How to Graft Citrus Trees
You've got an orange tree in your yard, but you want lemons and limes, too. You can have all these fruits on one tree if you graft buds of lemon and lime onto your orange tree. Find a lemon and a lime tree and ask the trees' owner for a small branch for bud grafting. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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1
Find a citrus tree to receive the graft (the "rootstock") and budding branches from the types of citrus you want to grow (the "fruiting branches").
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2
Make a 2-inch vertical cut close to the end of one of the rootstock's branches.
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3
Make a 1-inch horizontal cut that intersects the bottom of the vertical cut.
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4
Fold back the corners of bark where the cuts cross.
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5
Making an angled cut, remove a bud from a fruiting branch, including a good amount of wood directly beneath the bud.
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6
Insert the cut piece with the bud into the spot on the rootstock where the cuts cross.
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7
Press the bark back over the inserted bud.
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8
Wrap rubber bands around the union, leaving the bud itself uncovered.
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9
When the bud starts growing, the graft has taken.
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Tips & Warnings
Collect citrus branches in late November. Keep them refrigerated, wrapped in plastic until ready to graft.
Early spring is the best time to do bud grafting.
Make sure you graft citrus buds onto another citrus, or the grafts won't take.
