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I have a large jacaranda tree in my front yard (perhaps 30-50 yrs old). I recently pruned a few branches that were about 2" thick. You can see one fresh cut in the picture below and there are a few more in different places.

Now all of these are within an arm's reach and I was wondering if it would be possible to graft a scion from a fruit tree or another flowering tree onto each of these new stubs. Normally, grafting is done between "similar" plants. The wikipedia article on rootstock says:

The rootstock can be a different species from the scion, but must be closely related.

But how "close" is close enough? Same genus/family/order? It might be easy to find similar flowering trees to jacaranda, but is it possible at all to graft any fruit trees onto this?

I haven't set my mind on any particular fruit/flowering tree and this is more of an experiment rather than wanting to actually grow something for consumption (if it works, well and good!). If it matters, I'm in Southern California, so there really isn't any winter to speak of and temperatures hardly go below 8-10 ºC (46-50º F).

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  • I'll let someone with such expertise provide a "real" answer, but as I've stated previously (even though it was ridiculed at the time), "In gardening (nearly) everything is worth a try (IMHO)". You do state, "this is more of an experiment...", therefore I say go for it, not ventured, nothing gained... Worst case scenario (via educated guess), the grafts don't take & you lose them...
    – Mike Perry
    Oct 20, 2011 at 21:22
  • It's an experiment for sure, but if there's something that's better suited to these trees, I'd go with that, rather than randomly trying different ones. The experiment is with trying to get a graft successfully, not finding out which tree will graft on to jacarandas :D
    – anon
    Oct 20, 2011 at 21:25
  • Maybe I'm reading your question incorrectly (not fully understanding it), but in that question you say you wish to graft a fruit/flowering tree to your jacaranda tree, but then in your above comment you say you're more concerned with trying to achieve a successful graft... Do you want success or "experiment" with fruit/flowering type trees?
    – Mike Perry
    Oct 20, 2011 at 21:41
  • I'm aiming for success, but it's an experiment because I have never done this before (and I won't be upset if I fail). So I don't mind what fruit/flowering tree that I graft on to it, as long as it's the most compatible with Jacarandas.
    – anon
    Oct 20, 2011 at 21:58
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    You should practice cleft grafting using 1 year old sprouts from this same tree until you have that skill. My next bet would be another jacaranda variety. I doubt there is a fruit tree that is compatible but would like to understand why. Finally, you get to choose the rootstock on new trees but economics can dictate grafting new scions on commercially undesirable but mature fruit trees. Which would then be an interstem combination of 3 varieties.
    – Erik Olson
    Oct 21, 2011 at 19:25

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Definitely not edible fruiting trees. Typically grafting is same species, sometimes same genus and rarely from outside the genus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bignoniaceae#Genera Closely related genera would be your best bet if you want something other than a different type of Jacaranda.

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