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What is

In the tropics andsub-tropics, many farmerslike to plant mango trees.Demand for good fruit isincreasing, and farmersare understanding thebenefits of this. Farmerswant to plant mangos, butoften the seedlings aren'tavailable, or if they are,they're expensive. Butthere is an easy way ofproducing good qualitymango seedlings. This iscalled Stone Grafting.Using this method,mango seedlings can begrown quickly andcheaply at home, produc-ing good quality fruit. Grafted trees also are fast to producefruit. This means that poorer farmers can easily plant mangoswithout going into debt, and get faster benefits.

In this booklet you can learn how to do stone grafting forquick and easy mango production at home.

Grafted mango in fruit, Nepal

Stone Grafting ?Stone Grafting ?

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting

WhyWhy HowHowdo StoneGrafting ?

2 3

Materials Needed to do Stone Grafting

to doStone Grafting ?

Nowadays most mango grafting is done using the"Inarching" method. But this takes 2-3 years to produce a seed-ling, which is why mango seedlings are so expensive. Also, inNepal, the skilled grafters live in the south, so it is difficult toobtain mango seedlings in the poorer northern hill districts.Transport is expensive, and many seedlings can die during thejourney in the hot summer, when they are distributed. Seedlingscostings 2 or 3 times as much after they have been transportedfrom the nursery into more remote hill districts.

So there are many benefits from using stone grafting toproduce mango seedlings :-

This Booklet's Author :Chris EvansAppropriate Technology Asia, Nepal

• quick production - while it takes 2-3 years to produce aseedling for distribution with inarching, it takes 2 monthswith stone grafting;

• stone grafted seedlings are cheap to produce• stone grafting is an easy method• many seedlings can be produced in a small place, unlike

inarching• seedlings can be produced near to where they are to be

planted

When to do Stone Grafting ?Stone grafting is done in the early summer, at the time

when wild mangos are ripe and the tips of the branches havenew red shoots.

Good fruitingvariety of mango

(mother tree) large poly-thene pots (4

inch diameter)

cuttingtool

razorblade

local/wildmango seeds

thin plastic

secateurs

thickplastic

Where to do Stone Grafting ?A stone grafting nursery can be made at home on a small

plot to grow just a few plants, or on a big plot with 2-300plants. One square metre of nursery bed can contain about100 plants. For this, a well shaded spot is needed, protectedfrom livestock, and easy to visit for care and maintenance. Ifpossible, there should be good fruiting mango trees nearbyfrom which to take scion for grafting.

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting4 5

1. Planting the Seed

How to do Stone Grafting

With stone grafting it is important tokeep note of the time when the rootstockgerminates. On the next page is a type of calendarshowing which work needs to be done, at what time.

plastic

a

b c

prepare scionon mother tree

preparingrootstock

when to do(a) and (b)

1312

1110

98

76

54

13

215

day

14

plan

tlo

cal

root

stoc

kse

ed

1T

he d

ayt h

issp

rout

s i s

coun

ted

asda

y O

ne

27

days

afte

rro

ot-

s toc

ks p

rout

s

3

sele

cta

good

bran

ch(b

ut d

on't

cut i

t)

4tr

imle

aves

arou

nd ti

pof

bra

nch

5

don'

t do

6.un

til a

wee

kaf

t er

3,4

&5

is d

one

cut

scio

nfr

omm

othe

rtr

ee

6

Gra

f ton da

y14

7

7 da

ys a

fter

the

seed

has

spr

oute

dtr

im th

e le

aves

on

the

scio

n

• Fill the polypots with fertilesoil.

• Dig a trench for the nurserybed, about 4-6 inches deep. Thewidth and length of the trenchdepends on how many seedlings areto be produced.

• Lay out the thick plastic in the base ofthe trench.

• Place the filled polypots in the trench.• Collect ripe seed from healthy, disease-

free wild local mango trees. They ripenat just the right time for stone grafting.

• Sow the seed in the polypot and coverwith the soil.

• Watch for when the seed startsto germinate. Within a week,the first seeds will start togrow, but they won't allstart at the same time. Keepthe sprouted pots in oneplace.

Type

s of

wor

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ne in

Sto

ne G

raft

ing

Sci

on o

n th

e m

othe

r tr

ee is

pre

pare

dac

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ing

to t h

e da

y th

e ro

otst

ock

seed

ger

min

ates

in t h

e po

l ypo

t. T

hede

scri

ptio

n of

wor

k is

in 3

par

ts :-

a p

r epa

ring

the

sci o

n on

t he

mot

her t

ree;

b

prep

arin

g th

e ro

ots t

ock;

c

a da

ily c

ale n

dar

of w

hen

to d

o (a

)an

d (b

) is

giv

en.

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting

@

how to doStone GraftingLet's SeeLet's See how to doStone Grafting

6 7

2

1

2. Preparing the ScionA scion needs to be cut and

brought from a healthy, good fruit-ing mango tree. This is called themother tree. Before the scion iscut it needs to be prepared whilestill on the mother tree, and thetime to do this depends on whenthe rootstock seed had sprouted in thenursery. Five to seven days after theseed has sprouted in the nursery, youneed to go to the mother tree and preparethe scion. However many seedlings in the nursery are5-7 days old, the same number of scions need to beprepared on the mother tree.

don't cutthe red tip

The third part of Stone Graft-ing is continued on p.11.

Preparing the ScionGo to the mother tree and se-

lect branches for scions. If thebranch has red sprouting tips, then itis suitable to use as a scion. Thebranch and tip should be healthy anddisease free. Now trim off the leavesaround the tip for a length of about 6inches, but don't trim the tip itself.

Local mangoseed plantedin polypotsfilled withfertile soil

Close up oflocal mango

seed planted inpolypots

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting

#

8 9

3

4

65

8

9

7On the mother tree,leaves are trimmed

down to 6 inches fromthe red tips, but the tips

are not cut.

A scionprepared on the

mother treelooks like this.

After a weekthe scion iscut from themother tree.

The scion should immedi-ately be put in water, and

its leaves trimmed.

Make a 1 inch cut downthe centre of the local root-

stock with a razor blade.

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting

10

11

12

10 11

Insert the pointed scion intothe rootstock

Bind with thin plastic

The grafted seedling is then put inside plastic.There are 2 methods :- for a single seedling

cover and tie with a plastic bag (left), or for awhole nursery, cover with a plastic sheet (right).

3. Cutting the Scion

The trimmed branch will be cut for use as a scion to jointo the rootstock, but not yet. It will be another week beforethis is done, and until that time the trimmed, red branch tipwill remain on the mother tree.

• After 7 days return to the mothertree to collect the scion.

• Using secateurs or a sharptool, cut the branch 6 inchesfrom the red tip. As soon as ithas been cut, put the scion ina glass of water. This is be-cause it is very soft and will other-wise dry out quickly.

• When the scion is in the glass,trim each leaf as shown. Thisalso reduces water loss.

• Now take the scion to the nurs-ery, where it should be graftedimmediately onto the rootstock.

4. Grafting the scion to therootstock

• By this time, the seedlings growing from the local, wildmango seed should be 12-14 days old. Their leaves andstem should be soft and red, like the scion on the mothertree.

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting

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How to maintaina grafted seedlingMaintenance

Maintenance

12 13

a

a

b

f

e

c

d

c

c

b

f

e

c

d

Cut the top ofthe root stock to leaveit 3-4 inches high.

Make a 1 inch slitstraight down from thecentre of the top of the rootstock with arazor blade.

Trim both sides of the end of the scionto make a point, leaving the scion

about 3-4 inches long. The trimmedpoint should be 1 inch long.

Now carefully insert the point of thescion into the slit on the rootstock.

The rootstock and the scionshould be exactly fitting

Very carefully bind the root-stock and scion with a thin

plastic strip so that watercannot enter. The cut parts of

the rootstock and scion shouldbe completely covered.

Now the grafting work is complete

Care for the seedling after stone graftingAt first the grafted seedling is very weak. Even though it

may be well grafted, if it is not cared for properly the graftcan fail and all the work will be wasted. Care should be givenas described below.

The grafted seedlingsshould be watered

from below, not above.

• The seedling should not be touched or moved.• The seedling needs lots of water. However, water cannot be

given from above because the falling water will shake theseedling and the graft can break. Therefore, water should begiven from the bottom by pouring it into the trench where thepolypots are placed. This will seep into the polypots throughthe holes, and go directly to the roots. This is better for theseedling.

• The seedlings need to be kept in a moist environment. So coverthe nursery with plastic and bury the edges, like in the hot bednursery, so no air can get in. Only open when watering.

The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Booklet 14 - Stone Grafting14 15

Bury a porous clay pot about 50cmaway from the newly planted mango

seedling. When this is filled withwater, it soaks out of the pot directly

to the root zone of the seedling.Instead of a pot, the hardened shellof a bottle gourd can be used, with

a small hole made in the base.

Bottlegourd

clay pot

Mango seedling

stone mulch

• The seedlings should be well shaded.• Within 1-2 weeks you will know if the graft has been suc-

cessful or not. If not, the top will dry out and die.• If the graft is successful, the seedling can be planted out

into its permanent position after 2 months in the nursery.For this, a pit needs to be dug and composted beforehand.

• The mango may flower after a year, but it is not good toallow it to fruit for at least 3 years. During this time, theflowers should be removed to stop fruiting.

• How to plant fruit trees such as the mango is descibed inthe Fruit Tree Planting booklet.

æ

Æ

Mr IshwariPrasad Panti

Farmers'ExperienceFarmers'Experience

From Nepal, Rupandehi dis-trict, Butwal town, Mr IshwariPrasad Panti is a horticultureexpert who has done lots ofstone grafting. Now let's hearabout his experience.

Mr Ishwari Prasad Panti

The first thing to pay atten-tion to in stone grafting is thenursery. The rootstock as well asthe mother tree need good care.When grafted, the seedlings should be under plastic, and inthe shade. In the full sun, all the work will be wasted. Toomuch wind can also dry out the seedlings. For the rootstock,plant ripe seed from wild, local mangos (which grow every-where) in the nursery. After the rootstock has germinated, it isgrafted when it is red. The scion from the mother tree shouldalso be red. One week before grafting the scion should betrimmed while still on the tree. The rootstock should be cut to3inches tall, and slit down the middle. The scion should bethe same size, and cut to a 1 inch point. Making sure theedges are matching, the scion is inserted into the rootstock.This method is very quick, and I can get a 65% success rate.It's also possible to stone graft even when the rootstock seedhas just split and the stem is just pushing out.

Gri

hast

hi C

omm

unic

atio

ns

Read On !

Integrated Fruit Orchard bookletInformation is given in this booklet on how to plantfruit trees with various other multi-purpose trees,giving extra and quicker benefits for less work.

Fruit Tree Planting booklet

After raising good seedlings in the fruit nursery, ifthey're not planted well all the work can go towaste. Information is given in this booklet.

Agroforestry bookletPlanting trees on farmland can bring farmers manybenefits. Different types of trees grow better indifferent places. This booklet gives information onhow to plant trees to increase farm diversity andproductivity, without affecting crop yield.

Subjects Related to Stone Grafting

Pit Latrine bookletA fruit tree grows best if planted in a big pit. If youhave an old pit latrine to plant in, you can doublethe benefits. In this booklet learn how to make ahygienic, cheap and productive pit latrine.

Read On !