Grafting bark?

Joanie

If you had a big cut to make on your trunk, could you then slice off a piece of the bark of the limb you cut and graft it onto the big cut?



Joanie, always wondering...

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TreeBay

Actually you don't graft limbs or bark but cambium, which is the thin layer of tissue that differentiates into xylem and phloem.

There's an old Dawn Redwood (old as they come being that they were rediscovered in the 50's or so) that some vandals ring girdled. They brought a tree surgeon in to do bridge grafts across the wounds and were able to save it. I don't know if the bridge grafts had any foliage - it probably would work better if they do.

Sometimes bridge grafts are used in bonsai to help close wounds, but I have always seen it done with a branch that makes a contact graft at a couple of points across the wound. I have never seen a "plug" of tissue. I don't think that would be (as) successfull because it is the leaves that are promoting the flow and growth of cambial tissue.

Regards,

Matt

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Joanie

Okay, that makes sense. Too bad, some scars would be easier to deal with if the patch would "take".

Oh well....

Thank you, Matt!

You're a fountain of information!

Joanie

cbobgo

I have seen people use adhesive to place a patch of bark across a wound to disguise the wound. The bark was not meant to graft on, but to just sit there and cover up the hole. If you looked closely you could see it, but from a few steps back it wasn't very noticable.

- bob

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Joanie

Could you take a piece of bark with a small twiggy branch on it and try grafting that? I've never done grafting so maybe those of you who have are laughing right now....

Is it too difficult to match up the cambrium?

How about peeling the bark back, cutting the branch, then pulling the bark patch up over the cut and trying to match it?

Think plastic surgery here...

Joanie

rockm

Joanie, you coudl try that approach, but it complicates the process greatly. Bark is basically dead tissue. It can vary in thickness and flexibility. The tissue underneath it, the cambium is the actively growing part of the tree. It is what is grafted.

You could try to plug a hole with a chunk of bark with cambium underneath. In order for a graft to be successful, though, you have to match the cambium of the graft to the cambium on the trunk/limb. The bark complicates that match, which can be tricky with out bark, even further.

Patience is better than grafting in replacing bark. Even big trunk chops can look acceptable in a few years...

Joanie

Ah, well, thank you. Had to ask, you know!

Patience. Always the answer......

Joanie

Eric686

Thanks for asking that question I've been wondering the same thing.

What I'm seeing is that if the cut is deep enough you have to have a peice of "tree" not just bark to fill the hole exactly. I think the term was correct....."surgery", and with out a licence too.
Can I go to jail for that?? LOL

cbobgo

I have often thought about the flap technique you describe. I think it would have a chance of working - if there was a branch on the flap that was drawing sap up into the flap to keep it alive while the graft was fusing. But I have not tried it. If anyone does try this, make sure you take pics of the process.

- bob

__________________
"As a twig is bent the tree inclines" - Virgil (70BC-19BC)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Check out my blog: bonsaiapprentice