Grafting - Asexual/Vegetative propagation

 Grafting

Grafting is also known as graft H is a horticulture cultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined together so that they continue their growth together. In this technique tissues from one plant, the scion is attached to another, the rootstock. Scion is the short piece of detached shoot containing single or several dormant buds that grow the shoots and canopy of the grafted plant. While the rootstock is the lower portion of the graft which develops into the root system of the grafted plant. The grafting technique is most commonly used in asexual/vegetative propagation of commercially grown plants for the horticultural and agricultural business. In most cases, one plant is chosen for its roots and this is known as stock or rootstock. The other plant is chosen for its stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits and is known as scion.

Before going into detail about grafting techniques and advantages, let me explain a few scenarios. Have you ever come across one amongst miracle trees? Like an apple tree that produces 6 various types of apples or a tree that produces different fruits like plums, peaches, and other fruits, all on the same stem. The other scenario you buy an orange tree, that has strong roots with one variety but the delicious fruit of another variety, what do you think? Like for generations farmers, botanists, and home gardeners have been using plant biology to make these ideas into reality through a technique called grafting.

Grafting methods

There are several types of grafting methods that you can choose depending upon what you want to accomplish.

Approach grafting:

In this method two fully formed plants attached together at their stems leaving the leaves to allow and the roots below impact without completely cutting anything on both the plants. A small part on the side of each stem is stripped off the bark and the newly exposed tissue is pressed together. The stems are tied together to allow time for the tissue to heal over. This kind of like forming a scab over a cut or owned in the medical cut. This plant scab will bind two stems together permanently.

T-budding:

It is a technique in which scion is reduced to a single bud instead of a whole branch. The bud is removed from its original plant along with a small portion of the path and the underlying tissue. It is then nestled into a cut made into the rootstock's stem and tied in place. After the graft has healed over, the stem of the rootstock above the newly grafted bud is removed, and also the bud will develop.

Cleft grafting:

In this type of graft, the rootstock is often larger than the scion actually a split or cleft is made into the rootstock which is wedged open. The scion is stripped of his bark at one end and the stripped end is sliced into a sharp angle. This angled scion is then placed into the rootstock cleft and bounded up until the graft heals. It is possible to graft more than one scion to a single rootstock in this manner and this is the preferred method for grafting fruit trees. There are many other specialized techniques for grafting but the basic method is the same as exposing the cambium and encourage it to form new vascular tissue. The more cambium exposes, the stronger of the graft, the new plant parts will live.

Factors for successful grafting

    1. Compatibility of scion and stock

Grafting involves the joining of vascular tissues between the scion and rootstock and lacking vascular cambium cannot be normally grafted. As a general rule, the closer the two plants are genetically the more likely the graft union will be successful.

    2. Cambium alignment and pressure

The vascular cambium of the scion and the stock should be tightly pressed together and oriented in the direction of normal growth. Proper alignment and pressure encourage the tissues to join quickly allowing the nutrients and water to transfer from the stock route to the scion.

    3. Proper care of the graft site is a must

After grafting, it is important to nursing the grafted plant back to health for a period of time. Various grafting tapes and waxes are to be used to protect the scion and stock from excessive water loss. Furthermore, depending on the type of graft twine or string is used to add structural support to the grafting site. Sometimes, it is necessary to prune the site as the rootstock may produce shoots that inhibit the growth of the scion.