Brian E. Humphrey - The Bench Grafters Handbook: Principles & Practice

The Bench Grafters Handbook

Principles & Practice

You see sweet maid, we marry a gentler scion to the wildest stock and make conceive a bark of baser kind by bud of nobler race: this is an art which does not mend nature, change it rather, but the art itself is nature.

W. Shakespeare. A Winters Tale. 1623. Act 4 scene 4. Polixenes (King of Bohemia) to Perdita (daughter of the King of Sicily).

The Bench Grafters Handbook

Principles & Practice

by
Brian E. Humphrey

CRC Press

Taylor & Francis Group

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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

2019 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-04622-1 (Paperback)

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-367-22484-4 (Hardback)

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Humphrey, Brian E., author.

Title: The bench grafters handbook : principles & practice / author: Brian E. Humphrey.

Description: Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019004176| ISBN 9780367224844 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138046221 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781351694933 (epub) | ISBN 9781351694926 (mobi/kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Grafting. | Plant propagation.

Classification: LCC SB123.65 .H86 2019 | DDC 631.5/3--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004176

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Contents

The bibliography bears witness to the significant part played by the authors of the papers presented at the International Plant Propagators Society (IPPS) Proceedings, from 1951 onwards. Without this treasure house of knowledge, the author of any book on woody plant propagation would find the availability of information considerably reduced. The fund of knowledge and experience recorded by a host of highly skilled plant propagators willing to uphold the motto of the society, To seek and share, has become an irreplaceable asset to any student of plant propagation and has proved an invaluable aid in writing this book.

I have to thank the late Robert Garner, author of The Grafters Handbook , for his interest in my career at an early stage. I well remember him coming to give Kew students one of his electrifying lectures in the late 1950s. I seem to recall we kept him so long with questions he nearly missed the last train from London to his home. Subsequently, he visited the Hillier propagation unit, led by Peter Dummer, where I was then working, and we were able to take advantage of his fund of knowledge. His book has been the mainstay of grafters information for decades.

I have also been fortunate to have had as a friend the late Bruce Macdonald, the author of a major book on woody plant production, Practical Woody Plant Propagation for Nursery Growers . His book stands as a main contributor to our knowledge on the topic and the section on field grafting and bench grafting still serves as a reliable guide.

Aside from these, I have a large number of individuals to thank for their support, assistance and encouragement, always freely given, some over the many years it has taken to produce this book.

Nicholas Dunn, the third-generation nurseryman of F. P. Matthews, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, UK, has been a loyal and supportive help to me since the very early days. He has always given encouragement when inevitable setbacks and problems have occurred, and when requested always provided invaluable technical expertise. I am enormously grateful to him.

Topics with a strongly scientific base have presented a particular challenge and I must record my grateful thanks for assistance in this sphere, most particularly to Professor Donald Pigott, previously Director of Cambridge University Botanic Garden and Dr. Keith Loach, past Head of Nurserystock Research at the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute Littlehampton Sussex, UK. My grateful thanks also to Dr. Richard Harrison-Murray of RHM Science, previously of the East Malling Research Station; Dr. Ross Cameron of Sheffield University; Dr. Peter Gasson of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Dr. David Hanke of Cambridge University; Dr. AJ Harris of Oberlin College, Ohio; Dr. Hugh Morris previously of Ulm University, Germany; and Associate Professor Tom Ranney of North Carolina State University. My thanks are also due to Professor Geoffrey Dixon of Green Gene International, UK for help on technical matters and also his valuable practical advice and assistance on acquiring a publisher for the book. For help with an associated topic, Conservation, I am grateful to Dr. Paul Smith of Botanic Gardens International, Kew and Dr. Chuck Cannon of the Centre for Tree Science, Morton Arboretum, Illinois. In this connection and for other assistance related to graft compatibility tests, I must express my grateful thanks to Tony Kirkham Head of Arboretum Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

For assistance with the chapter on Grapevine production, my thanks are due to Chris Foss of Plumpton College, Sussex, UK.

Individuals within the nursery industry in the United Kingdom, mainland Europe and the US have been kind enough to spend time responding to requests for information despite the demands of running a nursery or nursery department. Sometimes this included my visiting their establishments. My very grateful thanks are due to the following nurserymen and nurserywomen who have provided loyal and supportive assistance often on a repeated basis over months or years.

In America: W. Bill Barnes Barnes Horticultural Services, Pennsylvania; Tim Brotzman Brotzmans Nursery Inc., Ohio; Talon Buchholz Buchholz and Buchholz Nursery, Oregon; T . Burchell Burchell Nursery Inc., California; Bobby Green Green Nurseries, Alabama; Bill Hendricks Klyn Nurseries Inc., Ohio; Mark Krautmann Heritage Nurseries, Oregon; Stacia Lynde Carlton Nurseries, Oregon; Guy Meacham J. Frank Schmidt and Son, Oregon; and Brian Upchurch Highland Creek Nursery, North Carolina.