Graft ruby ​​grapefruit onto a sour grapefruit plant

The advantage of grafting method on citrus trees is early for harvesting fruit business. Take advantage of new varieties to improve harvest value.
The advantages of the improved grafting (branch grafting) method on fruit trees in general and citrus trees in particular are: Make use of the available strong roots, stems, and branches from real plants, help the eyes to grow, develop strongly, promptly adapt to ecological conditions; to soon exploit business results and take advantage of new advances to improve harvest value.

One of the steps to graft the branches to renovate citrus varieties. Photo: H.Tien. Steps taken before transplanting – On the garden of sour grapefruit varieties or low quality indigenous grapefruit varieties (real grapefruit): Choose plants that are 3-7 years old, grow well, be free of pests and diseases, especially have no stem borers, no germs. leaf rot yellow leaf disease, greening leaf yellowing (Greening) and Tristera’s disease. Then, cut down the entire canopy to the stem or branch with a diameter of ≥ 2cm, leaving only the ends for eye grafting in the position of the stem with the color of the cake, the same size as the top of the chopsticks. The number of branches left for grafting should be arranged evenly 0.5 m on the tree canopy as a mesh. Grafting season can be carried out all year round. It is best to graft in 2-3 months and 9-10 months. Note, stop watering and fertilizing on real plants 15-17 days before grafting; do not extract and graft trees into the rain. – On the mother Ruby grapefruit tree, choose a tree that grows balanced and free from pests and diseases as above. It is advisable to choose mother plants grown in a net house to prevent insects, to avoid completely dangerous diseases such as Greening and Tristera. Then, select branches under 1 year old, have rounded stems and are tilted from horizontal canopy upwards, then remove all leaves, leaf stalks attached and remove the tip at the position of the stem color of the cake. Continue to cut the branches to divide the seedling into branches containing 4-5 leaf axils, 7-10 cm long and have a flat color. Technique of grafting the branches (also called grafting, grafting wedge) – At the base of the seedling segment, use a specialized knife to cut 2 opposite beveled slices, 2-2.5 cm long to remove 2 stem parts at the base of the seedling and open a wedge-shaped composite end. At the predetermined graft head on the phylogenetic tree, split a line 2.5 cm deep at 1/3 of the tip diameter to open a grafting mouth, insert the wedge-shaped graft head into the grafted mouth that just opened above. Ruby grapefruit has been successfully grown in our country. Photo: TL. Then, stretching and twisting the nylon strip, twisting the rope, then wrap 5-6 rounds tightly around the graft. Finally, pull the grafted plastic strip flat, completely covering the seedlings and grafting spots, so that rain cannot penetrate the grafting marks and keep the seedlings from dehydrating. After about 10-15 days (depending on the season), the grafted eye will sprout. Must eradicate in time the sour grapefruit sprouts growing outside the grafted eye. Note choosing self-destructing polypropylene tape. – In addition to improving the seed by grafting wedge into the branches mentioned above, it is also possible to graft wedge into the cross section of the branches of much larger size, or graft windows, small wooden eyes along the trunks. tree, trunk. However, these grafting methods have certain limitations, compared to the method we introduced in the previous section, such as, small eye grafting with wood, only taking the seed eyes open, the tree will grow long. , time for exploiting business results is slower … Take care of real plants after grafting Spraying to draw amulets when the eyes are like sprouting is 0.5-1.0 cm long. Except for red spiders, soft aphids, leaf hoppers and plant diseases, during the period when eyes are like spreading branches and canopy. Fertilizer for 1 root: 0.2-0.3 kg NPK 13-13-13 + TE, fertilize periodically once a month. Foliar fertilizer sprayed evenly 7 days / times. Decomposed chicken manure 20-30 kg + 2-3 kg of microbiological organic fertilizer, fertilizing when the grafted eye has reached about 15 cm long branches. After 1-2 years grafting and improving, Ruby grapefruit trees have been exploited for business. From this stage on, the steps to take care and control pests and diseases are similar to other current pomelo seedlings. Ruby grapefruit is one of the elite citrus varieties of Thailand, which has been imported into our country. The variety has the advantages of strong growth and development, beautiful fruit shape, good resistance to pests and diseases, red fruit, thick and thick pods, fragrant sweetness, no seeds … Grapefruit is equivalent to or slightly better than that of our country’s green skin grapefruit. , depending on farming techniques and ecological conditions. Ruby grapefruit tree is easy to distinguish from other grapefruit varieties thanks to the small leaves and branches, smooth hair.