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BIG JIMS GARDEN CENTRE

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www.taranakidailynews.co.nz Friday, February 19, 2010 TARANAKI DAILY NEWS 13

GARDENING www.taranakidailynews.co.nz

T-budding an apple tree: a step-by-step guidewith Abbie and Mark Jury

Photos: ROBERT CHARLES

1All apple trees you buy are grafted or budded on to dwarfing or semi-dwarfingapple stock. This uses the roots of a smaller-growing plant and the top of agood fruiting variety. These apple trees are about 40 years old and only 1.8

metres tall. Home gardeners may wish to bud a preferred variety on to an existing,but underperforming, apple tree or to bud several types of apples on to one plant.

2Budding should alwaysbe done on a fine dayand with no rain forecast

for the next 24 hours. Itinvolves attaching a single leafbud on to a stem of the rootstock. Use buds from thisseason’s new growth, selecting astem about the thickness of apencil. Remove the leaves and,using a very sharp, clean knife, cut off, in one piece, the bud and the bit of the stembehind the bud that gives a shield for the bud.

3Make two cuts in the shapeof a T on the root stockplant. Budding is more

successful on growth that wasmade last year, so it is firmbut not too old and woody.Make the vertical cut about2cm long. Provided youhave your timing right, thebark layer will lift awayeasily, allowing you toslide the bud into the bark.We are demonstratingbudding an additionalvariety on to a plant in aplanter bag, but you canequally bud on to plantsalready in your gardenor orchard. If you have aplant grown from a seed,you may wish to bud onto that to get a reliablecropping variety. It is morelikely you will have aseedling or under-performing avocado, peachor plum and you may wish totry the same technique toturn those root stocks intogood croppers. You have tokeep to the same plant type –an avocado bud on to avocadoroot stock, peach on peach,apple to apple.4Often, three buds are

inserted to increasesuccess rates. Gently insert

the bud and push down, so thatthe back of the bud (the shield)is flush with the root-stockstem. Timing for T-budding iscritical – now is good forapples, pears, plums, peachesand nectarines. If you cannotlift the bark layer, you willneed to chip bud instead andwe will show this techniquenext time.

5We use plastic tying strips as shown here, but you can cut your own fromplastic bags. We prefer plastic to the old-fashioned raffia or to rubber bands.It is better at keeping out moisture and easier to tie firmly but not so tightly

that it cuts into the bark and bud.

6Wrap the stem firmly to hold the bud or buds snugly in place. Start from thebottom and work your way up, covering the whole area except the bud.Secure the end of the tie so it cannot unravel (usually done by looping it back

through itself).

7Leave the plant untilwinter, by which timeit should be clear that

the bud has fused to thestem and has not rotted.Remove the tie and cut theplant back to the successfulbud. The fresh growth inspring will be your chosenvariety that you have buddedon to the old plant.

Michelia albaProbably the most fragrant tree weknow, Michelia alba is in flowernow and will be for most ofsummer. The flowers are definitelynot spectacular to look at, beingsmall and rather sparse for the sizeof the tree, spidery in form andcream. But for a knock-you-downfragrance that permeates the air allround, alba is amazing. In fact, it isapparently the fragrance of Joyperfume. The tree gives us a fewworries, because it is growingconsiderably larger and faster thanwe anticipated and we wonder ifwe have it planted in the rightplace. Glyn Church tells us he hadto cut one of his out because itoutgrew its position. At least it isupright, rather than spreading, and

its foliage is a lush tropical greenall year – possibly because it comesfrom tropical and subtropical areasof Asia.

Michelias have now beenreclassified as magnolias – asomewhat arbitrary decision we donot agree with, so we continue touse the former names. Alba wasgiven to us by an elderly Chinesegentleman who told us that it wassacred and we could sell one toevery Chinese family in NewZealand. We tried – believe me, wetried – but it does not set seed andit rarely strikes from cutting, so ithas to be grafted and it is not easyto reproduce that way, either. Wehave seen it used as a street treethroughout Asia and we thinkhorticulturists there aerial layer it.

For the botanically interested,current information is that alba isprobably a natural hybrid from theorange-flowered Micheliachampaca and all alba plantsthroughout the world are thereforethe one clone. Champaca sets seedfreely, but we have yet to hear ofanybody who has provenexperience with alba showingfertility. The plant appears to be agenetic dead end.

– Abbie Jury

Chateau de laRoche Jagu, FranceAbout 10km inland from Treguierin the Brittany region, on a woodedslope above the Trieux river,stands the 15th-century Chateau dela Roche Jagu. While there is acharge to see the building, thegardens are free.

The solid medieval castle hasgrounds to match, even thoughthey were only laid out in 1990.While purists say medievalgardens wouldn’t have known mostof the plants (camellias,

agapanthus, hemerocallis andpenstemons were introduced muchlater), visitors will like the willow-wicker raised beds and otherexamples of 15th-century gardendesign.

The whole is surrounded bypicket fences and hedges of bay,box and laurustinus. There are alsolong strips of crops – linen,buckwheat and other useful plants.And the views down to the riverare wonderful.