Asexual Propagation: Grafting

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In grafting, a freshly cut section of stem with buds, called a scion, is joined to another plant called the stock. The upper stem of the stock is severed and the scion is joined to the lower stem. The scion is securely attached to the stock, and the tissues of the two plants grow into each other, forming a single plant. The scion produces the stems, leaves, and flowers on the new plant and the stock provides the root system.

Grafting combines desirable qualities from one species, such as disease resistance or the ability to grow in waterlogged soils, with desirable qualities of another, such as the ability to produce high quality fruit. Grafting is often used to make fruit trees more vigorous and productive. Bud grafting is a form of grafting in which a single bud cut from a stem is grafted onto the stock. It can be carried out more rapidly than other forms of grafting and is used widely in the nursery industry to propagate hundreds or thousands of plants in a relatively short amount of time. In nature, roots of oak trees of the same species commonly graft together, hastening the spread of diseases such as oak wilt, a fungal disease that kills a variety of oak trees.


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