Thursday, April 24, 2008

What's Wrong With My Graft???

Long story short, I bought a Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki' on a standard from Home Depot. Before you purists harangue me, note 95% of my plants come from local and indie nurseries. The shrub on a stick was just so darn NEAT. And I'm trying to help out with this Arbor Day thing. Yeah.

Being a tad blind, I bought it without noticing the graft union. This doesn't look right, does it. Is there anything I can do to help it? Was I a sucker? (It's not planted yet, either.) The twigs look good, it's leafing out, so things must be working, but I'm concerned about pests and diseases. I've included pics of two sides--there are two sides to every graft, you know. Click for bigger image.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not good. Take it back and pick out another! Can you just see the snow load breaking that weak joint where the graft didn't take. Just a thought.

Keep sending the writing out! The more you have out there, the more people read it and the better your chances. I see some accepted and some 'still out'. The glass is filling up.

Benjamin Vogt said...

I didn't think about the snow, Layanee. I can't believe I bought this and didn't notice! I'm ashamed of myself. Bad gardener.

BTW, those gloves you suggested I get, well, I'm sure they work well, but I can't bring myself to get them dirty--they are so nice and comfortable....

Rosemarie said...

I wish I knew more about this to help you. Grafting? Sounds medical... ;)

Anonymous said...

I did laugh at the glove comment. Gloves are supposed to be dirty after all. It is the hands that stay clean but then you know this. I now have a pair of these gloves and the left hand is blue and the right hand is purple. I wear out the right hand faster. I guess I need to only buy one color but then what fun would that be?

Anonymous said...

Bad graft - a lot of these kinds of things don't take properly and get job lotted out to the box stores where the receivers don't know a graft from a petunia.

Growers get paid when somebody buys it so as long as the product moves, the grower gets paid. All parts of the chain talk about quality but stuff happens along the way. Fact of life in the nursery and big box store chains.

Take it back.

Doug

Benjamin Vogt said...

Thanks Doug. I did indeed end up returning it just a few days ago--inside the big box at the return desk, in line behind some guy returning a drill. The cashier asked if I just didn't like it, and I explained the graft, mentioned I'm sure someone would still buy it anyway, but the conversation was greek to her (which is understandable and not her fault). I rarely go to the big box--I never return things to the local nurseries when I buy a plant! Wonder why.... :)