Cannabis grafting

[ReikoX]

Bobby, this thread has inspired me to try some grafting myself. My goal would be to create a bonsai mum with four varieties. I'll be taking some more clones in a week or two and I'll set some aside for this experiment. There actually is some good information in this thread if you can wade through all the BS.

 

[heady blunts]

this is the best thing video or written that i've come across regarding grafting annuals to increase production and disease resistance and change growth habits.

he also discusses grafting different species within the same family.

great practical tutorials on several methods of grafting as well.

how to graft greenhouse tomatoes with mike collins by johnny's seeds


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSwTCwlhFgo[/youtube]

 

[Darpa]

This thread is probably dead but I just want to jump in anyway...

Rootstocks are selected for rooting and grafting capacity, abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, and their ability to beneficially alter scion phenotypes. Grafting plants onto resistant rootstocks is an effective tool that may enable the susceptible scion to control soil-borne diseases, environmental stresses and increase yield. However, in these cases, the characteristics of the three areas might be affected by grafting as a result of the translocation of metabolites associated with fruit quality to the scion through the xylem and/or modification of the physiological processes of the scion. Possible quality characteristics showing these effects could be fruit appearance (size, shape, color, and absence of defects and decay), firmness, texture, flavor (sugar, acids, and aroma volatiles) and health-related compounds (desired compounds such as minerals, vitamins, and carotenoids as well as undesired compounds such as heavy metals, pesticides and nitrates). Reference: Impact of grafting on product quality of fruit vegetables, Scientia Horticulturae, Volume 127, Issue 2, 8 December 2010, Pages 172–179, Special Issue on Vegetable Grafting

Transmission of mRNA from herbaceous transgenic donor plants to recipient plants through a graft union via the phloem have also been documented. Reference: Haroldsen VM , Szczerba MW , Aktas H , Lopez-Baltazar J , Odias MJ , Chi-Ham CL et al. Mobility of transgenic nucleic acids and proteins within grafted rootstocks for agricultural improvement. Front Plant Sci 2012; 3: 39. [PMC free article] [PubMed]

However, it doesn’t mean that if you graft a cold resistant strain rootstock to a tropical strain that your plant will be cold resistant… Reference: An apple rootstock overexpressing a peach CBF gene alters growth and flowering in the scion but does not impact cold hardiness or dormancy, Timothy S Artlip,1 Michael E Wisniewski,1,* Rajeev Arora,2 and John L Norelli1

There is thousands of scientific paper on the subject for those who have some basic biochemistry knowledge.

Here is an example of grafting female scion to a male rootstock. And no it won’t make hermaphroditic plant what so ever…

Material:


Male rootstock: BikerKushXCookiesWreck



Female scion:

 

[Darpa]

Insert on the rootstock:


Scion preparation:


Scion insertion:

 

[Darpa]

Wrapping:


Same for an other scion from an other female specimen:
[url='https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?

 

[Darpa]

Final result:

 

[Darpa]

For those interested to know more about the RNA transport via phloem tissue in grafted plant and how it can possibly enhance plant yield I suggest you to start with the following publication:

Grafting and RNA transport via phloem tissue in horticultural plants, Takeo Harada, Department of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8561, Japan

 

[CosmicCharlie]

I'd be interested to see if your grafts take and if there is a discernible increase in yeild.

Also how would you really know if there was an increase in yeild? Would it not be more worthwhile to grow bigger or more plants since weed is so fast growing?

 

[SuperWeed]

Darpa, that is damn nice work. That is almost exactly how I make SuperMoms.



In the lower left hand corner was my lifes work, up until 2015. She had 15 strains grafted on her.

 

[Darpa]

I'd be interested to see if your grafts take and if there is a discernible increase in yeild.

Also how would you really know if there was an increase in yeild? Would it not be more worthwhile to grow bigger or more plants since weed is so fast growing?

This project is not intended to study the effect of the graft on the scion phenotype or on the yield of the plant. I was intended to show that you can easily graft different female scion on a male rootstock. This could be useful if you want to keep your plant number down but still want full access of all of your genetic for a breeding purpose. In my case, the rootstock and the scions are different individual from a breeding project involving Biker Kush X Gorilla Wreck.

In order to study the possible effect of RNA transport from the rootstock and the scion, someone would need to design an experiment procedure involving different documented genetic (high yielding strain, cold resistant strain, fast flowering strain, auto flowering strain, indica/sativa, …) The design and performance of each experimental procedure have to be clearly formulated in an experiment protocol (enough sample for a statistical analysis, comparison with untreated control group, ect..) That would require a lot of time, space and effort...

You are right CosmicCharlie, it is probably advantageous to grow bigger plant or to grow 2 plants vs trying to get a better yield through grafting. But for those who like to experiment…and after all, what would be the potential yield on that male BKxGW if it wouldn’t be of those two female scion?

 

[CosmicCharlie]

Cool, I was wondering because your posts mainly dealt with increasing yield.

Grafting is a good way to get around plant count. Hopefully your grafts are successful.

 

[Darpa]

Sorry CosmicCharlies, as you can see English is not my first language... I was mostly talking about phonotype alteration from grafting. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Darpa]

Here we gone again with a new experiment. By contrast with the previous grafting example which gave me fairly good success in the past, this one a first attempt of an auxiliary bud grafting. It is pretty common on roses plant which make me think that it could be achievable with a cannabis plant. (As you know cannabis if from the cannabaceae family. The Cannabaceae family, along with three other families, make up the (informal) suborder Urticalean rosids, of the order Rosales. Along with the Urticalean rosids, another five families belong to the Rosales order; these include Rosaceae (rose) and Rhamnaceae (buckthorn))

As I said, this is my first trial of an auxiliary bud graft on cannabis, so I have no idea of the rate of success with this technic but I thought it was worth sharing.

So this is how I proceeded:

Root stock material (biker Kush X Gorilla Wreck)



Selected plant for scion:



Cut in the rootstock:


Selection of plant material for the scion:

 

[Darpa]

Cut of the scion:



Insertion of the scion in the rootstock:



Wrapping and sealing the graft:

 

[Darpa]

And there a second trial

Selected scion material:



Steam cut for auxiliary bud insert:



Scion preparation:



Insertion of the scion:

 

[Darpa]

Final result after wrapping:



I'll keep you informed of the success rate of this technique.

I got several plant that are going to trash (only usefull for sex ID) so let me know which experiment you would like to see...I am already planning to make a potatoes-cannabis graft to show the effect of phylogenetic distance on graft success, and probably multy trunk graft... but if you have any idea let me know....

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

I have made many Cannabis grafts the last few decades. As many as ten different scion on a single rootstock. They were quite big plants, 5-10 foot.
Would suggest using later maturing females for the rootstock and the early maturing as the scion. I would also use any males as scions not as root stock.
This would be useful for people that can only have a few legal plants, 10 plants with 10 scion would be 100 varieties maintained.
Use later maturing females as rootstock as early females if they flower will screw with the later scions, same with male rootstocks.
I have never tried cross species grafts except for hops, just had no use for them.
I can make a grafted rootstock mother with 10 scions on it and stick it in the ground in my greenhouse and maintain it under extra hours of light if needed, I have done this for a year + I just kept cutting the plant back being sure to keep all 10 scions alive with nodes so they could regrow again. It is pretty easy to graft Cannabis and it can be useful. I have flowered grafted Cannabis and they flowered sequentially, early first, later last, any male scions were earlier in general.
The real use is as a library where you have limited plant numbers legally. Maybe someone will eventually market grafted Cannabis starts so you can flower them and pick a branch each week? On big plants it might make sense?
-SamS

 

[Darpa]

I have made many Cannabis grafts the last few decades. As many as ten different scion on a single rootstock. They were quite big plants, 5-10 foot.
Would suggest using later maturing females for the rootstock and the early maturing as the scion. I would also use any males as scions not as root stock.
This would be useful for people that can only have a few legal plants, 10 plants with 10 scion would be 100 varieties maintained.
Use later maturing females as rootstock as early females if they flower will screw with the later scions, same with male rootstocks.
I have never tried cross species grafts except for hops, just had no use for them.
I can make a grafted rootstock mother with 10 scions on it and stick it in the ground in my greenhouse and maintain it under extra hours of light if needed, I have done this for a year + I just kept cutting the plant back being sure to keep all 10 scions alive with nodes so they could regrow again. It is pretty easy to graft Cannabis and it can be useful. I have flowered grafted Cannabis and they flowered sequentially, early first, later last, any male scions were earlier in general.
The real use is as a library where you have limited plant numbers legally. Maybe someone will eventually market grafted Cannabis starts so you can flower them and pick a branch each week? On big plants it might make sense?
-SamS

Hey Sam, thanks for jumping in! What technique do you usually use for grafting. Are you aware on any experiment done with grafting an auto flowering rootstock to a photoperiodic strain? Also I am curious, have you ever experiment protoplasm fusion through TC technique. I'm a biochemist with some project in mind...so your experience could be helpfull...

 

[Darpa]

Darpa, that is damn nice work. That is almost exactly how I make SuperMoms.

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=70725&pictureid=1686474&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

In the lower left hand corner was my lifes work, up until 2015. She had 15 strains grafted on her.

Thank SuperWeed! I wish I kept all the genetic I've work with in the past. I had some of the best genetic from the Super Sativa Seeds Club at the end of the 90th and I wish I had save them... What happened with your SuperMom in 2015?

 

[Darpa]

Since there is space in the dome for one more plant, I decided to try another axillary bud grafting experiment using an alternative technique. So here’s how I’ve done it (sorry for the poor quality of the pictures):

I made a vertical incision through the internode section of the stem with a surgical blade.



I cut a scion on an other specimen



Insert the scion in the internode incision of the stem of the rootstook