Grafting honeyberry onto honeysuckle?

Here in the US Northeast, honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.) is an undesirable invasive*. People are paid to remove it, and unfortunately some do it by spraying glyphosate. A friend manually digs it up but I wonder if a Weed Wrench or Uprooter would make more pleasant work of it...

But Honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea, is a permaculture plant I keep hearing about. I've searched on the web for info on grafting it to other varieties of Lonicera but have turned up nothing. Anyone have any experience with that? If not, I'll try it this year and report results.




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*to humans. Lepidoptera caterpillars differ!

Maybe you can be the first to try it. Seems like a good idea to me if you can find scion wood. I've got two plants, but they're only 10" tall so not big enough to spare any wood yet. Maybe in a couple years.

I had bookmarked this report of someone have success with grafting honeyberry onto honeysuckle: http://www.permacultureactivist.net/articles/87%20Guerrilla%20Grafting.pdf
Not clear if he is in West Virginia, or Upstate NY (Finger Lakes Permaculture)

Haven't tried it out yet myself; try it and report back!

Hi Fredy

This is something I'm also curious about. To graft honeyberry onto honeysuckle is something I've considered trying too, since the bush is common around the upper Midwest as well. Honeysuckle has some toxicity. I read in the Grafter's Handbook (R.J. Garner) that a toxicity trait in rootstock could possibly be transferred to the scion wood, ( and maybe to the fruit in speculation ). Not sure if this is a big thing to worry about. The level of toxicity doesn't appear to be extremely threatening when compared to other things, but still, it is there. I don't wish to discourage, I'm just offering a thought. It might be something to look into further or to consider including the awareness of in experimentation. I'm curious too! Good luck!

Grafting is the choice when the alternatives are difficult, expensive, non-existent, etc . None of those apply to honeyberry/haskap. Honeyberry propagates easily from seed, dormant hardwood cuttings, and softwood cuttings. The techniques are cheap and easy basically involving a root stimulating hormone such as Dip 'n Grow, coarse sand, and, for the softwood cuttings, a "mist" setup which can be as simple as a plastic shoebox. You need the "mist" setup to reduce transpiration. Cutting leaves in half is important as well. Keeping cuttings in the shade is essential.

Thanks for your replies. Davis, I'm glad to see an experienced grafter thought that was worth trying, but at the time of writing he had only just done the grafts. That was a couple years ago so if I can track him down and find out what came of his mass grafting, I'll post it here.

Becky, that's a really interesting point and a good thing to know overall. Maybe I should pick up a copy of that book. Barring fancy tests, I can only wonder if the wildlife would eat the honeyberries (though their chow is often our poison). Even if that were all that happened, it would be a net gain!

Mike, of course it would be more effort than propagating them from seed or cuttings, but still less effort than uprooting dozens of honeysuckle trees.

Fredy,
I wanted to find out if you ever got an answer on the topic of grafting onto Honeysuckle? I do not want to start experimenting unless someone has successfully grafted onto Honeysuckle in the past. i am not thinking of using the root stock for anything edible, i just have sooo much of it to dig up - seems like a waste.

On a similar inquiry, anyone ever grafted onto Buckthorn before?

thank you for any help you can provide.
Paul

I have had limited success grafting honeyberries. Maybe 5 successful grafts over 50 attempts. Some grafts are 5 years old now. Not sure if its compatability, or the fact that the bark is so thin and fragile? ...or it maybe timing? I am far from giving up as you will read.

Down here in WV im experimenting with some of the new genetics coming out and have had some luck with Blizzard last year producing fruit in 2 years on a graft with robust growth. If we can find selections that are closely related to our invasive species, that would improve our chances. I am actively growing out seed from plants that have taken to grafting and will start to graft from those when they are big enough to harvest scion. From there i hope to genetically select the most compatatable individuals.

The biggest tip i can offer mechanically is a trick i figured out last year wherein before i rind graft, i wrap the area with masking tape before i cut the trunk. This supports the extremely thin bark from tearing and will hold the scion. I can also get good pressure to hold the scion firmly in place.

I usually primp my bushes a couple of years ahead as well. The early growth of a plant will be wild and then the plant will send up straight leaders in the middle to get sun after about 3 years. I will cut all the early scraggly growth and give that central leader a year or two to establish apical dominance and all the plants energy. This will improve my odds as well.

We arent far from having extensive naturalized honeyberry plantations with no hole digging, irrigation, rabbit protection, etc.

This is very exciting. I found that I have a bunch of Amur honeysuckle growing on my property. I might try to graft a few next spring. I wonder if Japanese varieties would be more compatible considering that Amur honeysuckle comes from Japan.

The main reason why I am interested is because I have a Walnut Grove and the Amur honeysuckle thrives underneath them.

Bill Whipple wrote:I have had limited success grafting honeyberries. Maybe 5 successful grafts over 50 attempts. Some grafts are 5 years old now. Not sure if its compatability, or the fact that the bark is so thin and fragile? ...or it maybe timing? I am far from giving up as you will read.

Down here in WV im experimenting with some of the new genetics coming out and have had some luck with Blizzard last year producing fruit in 2 years on a graft with robust growth. If we can find selections that are closely related to our invasive species, that would improve our chances. I am actively growing out seed from plants that have taken to grafting and will start to graft from those when they are big enough to harvest scion. From there i hope to genetically select the most compatatable individuals.

The biggest tip i can offer mechanically is a trick i figured out last year wherein before i rind graft, i wrap the area with masking tape before i cut the trunk. This supports the extremely thin bark from tearing and will hold the scion. I can also get good pressure to hold the scion firmly in place.

I usually primp my bushes a couple of years ahead as well. The early growth of a plant will be wild and then the plant will send up straight leaders in the middle to get sun after about 3 years. I will cut all the early scraggly growth and give that central leader a year or two to establish apical dominance and all the plants energy. This will improve my odds as well.

We arent far from having extensive naturalized honeyberry plantations with no hole digging, irrigation, rabbit protection, etc.

Bill, what grafting technique do you use for this? I assume w&t or a cleft graft would work well, but I was thinking about trying my zenport style tool. Thank you for the tip on using tape for the bark.

This project reminds me of a few discussions on growingfruit.org about grafting blueberries onto sparkleberry to have blueberries in non acidic soil.

Please keep us updated on production and future graft compatability on your successes, as well as which cultivars you are using other than Blizzard.

Any updates on this thread?