Due Buoi Fruit Tree Grafting Knife

The Due Buoi grafting knife for fruit trees is a straight grafting knife with a 5cm (2in) steel blade set in an ebonite handle. It is particularly suited for bud grafting thanks to its short, pointed blade that ensures precise work on the rootstock. It is also suitable for other grafting techniques such as whip and tongue, cleft, omega, or side grafting. Bud grafting is mainly practiced on fruit bushes, vines, and roses because their pith is often fragile and does not tolerate cleft grafting well. This technique is particularly recommended for stone fruit trees.

Dimensions: 

- Head: 5mm

- Total length: 190mm (8in)

This fruit tree grafting knife is a small handheld tool with an extremely sharp, pointed, and relatively short steel blade that remains easy to handle. It is used to graft bushes to obtain plants identical to the scion, while benefiting from the qualities of the chosen rootstock. This practice is reserved for experienced gardeners and professionals as it requires good technical mastery, but with this knife and the following advice, you can achieve beautiful grafts. This knife is mainly used for bud grafting, which is primarily practiced on fruit trees, vines, and roses. It involves taking "buds" from the plant to be propagated, that is, an eye located on a healthy and medium-sized branch of the desired plant, called the scion.

The first piece of advice is to wear gloves because grafting requires precise and quick movements with a perfectly sharpened tool.

To obtain good results with this type of graft, it is best if your scion and rootstock have a similar diameter.

Grafting in August using budding grafting:

On the rootstock: at the desired height for grafting, trace a T with the sharp part of the knife. With the spatula of the grafting knife, lift the bark on each side of the T to expose the cambium (the most vital part of the plant, where the most sap circulates). Be careful! A properly sharpened budding knife can cut your thumb just as easily as cutting the rootstock.

On the scion: choose an eye and cut the leaf, leaving a small amount of petiole. With the grafting knife, start 2cm (1in) above the eye and slide along the stem to lift the cambium up to about 1cm below the eye. Once the bud has been removed, insert it into the T on the rootstock, paying attention to the direction of insertion, with the leaf pointing upwards. Gently compress the bud so that the two cambiums come into contact. Cut off the part of the bud that exceeds the incision so that the ligature completely surrounds the graft. For dormant bud grafting (the bud stays on during winter), you can completely cover the eye. In spring, you will need to cut the rootstock above the graft so that the bud can emerge. You can repeat the operation on the opposite side of the rootstock stem to obtain a beautiful balanced head during regrowth.