Reasons to Use a Cleft Graft
Cleft grafts are for joining scions to a relatively large piece of wood, the size of a major branch or as large as a stump. You could use a cleft graft to topwork a tree to turn it into a new type of tree, or to change over parts of it. If you want to create a novelty fruit tree in which you combine, for example, many different apples on one tree, a cleft graft is a graft you might use on fat, major scaffold branches (a graft for somewhat smaller branches would be the side-stub graft).
Materials Needed
Rootstock: Large, 2.5 to 10 inches recommended. The top of the rootstock should be at a straight-grained section of wood. A knobby or knotty section will make the cleft untrue and raise the chance of failure.Scion: One-year-old wood sawed off flat at the base, and fairly long. It should have at least three buds beyond the lowest six inches of growth. Usually, you use two scions per cleft.Grafting knifeClefting Tool: This is a specialized tool for exactly this kind of graft. It has a long wedge blade area blade for splitting and a hook end for prying and holding the cleft apart.MalletSealing wax
Alternative Materials
Unlike most other grafts, there is a way to cleft graft with just simple tools. You should still make the graft in very early spring and use the rootstock and scion described above, but the tools described below can take the place of the specialized implements above.
Instead of a grafting knife, use a high quality and sharp paring knife or pocket knife may suffice to cut the one-year wood.For the clefting tool, a butcher’s cleaver, ax, long chisel, or similar tool may suffice. A saw may work, too. A fat chisel will be helpful.Instead of a mallet, a hammer or even a two-by-four or a block of wood will do.No wax? If you are working on a very low stump, you can pile soil on the whole stump, the cleft and all around the union and this may work to seal in moisture well enough.
Steps in Making a Cleft Graft
Before starting, note that this project is best undertaken in early spring. All plant material should be dormant. Ideally, this graft is made when the buds of the rootstock are beginning to swell. If you cannot see buds, approximate with a time in late winter.
