Hi all Just becoming a wise old sage at 45 years, and beginning to appreciate the finer and simpler things in life. Watching things grow, watching the garden birds and realising that anything humans create is trivial. For a number of years now I have come to love the Acer in the corner of my garden and have heard a lot of terminology regarding cuttings, grafts, cultivars etc. its all very confusing. Why do things have to be grafted to grow? grafted to what? Why does a Wisteria stand a better chance of flowering if it is grafted. Is there a simple guide to what and how to do these things where to cut etc. Is this ok for a first post? Michael
Hi, well it's hard to be sure exactly what you're asking about, which plant, what procedure, etc. Wisteria bloom only after about 8 yrs or so, but if grafted onto an older stock, may bloom sooner. As far as the rest goes, it all sounds a bit like you're flailing, but I don't see a specific focus apart from the Wist. question. Try again please.
Seems like a reasonable inquiry to me. Here's a good site that explains reasons for grafting, as well as some procedural details: http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06971.htm
Just becoming interested in gardening and cannot understand where the established root stock would come from without destroying another plant ie why cut down one plant to produce another? thanks again Michael
What Rima is trying to say is that the needs are specific to each type of plant and the circumstances for which the plants are propagated. A tomato would be better to be grown from seed. But an apple should be grafted - otherwise, it would take twice, thrice as long to start bearing fruits. And the root stocks are especially bred for the desired size of the tree. Roses are grafted because it may be more economical for the commercial nurseries to do it that way. In some cases, some of the roses need a more vigorous root system than their own to perform well. In other specific situations, the roots of certain species may do better in certain parts of the country. For example, R fortuniana would be the preferred roots stocks in Florida and the South. In my own back yard, I graft on to R multiflora because it is a simple thing for me to have one of those growing in a hidden corner of my backyard, giving me an endless supply of nice canes for rooting into rootstocks. Commercial fruit growers get their root stock from other nurseries or grow their own. So, Rima is correct in suggesting that an open question like the one you posed is too vast a topic to be covered in a reply post here. And I even doubt if books specifically on propagation could cover the whole subhject. You would get better information if you direct narrow your question to specific plants and for what purpose.
Here's a more specific question I've wondered about for some time; given two plants of the same type, with the same basic rootstock. One is a seedling, the other a grafted cultivar. Why is it that typically the grafted plant flowers far sooner than the seedling? Is there something like genetic age memory built into grafted scions? Some other explaination?
Of course, the other, and perhaps the main, reason for grafting is to ensure that the resulting plants are uniformly the same variety.
