Increasing the amount of walnut (Juglans regia L.) exports requires production of high quality and uniform yield. Grafting or budding of walnut seedlings with scions of superior high quality cultivars are the best and quickest ways to produce uniform walnut plant material. However, walnut grafting and budding can be difficult with low success rates. To overcome these problems, new techniques have been developed including soft grafting. In this research, effects of rootstock age, genotype and date of grafting were studied on soft grafting success. Two selected genotypes i.e., ‘Ziaabady’ and ‘Jahad’ were grafted onto 7- or 12-month-old potted rootstocks on the 11 May, 11 June, 11 July and 11 August as a factorial complete randomized block design with three replications of 10 plants per plot. Genotype and date of grafting had highly significant effects on grafting success. ‘Jahad’ grafted on 11 August showed highest success. Age of rootstock had no significant effect on grafting success. The highest individual treatment success (100%) was obtained by grafting younger rootstock by genotype of ‘Jahad’ 1 on 11 July. According to these results, soft grafting could be one of the best methods for walnut propagation in Iran.
