STEEMWOMENCLUB: DAILY DYNAMIC DIY, SIMPLE MACOTTING AND GRAFTING TECHNIQUE. 20/07/2021.

Hello friends I would like to share with you a method to improve the quality of your fruit trees at home. This is a very effective method and has been used by many for advance crop breeding also known as crop improvement. I happen to have done it few days and now I want to share with you ladies.

A grafted plant

A macoted pear branch

MACOTTING

There exist several methods of macotting but I will be sharing the air layering method of macotting.
This method is also known as ‘gootee’. Examples are Ficus elastica, Callistemon, croton, monstera, citrus fruits, lychee, philodendron, pomegranate, and pear. In this exercise I used a pear tree for macoting to get a new plant for further cultivation.

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Sawdust or wood shavings

• A mature pear tree

• A knife

• Polythene paper

• Alcohol

• Rope or tape

PROCEDURE FOR MACOTTING

• One week before, boil water to a temperature of 100°C and soak the wood shaving. This is to kill all bacterias and other pests that can destroy the plant

• Cut the Polythene paper to smaller sizes of 50cm by 10cm

cutting the paper

Smaller pieces of the paper

• Select healthy, vigorously growing aerial branch having pencil-size thickness. The selected branch must be of the past growing season.

• Gridle or mark out a portion of the selected branch up to 2-3.5 cm wide just below the node 15–30 cm back from the tip of the shoot.

• A strip of the bark from the girdled portion is removed using a knife sterilized with alcohol

• Scrap the girdled portion, which helps in the removal of phloem tissues and prevents formation of bark at the girdled portion.

• The wood shaving is placed on a cut piece of polyethene paper making sure there is enough moisture before placing it over the cut portion.

• The piece of polyethylene film is carefully wrapped around the branch so that the wood shaving is completely covered.

• Tie both ends of the polyethylene film making it airtight with strings.

• Attach labels for identification

A macoted pear branch

Constantly check to add water to improve rooting or check for any malformation.
The layer is removed from the parent plant when roots are observed through the transparent polyethylene film. It takes 2-3 months for rooting. Rainy season is the best for air layering.

GRAFTING

There are several methods used for grafting but I will be demonstrating using the tongue grafting method
This method differs from the former as cuts are given on both the scion and rootstock.

MATERIALS NEEDED

• A root stock

• Scion (a branch of another plant of interest)

• Knife

• Polyethylene paper

• Alcohol

PROCEDURE FOR GRAFTING

•Bring the selected rootstock and scion close together.
• Find out the most comfortable point of contact. Make a inward cut of about 2.5cm into the bark of the rootstock, from 15cm above the ground

• An inward cut is make in both sides on the scion, producing a thin tongue-like structure of the same size on the stem of the stock and the scion.

• Insert the scion in the stock so that these tongue cuts interlock.

• Make sure all operated portions are in contact with each other.

• Tie the operated portions with a polyethylene paper.

• Lable the plant for identification

• Keep the plant in a propagator and constantly check for growth and abnormalities
final product

Thank you all for visiting my post and I hope it was useful. The best way to know that is by trying it out. Thank you @steemwomenclub for the opportunity to share this information