How to Graft a Pixie Tangerine

Pixie tangerine trees produce a large crop one year and a small crop the next.

Tangerines are fruits in the citrus family. The pixie variety is a pale orange seedless fruit with sweet juice. They are borne on trees that grow in tropical to sub-tropical climates. Pixie tangerines are late season trees which produce ripe fruit in March or April and are susceptible to late season frosts. The variety was developed at the University of California Citrus Research Center in 1927 but only released publicly in the mid 1960s. Citrus trees are propagated by grafting or budding. This process unites the budwood of the Pixie tree with a hardy rootstock of another citrus variety. Budding ensures that the characteristics of the Pixie tree are preserved. Seeded plants do not reliably reproduce "true" to the original plant.

Things You'll Need

• Sour orange rootstock
• Sharp knife
• Mature Pixie tangerine tree
• Grafting tape
• Scissors
• Pruners

Instructions

1. Graft the Pixie budwood onto a healthy orange rootstock in summer when the rootstock bark is loose and slips easily. Select a very sharp knife to harvest the budwood from a mature producing Pixie tangerine tree.

2. Select a stem on the Pixie tree that has swollen buds. Remove a bud with the knife by cutting out a scooped or crescent shaped piece. Remove the bud with a small amount of wood at the end as a "tail" to hold the piece. Do not touch the bud.

3. Use the knife to cut and inverted T in the bark of the rootstock. Apply the tip of the knife to the cut edges of the bark and pull them away from the wood to expose the cambium. The cambium is the vascular tissue just under the bark which houses the cells that transport water and nutrients. It is a darker color and moist in comparison to the bark.

4. Trim the budwood to a small piece of wood that will fit inside the inverted T. Be careful not to handle the bud itself. Tuck the bud into the pocket made in the rootstock when you pulled the bark away with the bud facing outside.

5. Push the bark in around the inserted budwood. Wrap the entire cut with grafting tape to seal the cut edges with the bud poking out of the wound.

6. Check the bud in two or three weeks and cut away the grafting tape when it has begin to unite with the rootstock. Prune off any shoots that grow from the rootstock. The bud will remain dormant until spring at which time you may cut off the top of rootstock just above the bud.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Grafting and Budding Fruit Trees- Budding
• Tearfund International Learning Zone; Grafting Citrus Trees; Mike and Isabel Carter
• Ojai Pixie Tangerine: About Pixies
• University of Rhode Island: Plant Glossary