Grafting to create the perfect Bonsai Mom

Welcome boys and girls, sit on down and I will tell you my dream.

It started last August when my recently acquired master kush clone came home with the Borg. I, an admitted neophyte, panicked and went medieval on the scourge. I used 4 different methods to eliminate them and when I thought I was loosing I decided to start some seeds that were given to me by a friend. At least if my clone died I might still have some seedlings to work with.
Well as they say sometimes it's better to be lucky than talented and not only did my clone make a full recovery and all the mites are dead but two seeds sprouted.
I keep a clean setup and filter the air coming and going quite well so unless I bring them in, there will be no more Borg.
Well I played a little LST on my clone and the seedlings and vegged them for about 35 days from seed sprout and went 12/12.
A little before this I took about 8 clippings from the three plants and started to try clones. I made a small cabinet for the clones and started them going.
Again luck was on my side and by the time I realized that 4 clones were good the seedlings declared their sex and they both are ladies..

Now I had 3 ladies in flower (1 midsize master kush and two small seedling mystery meat) and clones of each thriving. I figured that which ever one turned out to be the best bud producer would become my mother plant. My own version of the Clone Wars..

I was toking on a bag of quality vaped bud reading about bonsai moms and it hit me.
I could keep a mom for years in a small space, take a clone every 2-3 weeks, vegg for 3 weeks, and send straight to the flower cabinet.
The only thing better than having a bonsai mom forever would be if I could graft two other strains onto her and have a mom of many flavors forever.

I did some homework, watched a few videos, and asked a few questions on the forums and now I just did surgery on my Master Kush and Seedling clones.
I grafted both seedling clone branches onto my Kush clone. She is expected to be my Bonsai Mom of many flavors!!!

I worked in a clean environment. I used new razorblades, RO water, Schultz powder rooting hormone, gauze and a bit of masking tape.


First I set up the area for surgery and then fired up my vaporizer for an attitude adjustment. (I know, normally the patient gets anesthetized but )

Then I brought the patients in.
I set up two cups with RO H2O for the cuttings to go into right after getting cut.
I decided to try the notch and wedge technique this time. I cut the donor branch and then after clearing the nearest leaf I (using the razor) cut a point :arrow: on the donor and placed it in the cup of water. --->
Next I located a slightly fatter branch on the recipient plant and trimmed just above a node while trimming off the leaf as well. I then (with the razor) slit down >===-- the center of the stalk about 3/8 of an inch being careful not to open the wound.
I pulled the donor branch out of the water and touched the tip into the rooting powder shaking off the extra and gently slipped the donor wedge into the notch. I wrapped the joint snugly:hug: with surgical gauze creating a gauze splint and taped it with a little piece of masking tape being careful not to tape to the plant.
I used some long pipe cleaners to act as supports and gave the ladies a spritz of momjuice.

All that is left to do is wait and see how things went.
If all goes well I will end up with a Master Kush / Berry smelling / metallic smelling Bonsai mom that will live forever.
As a backup I placed a piece of Kush on each of the seedling clones with the hope that at least one of them will take and make my dream a reality.

So either I am really really stupid and I have killed all three clones, Or I just stunted them all and may end up with crap,
OR
I get lucky again and have my dream become reality.
I will post pics next week once I see how things are going.

What do you think?

Was this a good idea or ?????



Peace

I'm subscribing to this one.... Don't know if it would work or not; but I'd love to see it work... Keep us updated!!!

I'v always thought about this cuz of my space restrictions one mom in like 2 gallons with 4 different strains grafted mmmm

i've heard..

i've heard..

i've heard that mj plants can take a graft pretty well and I've also heard that the plant isn't too particular on what gets grafted where. for instance, i read that the barley or hops plant is similar enough to cannabis that you could graft cannabis branches onto the barley plant. not exactly sure why you'd want to do that, but its supposed to be possible.

This is possible to do, but would be hard for anyone but very experienced propagators. Grafting herbaceous cuttings would be very hard for the average gardener. The scion of the donor plant will be the exact clone of the donor plant, not a combination of the genetic traits of the grafted plant and the scion.

It would be much easier to keep a clone of each strain in a separate pot than try to do this grafting technique.

Somewhere I saw a youtube video of gentleman who did just that due to space constraints
I could be wrong but I believe he had 5 different stains on 4 different moms. I will look for the video in a bit.

Got it..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGhWLaTopL4

I have seen this video and it looks very suspicious to me. Waving an out of focus camera around a bunch of buds and label tags for 6 minutes and 15 seconds and showing the actual graft for only 15 seconds in a fuzzy out of focus shot on the graft. A real graft would show a much bigger callus roll of tissue at the graft junction than shown on this plant.
I have propagated plants for over 25 years and something is wrong with this video. Any one can post anything, right or wrong on the internet, just because this is on you tube doesn't prove anything.
The comments after the video were also very uneducated and many untrue statements.
The best way to settle this question is to follow the OP's results as this progresses and see what happens.

Pointswest said:

I have seen this video and it looks very suspicious to me. Waving an out of focus camera around a bunch of buds and label tags for 6 minutes and 15 seconds and showing the actual graft for only 15 seconds in a fuzzy out of focus shot on the graft. A real graft would show a much bigger callus roll of tissue at the graft junction than shown on this plant.
I have propagated plants for over 25 years and something is wrong with this video. Any one can post anything, right or wrong on the internet, just because this is on you tube doesn't prove anything.
The comments after the video were also very uneducated and many untrue statements.
The best way to settle this question is to follow the OP's results as this progresses and see what happens.

Click to expand...

Oh I am not saying its the end all be all by any means, just something I came across in my many research binges.
I Thought at the least Urban Grower was a touch more reputable then just the random youtuber but for sure I can appreciate skepticism.
I am with you though as the proof is in the practical application for all to follow. I very much look forward to seeing how this works out as I am on the opposite end of the spectrum to you. Just now attempting my first clones and with any luck looking forward to 25 years of success.

"midnight gardener" is right. Idk what you're talking about out of focus or anything, those colas all look different and the cannabis grafting is no different from a rootstock and a scion of an orchard tree. (minus the tar), which he said you could use clonex or something instead. I've been waiting to give this a try on an outdoor grow, I'm just waiting for the tree to bulk up.

When grafted plants get going you must keep the more rigorous branches in check by trimming them back, other wise the strongest variety will take over the whole plant & the weaker varieties will suffer. So remember to trim & keep plant in check, well trimmed & balanced for all grafts to take off. I have seen a three variety graft, I think its a waste of time my self as you will gain more by growing regular clones without all the fuss of grafts & then keeping a constant eye on the grafted plants progress. Unless you enjoy as a hobby stick to single variety plants. Better results, not as exotic as grating.

Graft (it's not just for politicians anymore)

Graft (it's not just for politicians anymore)

Thanks for the support.
Time will tell if this is going to work.
Right now the grafts are droopy but thats to be expected. Looking for a perk up soon. trying to keep the joints damp (hoping thats right) to avoid drying out and killing of the graft.
I am doing the graft onto a small mom (just 6" tall) and if that fails I will grow her a bit larger (with thicker stems) and try again.

Stay tuned little buddies. It's gonna be quite a show.

methias said:

Thanks for the support.
Time will tell if this is going to work.
Right now the grafts are droopy but thats to be expected. Looking for a perk up soon. trying to keep the joints damp (hoping thats right) to avoid drying out and killing of the graft.
I am doing the graft onto a small mom (just 6" tall) and if that fails I will grow her a bit larger (with thicker stems) and try again.

Stay tuned little buddies. It's gonna be quite a show.

Click to expand...

One of the videos I watched on this the gentleman wrapped plastic wrap in an X pattern around the grafting site in order to maintain moisture.

Yeah.
As I do more research I'm finding that the gauze might not have been such a good Idea.
Found some references to grafting wax and what seems like better info on grafting.

WTF. Iffin this fails gonna learn from it and go again.

I kin do this......,,,,

When I do this I'll be using parafilm.

I want to see how this turns out.

my family members graft fruit trees with basically the same procedure (bark graft) as:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtXmBVsolY

mj would be different procedure but some of the basic tips will help.

do yourself a favor and get some grafting wax, it seals the wound and allows it to heal properly.

junior_grower said:

do yourself a favor and get some grafting wax, it seals the wound and allows it to heal properly.

Click to expand...

Just got home with some grafting wax.
Looked in on the ladies and realized try #1 is a failure. These grafts are drying faster than the bud I am trying to dry. leaves curled and hardening quickly.

F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K

OK
Time to regroup. There must be occasional failure for progress to happen.

Did three grafts onto the mom and this time, graft wax, and she is under a dome for humidity. Her dome is a grocery produce bag with long pipe cleaners creating a cage of sorts around her. Just might work. This time I remembered to trim the big fans before attaching to mom.

Damm that graft wax is hard to handle.
Warning to anyone trying this. Work with the wax as cold as possible while still being malleable. Iffin it's too warm it sticks to everything, cant get your fingers out without f**king things up.
Once you get the hang of it the wax seems to work nicely.

OK Reset your clocks on this one.
It's wait and see time again.

Peace All

dddownlowww said:

I want to see how this turns out.

Click to expand...

Yeah Freak Bros.

Got the series.