Graftage can produce tree fruits, novelty plants

You may never have imagined yourself being able to transplant an organ from one plant to another and have it grow. With apologies to the medical profession, introducing yourself to the world of budding and grafting will allow you to do just that.

The term that covers all of these operations is graftage. Specialty terms like budding mean you are going to transplant one bud to the other organism. Grafting usually involves the transfer of several buds attached to one twig.

There are several other types of grafting. Specialty grafts include root grafts, side grafts, veneer grafts and approach grafts. These are usually done on plants that are hard to graft in other ways.

There are three terms that you must understand to be successful. The scion is the cultivar or variety that you want to grow. If you are trying to create a Honey Crisp apple you would graft a Honey Crisp start onto the rootstock.

The rootstock is the underneath part of the tree. In fruit trees it is usually a size-controlling rootstock. Other reasons for using a specialty rootstock is to provide disease or insect resistance, better nutrient absorption, tolerance for salty or alkaline soils or other problems.

The third term is the cambium layer. This is the layer of rapidly dividing cells that in a woody plant is between the wood and the bark of the tree. The cambium layer on the scion must match the cambium layer on the rootstock if your organ transplant is to be successful.

The most common cause of grafting failures occur because cambium layers are not matched properly or they are allowed to dry out in the grafting process. Once the cells dry, they die and a successful graft is not possible.

Grafting is a type of cloning. While cloning animals is a new process that is still somewhat controversial, plants have been cloned for thousands of years.

All commercial fruit trees, most named ornamental trees, bulbs, many perennials and even some annuals are now cloned by vegetative propagation.

A newer technique that is becoming more popular is grafting heirloom tomatoes onto a disease resistant rootstock. Certain soil-borne diseases including Verticillium and Fusarium wilt have no practical controls except for using resistant varieties.

Almost all heirloom tomatoes are highly susceptible to these diseases. By grafting the heirloom variety onto the modern common disease resistant rootstock you can grow these in soil that is infested with the diseases.