Grafting

Grafting
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Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural method where tissues from one plant are inserted into the tissues of another plant so that the two sets of tissues can join and grow as one. The technique has gained massive usage in asexual propagation of commercially grown plants: for agricultural and horticultural forms of trade. One plant is selected for its roots and is called the rootstock, the other plant is selected because of its flowers, stems, leaves, or fruits and is known as the scion. The scion part contains the desired genes which need to be duplicated in the grafted plant. For the process of grafting to be successful, the vascular cambium tissues of both the scion and the rootstock must be placed in contact. Both tissues must remain alive until the graft starts growing CITATION Lew08 \l 1033 (Lewis & McE, 2008). There are several grafting techniques in use. The technique used depends on several factors such as the preference of the person grafting, the skills of the grafter, the level of grafting success anticipated, purpose of the grafting, time required to achieve the union among so many other factors. However, grafting is not always an easy task to carry out. It takes a lot of practice for one to be regarded as a grafting expert. Grafting is carried out for so many purposes. Grafting can be carried out to repair a damaged plant. In this case for example, a branch from a desired plant replaces a branch of an injured plant. The scion and rootstock of two plants to be grafted must be of the same type. Grafting can also be done to strengthen the resistance of a plant to certain kinds of diseases, and adaptation to certain harsh climates: a plant that cannot survive in dry areas can be made to survive in this climatic condition by grafting with a plant that is adapted to surviving in dry areas. Grafting can also be aimed at producing a new species of a plant. in this manner, two different plants are granted and they end up producing a completely new type of a plant CITATION Cat77 \l 1033 (Foster, 1977). Grafting is usually done during winter when both the rootstock and scion are dormant.
Types of grafts
There are several types of grafts. The type of graft used determines the type of grafting technique used as well as the use of the technique. The basic types of grafts used and uses of the grafting technique are as follows:
Cleft Graft
This is a common method used for top working both fruiting and flowering plants with the aim of changing varieties. Cleft grafting can be done either on main stems or on lateral branches. Rootstock used for cleft grafting range from one to four inches in diameter and straight grained. Scion should be about quarter inch in diameter and long enough to have at least three buds. It should be noted that the temperature for grafting wax should be hot enough to flow but not too hot to kill the plant tissues CITATION Nil98 \l 1033 (Kulkarni, 1998).
Bark Graft
Bark grafts are used mainly to top work many fruiting and flowering plants. Bark grafting can be used to rootstock of larger diameter relative to cleft grafting. Unlike cleft grafting, bark grafting is mainly done during early spring when the bark can...