruit rate, Aednik. How long did doing all your grafts take? Extraordinary labor intensive? Hmmm... I wouldn't say 'extraordinary'... But, yes indeed, if to compare with direct seeding - you're right. Nevertheless, I suppose it might be pretty clever to use grafting and transplanting in colder areas. Fe I transplanted 4 weeks ago two dozens of Blactail Mountain watermelon plants under plastic, a dozen grafted and a dozen on their own roots. A couple of days after transplanting the weather turned pretty cold and remained so for more than a week. Today, I have all the grafted plants vigorously growing and half of them already in bloom. From non-grafted plants only two survived, one of them is growing normally and the other still thriveling... Principally, the same picture is with Snow Leopard melon - though one third of non-grafted plants survived. Thus, I think grafting is worth of time and labor. The other questions are, of course, the quality of fruits and fruiting rate - but let's see, how it will turn out. Grafting success is close to 100% - if only everything is done as needed: plants with one (small) true leaf, sharp razor blade, clean work, temperature after grafting +25...35 C and humidity close to 100%. I am not sure it is absolutely necessary - but I used to clean the blade after every cut with 70% alcohol. Depends on a person and experience - but one graft takes about 2...5 minutes to be completed.
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Post by aednik on Jun 16, 2011 14:51:17 GMT -5
Grafted Blacktail Mountain versus ownrooted plant: Snow Leopard on it's own roots and different rootstocks:
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jun 16, 2011 15:53:15 GMT -5
Wow. I would have never guessed that the difference would be that dramatic. Cucurbita ficifolia looks like it's an excellent variety for rootstock. I wonder if other wild or semi-wild varieties would also be good rootstock. Isn't that how they graft trees... don't they usually pick the most hardy/wild type and graft the desired types on top?
I wonder if Cucurbita foetidissima would be a good rootstock for here in the southwest U.S.
I look forward to seeing the differences at the end of the season if possible, and i look forward to seeing more updates in general. Well done!
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Post by raymondo on Jun 17, 2011 5:41:59 GMT -5
That's an impressive difference! I'll give it a go next spring. From other pics, it looks as if you graft onto the rootstock above the cotyledons but below them on the scion. Is that correct? Does it matter?
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Post by aednik on Jun 17, 2011 5:49:49 GMT -5
... it looks as if you graft onto the rootstock above the cotyledons but below them on the scion... Yes, you're right - grafted plants have two pairs of cotyledons. Is this necessary? I don't know exactly - but I think it may improve the results.
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