Back in 2015, I showed how I
re-grafted a tree a tree whose original graft was killed by mid-winter cold. I ended up removing the dead wood and making a new graft on a trunk sprout that emerged below the original graft. When I was done grafting the tree looked like a crooked mess (photo at right).
The new graft took and has grown vigorously for the past 4 years. The question is: Will this tree always have a crooked trunk?
The photo at left shows the trunk of my re-grafted tree as it appears today. The white paint on the trunk indicates the location of the graft union and the fact this tree is a Kanza tree. You can still see a slight wobble in the tree trunk but for the most part this tree has straightened out over time. Over the past 4 years, this tree has grown wider tree rings on one side of the tree to allow the tree to better balance the weight of the tree's branches. The result is a nearly straight trunk able to easily support the growing canopy of this young tree.
A closer look at the trunk reveals that you can still see the remnants of the pruning cut I made to remove the original dead graft. Below the graft union (white paint) a knot in the trunk indicates the location of the completely healed over tree wound (photo at right).
In a few more years, all evidence of my crooked graft will completely disappear as this tree will become just another Kanza tree in my orchard.
