Investigations into inconsistent and low bud-grafting success inAcer platanoides‘Crimson King’

Abstract

Causes of variable and inconsistent bud-grafting success in chip-budded Norway maple (Acer platanoides) were investigated using the red-leaved scion ‘Crimson King’. Large differences in bud-take were associated with the year of budding, which over a 14 year period ranged from 22 to 94%. The ‘year effect’ could not be explained by weather, or by differences in budding success found between commercial sources of red-leaved scions. Neither was incompatibility between the ‘Crimson King’ scion and individual genotypes among the seedling rootstocks implicated, although there were reasons why at first sight incompatibility was thought to be present. The size of rootstock when planted was not correlated with subsequent budding success, although large differences in the quality of rootstock growth at budding were associated with large differences in bud-take, but these were confounded with year and with the fields used for the experiments. The ‘year effect’ was best explained by the field in which budding took pla...