Patch Bud:
The patch bud is a popular form of budding in the propagation of species that are rather difficult to propagate, Essentially, the patch-bud method consists of removing a square or rectanguiar piece of bark from the stock and inserting in its place a bud of a desired variety on a similarly shaped piece of bark. Two parallel cuts, ⅗ to ⅞ Inch apart, are made on the stock, preferably with a two- bladed budding knife. The cuts should be made perpendicular to the stock and should be about 1 inch long. With a sharp pocket knife, two longitudinal cuts are nest made. They likewise should be about ⅗ to ⅞ Inch apart, and each should intersect the two horizontal cuts, resulting in the square or rectangular "patch'. Similar cuts are made above below, and on each side of a bud on a bud stick with the same tools that were used on the stock. Care should be exercised in order to avoid splitting the bark beneath the bud. The bark should be lifted carefully on one side, or both sides if necessary, and the bud loosened by a lateral twist. The bud is held in place on the scion while the patch of the stock is flipped off, and the bud is then quickly transferred to its place.
In making the transfer it is important that the delicate cambium cells on the the underside of the bud and on the exposed surface of the stock be subjected as little as possible to mechanical injury and exposure to air. The bud should fit snugly in its new location and should be tied immediately. It is then tied and made airtight with cotton twine and paraffin, waxed tape, wide rubber budding strips, and other similar materials.
Stock that rang in size ⅓ to 4 inches in diameter may be patch-budded quite successfully. For the larger ones it is usually necessary to pare the rough outer portion of the bark down to the thickness of the bud wood bark at the time the bud is put in place. This precaution is essential to the success of the inserted bud in that it allows the pressure of the tying material to be exerted on the bark of the bud rather than on the thick shoulder of bark on either side of it. Buds for larger stocks should be selected with special care. They should be taken from smooth, straight bud sticks, and only large, plump buds should be used, small buds are difficult to force and should be discarded.
Patch buds may be inserted successfully at any season of the year when the bark will slip freely. Those that are set early in a season are usually forced promptly, while the ones that are set late remain dormant over winter and are forced the following spring.
There are several other methods of budding in which buds unite with the stock in much the same manner as the patch bud and differ from the patch bud only in minor details. These are conveniently considered in connection with patch budding.
Raid bud: Ring budding differs from patch budding in that a cylinder of bark is removed from the stock in order to form a matrix; and the bud, when placed, extends nearly if not all the way around the stock. The stock is completely girdled, and if the bud fails to unite the pot part of the stock ultimately dies. The nature of the method renders it impractical except for small stocks, those not more than ⅔ to ⅗ inch in diameter. A modified patch bud known as the bud differs prom the patch bud in that the two horizontal cuts on the stock are intersected by only one longitudinal cut. The two flaps of bark on either side of the longitudinal cut are lifted slightly, and the bud patch is inserted underneath, from above or below. In preparing the bud, the two horizontal cuts are made and the sides cut so as to form a square; but the longitudinal cuts are everything.
