Cannabis grafting

[Hookahhead]

Hey Darpa good to see you're still experimenting and dropping knowledge in this thread!
I made my first cut for mainlining on a plant a day or 2 ago, and i have another that will get cut tomorrow or the day after. I am going to try mainlining 3 reg bagseed plants, so I figure I'll get at least 1 male. It's kinda funny how a little bit of info can change your perception of things... now I'm kinda hoping for a male so that I have a qualified test subject haha. Like I said earlier, I will be grafting female scions onto them and attempting to flower. I am thinking I can use a V graft at the tips, grafting a little while after I make my second cut, like you did in post #83-86, 126. Once the scion begins growing, I can remove the make side branches and proceed as normal. I think I will use the same cutting for both scion sites for the initial experiment, but might try 2 different ones like you did later on.

I read the whole thread, but I can't remember if anyone has experimented with grafting autoflowers to a root stock? I know that you don't get a lot of veg time with autos, so I thought maybe attaching them to a much bigger rootstock than what they could obtain otherwise might have some interesting effects. Unfortunately I don't have any in my seed stock, so I can't run the test myself.

 

[Darpa]

Hi folk,
I know this thread is about grafting… but since I cloned flowering plant for my multi strain grafting experiment, I think it's a good idea to talk about Monster Cropping. Since I want multiple shoot to graft my strain, I cloned some lower budding branch on my stock (Biker kush x ((GG4X(GSC x Arcata TW))) in the 6th week of flowering.

It seem that the bigger the bud you take for cloning, the more shoot it will produce. However, it slow the rooting process for about 3 to 4 day, and it take about a week longer to show new growth. But the number of shoot produced from a bigger (denser) bud is quite impressive…

Here is an example. The clones were taken from the same plant at the same time. The left one was a bigger bud… Many shoot to graft scion on…..



This is the denser bud girl 2 weeks after cloning. I wish I had a pic of the clone when I cut it... since the difference in the bud size and structure is not showed....



Darpa

 

[Darpa]

Here are the strains I plan to use as scion on my (((Biker kush x (GG4 x (GSC x Arcata TrainWreck))) for this multi strains experiment:

1- The Sweeties ((White Tahoe Cookies) x Face off BX1))
2- Peanut N' Chocolate (Dosido x Mint Chocolate Chip)
3- Blue Dream
4- Biker Kush V2 (HA-OG X (Ha-OG X (HA-OG X SFV OG Kush BX2))
5- BKCM ((Biker Kush x (Grand Daddy Purple X Crippy Og))
6- God's Green Crack (God Bud x Green Crack)
7- God's banana Kush (God Bud x White Banana Kush)
8- Critical Super Silver Haze
9- Chocolate Mint Og

I'm not sure if I'll add some auto flowering strain in the experiement...

Darpa

 

[Hookahhead]

Looking good! I was actually wondering about autoflower strains. Have your or zif grafted any autos on to a stock yet?



I was thinking about this very same thing the other day. Not so much for a multi strain mother, but for giving the plant a nice developed root system to begin with. Use a male, grow it out in a 3-5 gallon container. When your ready graft the female auto flower scion. You could keep a decent bit of foliage on the male plant, and just keep it in 18/6. I don't have any autoflower strains, and my flowering is outdoor under year round 12/12... so I can't test it currently. I'd be interested in the results though. I wonder if the plant "ages" at all during the period it takes for the graft to heal.

 

[zif]

That’s an interesting question regarding autoflowering varieties. I have seen a few scions want to flower under an 18/6 light cycle, but they were not from a true autoflowering line. Instead, I think that there was an incompatibility between scion and rootstock.

Your idea of developing a strong root system to graft an auto scion onto is very interesting. My gut feeling is that the ‘pause’ that the scion takes while getting established on the rootstock might outweigh the value of the large root system. But I have only read about autos, not tried them myself!

 

[Hookahhead]

Hopefully somebody gets inspired and gives it a try! The cost/benefit to the scion is what is interesting here. It is my understanding that autoflowers start to flower around day 17-25 when they are sexually mature. I wonder if the scion "matures" during the little latency period between grafting and regrowing.

Another example to illustrate this would be with clones. I know that everyone (myself included) thinks that clones are the same age as the mother... which is more or less true. However, isn't it entirely possible that the clone is actually a week (or however long until roots form and growth resumes) behind the mother? If this is the case, then the lag time shouldn't be an issue. A male in a 3-5 gallon pot is going to have a much nicer root system then say a 1-2 week old plant you take the scion from. You could even transplant into a larger container after growth resumes.

Either way it would be interesting to see what happens when you keep a photo plant "base" (roots and some vegetation) under 18/6, but graft an autoflower to it. If this worked, you could potentially keep a base, attach autos to it, harvest, and add some more along the way. Stagger the grafting a week or 2 apart for perpetual harvest off a single plant hah!

 

[Hookahhead]

After a few hits, I thought of an experiment that I can run fairly soon that will help shed some light on scion maturity. Hell, maybe you guys already know the answer from your experiences!
I can take a very mature mother (2-3 months old) and graft very immature scion to it (1-2 weeks) and see how long it takes the new growth to show preflowers. This experiment will need to be replicated a few times, since seedlings can show sex at different intervals naturally.

Have you guys had much luck grafting with material that is as soft as a week or 2 seedling? Any specific type of graft that's been covered here more likely to succeed with delicate tissue?

 

[zif]

The cost/benefit to the scion is what is interesting here. It is my understanding that autoflowers start to flower around day 17-25 when they are sexually mature. I wonder if the scion "matures" during the little latency period between grafting and regrowing.

Exactly. Even if you can tell a graft will take in less than a week, it takes some more time before vigorous growth resumes. A fast graft might be back to normal in about 10 days time.

That's 10 days off of the clock for growth, if the latency period counts. So only 7-15 days of veg! Could be rough.

Given how much stress the auto experts place on not doing anything that 'pauses' the plant, seems like the good bet, too. But who knows?!

 

[zif]

Have you guys had much luck grafting with material that is as soft as a week or 2 seedling? Any specific type of graft that's been covered here more likely to succeed with delicate tissue?

I graft every seed I pop. The goal is to eliminate the seedling as quickly as possible, keeping plant count legal.

This usually works out to starting to take grafts at just over 20 days old. This is approaching my limit for a couple of reasons.

I don't want to work with tweezers or hemostats, just fingertips. This means scions no smaller than an inch or so. I also want the seedling to regrow in case the first graft doesn't take, so it needs a couple of nodes. How quickly these conditions will be met depends on the genes and your setup; in mine it usually takes around three weeks.

With skill, though, I don't see a reason why even the first true-leaved node couldn't function as a scion.

 

[Hookahhead]

Thanks for the response, definitely some food for thought. Are you grafting feminized seedlings or waiting until they show sex? Have you noticed any peculiarities in the time it takes them to show sex after grafting? If you're grafting at day 20+, they should be getting close to showing sex... So if the scion is maturing during the whole 10+ day graft recovery, then they should show sex very soon after the growth resumes?

 

[zif]

Are you grafting feminized seedlings or waiting until they show sex? Have you noticed any peculiarities in the time it takes them to show sex after grafting? If you're grafting at day 20+, they should be getting close to showing sex... So if the scion is maturing during the whole 10+ day graft recovery, then they should show sex very soon after the growth resumes?

Males and females both get grafted. I don’t really pay much attention until I flower them out, to be honest.

I have noticed that they maintain a normal-seeming progression from opposite to alternate growth, for what that’s worth.

Overall, it’s hard to see any specific effects of grafting, beyond the delay in growth while the graft takes. I’d need much higher plant counts to do proper experiments!

Practically, grafting for me is great because it means one mother can hold an entire library, and each flowering plant can easily screen 6-10 new scions. In my case, both are limited to 2.25 sq ft. So it’s insanely space and plant count efficient.

 

[Darpa]

Hi Folk,
Have you seen that video on National Geographic where an artist is grafting 40 varieties of stone fruit, including plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and cherries on a single rootstock?

https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/0000014e-9d3e-dd38-ab4e-ff3f8b5b0000

That gave me some motivation to do the same… Just a different plant…

Here is an update on my multi strains (10+) grafting experiment:
As usual, I’ll try to explain every steps.

Taking the scions of different varieties after sexing. Here in the picture are Peanut Butter N Chocolate (Dosido x Mint Chocolate Chip) and Big Kush (Critical + x OG Kush).

Peanut Butter N Chocolate:



Big Kush:



Scions are cut about 1.5 inch long and most of the leaves are removed:



Now you need some healthy root stock. Here is my (((Biker kush x (GG4 x (GSC x Arcata TrainWreck))) root stock that when to monster cropping. Ref post 242:



...

 

[Darpa]

The rest of the process is pretty straight forward…

 

[Darpa]

I just performed 12 grafts tonight. It’s just the beginning since I have more than 8 other strains to graft on these plant. They will be grow outside and they are going to be huge.

Here is an example of a graft that was executed 10 days ago. It’s time to remove the bag. The wrapping will be left on the plant for another week.






Darpa

 

[Darpa]

Ok, after performing over 30 grafts on my Biker Kush cross moms, I am ready for a new experiment… before I get in the serious stuff (Doubled Haploids - Tissue Culture)…



I'll update the multi strain experiment soon. At the moment I have a 80% grafting succes. It's probably because I get lazy after several successive graft and I don't pay much attention to the details…

However, in the meantime, I wanted to try a new experiment. Cloning several strain in a plug in order to make a root-plant fusion… (always in mind the plant count concept)

So this is what I did, I made a plug from a wine cork…. and then I secured several plant cuts from Dosidos and White Tahoe Cookies selected specimens. Then I warped the cuts on the plug and bagged them for rooting… Hopefully, At the end, the 6 cuts roots stock and trunks will fuse and make a multi strain clone…..

Cork plug:


Cuts:


Cuts in ground:


Humidity protection:



Darpa

 

[Darpa]

I don't know if you can see it in the 3 pic, but I'm so impress with one of my cut of WTC. It having a crazy production of trichome on the stem even in veg…. It's a keeper for sure…

 

[JustSumTomatoes]

This is a really cool thread. Good job Darpa, I think this is an interesting growing technique that will definitely come into play with plant limits in green states.

 

[BombBudPuffa]

Amazing work Darpa. Love the wire cage idea...very ingenious. I think I'm going to try your rooting project right now just without the plug. Love all the work you do.

 

[big315smooth]

remember watching video on grafting. They made small clone domes that went over the graft. So neat!

 

[miltiano32]

any updates on the project? interested in how it turned out