Grafting onto black walnut seedling/saplings?

I wanted to find some scion wood from improved black walnut varieties and also from Juglans regia and see if I can graft onto the many black walnuts I have around my various areas. Any tips or experience doing this? I am looking for sources of good scion wood, especially for J. regia that will produce reliably in this more northern part of the range.

Ray Moses wrote:I wanted to find some scion wood from improved black walnut varieties and also from Juglans regia and see if I can graft onto the many black walnuts I have around my various areas. Any tips or experience doing this? I am looking for sources of good scion wood, especially for J. regia that will produce reliably in this more northern part of the range.

Did you ever succeed at this, Ray? I am going to try some this spring, but with scionwood from one of my own trees which has jumbo nuts. I have a lot of field volunteers to graft onto, and so far have about 20 pieces of scionwood in the fridge, but I have never grafted before. I have recently watched 20+ hours of YouTube about grafting.

Terry, no I have not yet done this, I am doing the same as you - reading and studying up on this. I have some sources for scionwood from grafted cultivars that I am going to try. Keep in touch and let me know how your progress is going. What type of grafts are you thinking of doing?

Ray Moses wrote:What type of grafts are you thinking of doing?

Bark grafting, mostly but if I can get some good matches on wood diameter I will also try some whip grafting. I cut some scionwood last week, probably too soon, but I am over eager. I may try rooting them as cuttings instead, and wait a bit longer to cut more for scionwood.

Just noticed that it's J. regia that you're doing? I hadn't thought of trying to put that on J. nigra fieldstock. Hmm. Maybe we could trade some scionwood? I am starting my own J. nigra cultivar. I don't know all the characteristics, like flowering, etc., yet., but last fall the mother tree for my new cultivar - Juglans nigra 'Clair & Peggy' - produced nuts larger overall than any other J. nigra cultivar I can find data for. Its nuts averaged 28 grams when cured. It also slight beat-out or statistically tied, the leader in terms of amount of kernel, by gram per nut. Tastes good, too, and when cracked comes out easy in quarters

Ray, any of the walnut family will graft onto a black walnut. Bud grafting can be very successful on branches, If you are planning on replacing a branch then the bark graft or cleft graft would be good choices.

Thanks for the reply.