>> Chip Budding

Application:

An important method for propagating temperate fruit and ornamental shade tree species including apple and cherry, and many other species. In apple nursery stock production field, chip budding is gaining popularity over T- budding for several reasons:

  • more rapid graft union formation
  • higher % take
  • reduced susceptibility to the fungal disease apple canker (Nectaria sp.)
  • extended budding season since bark need not be slipping as in T-budding
  • greater cold hardiness
  • greater uniformity and growth from the bud.

Timing:

Field Chip budding of apple is usually performed during the late summer or early fall, although at Cummins Nursery they chip bud onto bare root understock, at the beach, in February, then cold store at SOC, and line out in the spring.

How to Chip Bud:

The bud should be cut from the bud stick starting at the top and passing downward to a point about 0.5 to 1.0 cm below the bud, passing through the bark and into the underlying wood. A second cut is made below the bud at a slight downward angle to intersect the first cut.
This drawing illustrates how the bud should be cut from the top down, but it was originally used in the Cyclopedia of Horticulture by LH Bailey, 1928, to illustrate how not to cut a T-bud, which should be cut from the bottom up.
Cutting the rootstock
Placing the bud
Aligning the cambia of scion bud and stock
Chip bud wrapped with plastic wrap. More typically it is wrapped with a budding rubber.

Additional Information:

Source: Grafting Home Page by Karen Scott and Ken Mudge,
Title: Chip bud
URL: http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/hort400/graftage/Chipbud.htm
Comments: Part of an earlier distance learning tutorial on grafting developed for a home gardening audience.

Source: Hort 494 Chipbud Lab Exercise
Title: Chipbud Lab
URL: ChiplabFrm.html
Comments: Laboratory Exercise for this course