The best time of the year for grafting mabolo nursery trees was found to be in March, coinciding with the phenology of spring shooting. The highest survival rate of veneer grafting we achieved was 84.2±12.8%. NAA treatment for scions lowered survival rates. High concentration (5000 μg•mL^(-1)) of NAA resulted in total failure of the graft. Dipping scions in water prior to grafting also reduced the survival rate to 44.4±20.3% (P<0.001). Water treatment did not help eliminating tannin oxidation effect. Withdrawal of irrigation from the rootstock 2-3 days before grafting and re-watering the grafted nursery trees a week after grafting increased survival rates. Watering on the grafting day was harmful. Therefore, we recommend a moderate irrigation 2 days before grafting and 5 days after grafting. Six-year-old rootstocks had a lower (40.0±12.0%) survival rate than 3 year-old rootstocks (P<0.001). Chip budding for mabolo was not successful.
The best time of the year for grafting mabolo nursery trees was found to be in March, coinciding with the phenology of spring shooting. The highest survival rate of veneer grafting we achieved was 84.2±12.8%. NAA treatment for scions lowered survival rates. High concentration (5000 μg•mL^(-1)) of NAA resulted in total failure of the graft. Dipping scions in water prior to grafting also reduced the survival rate to 44.4±20.3% (P<0.001). Water treatment did not help eliminating tannin oxidation effect. Withdrawal of irrigation from the rootstock 2-3 days before grafting and re-watering the grafted nursery trees a week after grafting increased survival rates. Watering on the grafting day was harmful. Therefore, we recommend a moderate irrigation 2 days before grafting and 5 days after grafting. Six-year-old rootstocks had a lower (40.0±12.0%) survival rate than 3 year-old rootstocks (P<0.001). Chip budding for mabolo was not successful.