Gardening Gardening Basics Garden Tasks

What Does Grafting Mean When It Comes to Plants?

The Best Way to Combine Two Plants

Plant stem with grafting held by hand with black gloves

The Spruce / Randi Rhoades

Grafting is often done with trees and shrubs to combine the best characteristics of two plants. For example, grafting heirloom tomatoes combines old-world tomato flavor with increased disease resistance and productivity.

What Is Grafting?

Grafting is a technique that joins two plants into one. In general, a wound is created on one of the plants, and the other is inserted into that wound so each plant's tissues can grow together. The wound needs to be protected until it heals to avoid pests and diseases entering the graft.

Instead of cross-pollinating two plants and producing a hybrid seed, grafted plants use the roots and the bottom portion of one plant (rootstock) and attach it to a tender shoot (scion) from the top portion of another plant. Grafting is a quick, reliable means of reproducing plants that do not grow true to type from seed and many grafted plants are now patented which makes propagation problematic.

illustration about grafting plants

Illustration: The Spruce / Melissa Ling

Reasons to Graft Plants

  • Hardy and reliable plants: Grafting and combining the rootstock and scion can help with disease resistance and the production of fruit and flowers in a shorter period.
  • Develop new varieties: Grafting plants and trees brings the opportunity to develop new varieties that can bring in more fruit per tree for example, or create a more insect- and disease-resistant specimen.
  • Create dwarf specimen: A shorter and smaller version of a tree makes it easier to harvest its fruit and a better option for planting in a home garden.

What Plants Can Be Grafted?

Many types of plants and trees can be grafted including fruit trees such as apple, cherry, and citrus, and other trees like birch, beech, ash, spruce, and cedar varieties. Flowering and vegetable plants can be grafted. For example, roses and tomatoes are commonly grafted plants.

Not all plants can be grafted though. They have to be compatible in both rootstock and scion for it to work properly. The same plant species and genus are more successful than plants from a different genus.

What Is a Rootstock?

The lower plant portion used in grafting is called the rootstock. This is usually a healthy root system and some portion of the stem.

The characteristics of rootstocks can make it possible to grow plants faster and in less-than-desirable conditions. A common use for rootstocks is to create dwarf fruit trees that easily fit into the average backyard. Full-size fruit trees are large and take years to mature and bear fruit. Grafting a favorite fruit tree onto a rootstock can produce 6-foot dwarf trees.

Besides dwarfing, rootstocks contribute traits to improve yield, cold or drought hardiness, and even disease resistance. For example, some European wine grapes are grown on a North American rootstock that was discovered to have a resistance to phylloxera, a pest that can be fatal to vines.

Rootstock nub at bottom of tree trunk

The Spruce / Randi Rhoades

What Is a Scion?

The portion above the graft is called the scion. It is a young shoot or bud from a plant with beneficial characteristics like great flavor, color, or disease resistance. All of the top growth of a grafted plant, such as the leaves, flowers, and fruits, comes from the scion. By combining the rootstock and the scion you can be reasonably assured you will wind up with a reliably hardy and productive plant.

The rootstock and scion do not have to be from the same species, but they should be closely related. For example, it would not work well to graft a plum tree onto a peach rootstock because they are incompatible. It is also possible to graft several scions onto one rootstock, as they do for apple trees that produce multiple varieties on different branches.

Scion buds around plant stem with planters tape with gloves

The Spruce / Randi Rhoades

Special Growing Considerations for Grafted Plants

Considerable care and maintenance are necessary when planting grafted plants. If the graft joint is buried underground, the rootstock can sprout its own top growth or the scion can send down its own roots. When that happens, you lose the characteristics selected for when the plant was grafted. For example, a Granny Smith apple tree may start producing unrecognizable red apples from rootstock shoots.

There are also times when the rootstock needs some winter protection, as with many grafted roses. That's why it is recommended that cold climate gardeners cover the graft in late fall, but remember to uncover it in the spring, so the rootstock does not sprout.

Budding

Budding used as a grafting technique is typically more successful and takes less time than other grafting methods. This is the preferred technique for propagating deciduous fruit and shade trees. The two budding methods—T-budding (also called shield budding) and chip budding—are used during different seasons.

Successful budding takes practice to learn. For this procedure, one mature bud is inserted into a cut of the rootstock but the bud must come into contact with the cambium (plant tissue). Budding uses smaller incisions rather than the major cuts used with traditional grafting methods. 

What Is Budding?

Budding is a modern form of grafting. A bud is inserted into a small incision rather than using a scion with numerous buds. Most all fruit trees are grafted using the budding technique.

Want to Try Your Hand at Grafting?

Grafting is an ancient practice, but most of the grafted plants available today are the result of research done within the last century. Current trials continually push the limits of where plants will grow, such as the USDA Zone 4 cold hardy 'Reliance' peach.

If you are interested in trying your hand at grafting, it takes dexterity and patience, but it can certainly be done by home gardeners. Standard rootstocks are available from many mail-order nurseries. They describe the attributes of each, so you can experiment using common techniques.

Grafting Techniques

Several methods and types of grafting techniques are practiced, each requiring different tools, seasons, and expertise. It also depends on the grower's preferred type of cut and how well the cuts interlock and thrive. Here are the most common types of grafting techniques:

  • Cleft grafting: A horizontal incision is made and one or two scions are inserted in the split in contact with the cambium.
  • Inlay grafting: A V-shaped notch is made in the rootstock for fastening a scion.
  • Four-flap or banana grafting: Four vertical cuts on rootstock bark are made to accept the scion, which also has four vertical cuts on its bark. All the flaps are held together with a rubber band.
  • Whip, splice, or tongue grafting: A small tongue and notch in the scion interlocks into a similar cut on the rootstock.
  • Crown grafting: Vertical incisions are made between the bark layer and the wood of the rootstock that accept a flattened, or chiseled part of the scion.
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  1. Grafting. University of Missouri Extension.

  2. Rootstocks for Grape Production. Oklahoma State University Extension.

  3. Stone Fruit Propagation by Grafting & Budding. University of California.

  4. Grafting and Budding Nursery Crop Plants. North Carolina State Extension.

  5. Fruit Tree PropagationGrafting and Budding. Penn State Extension.

  6. Four Flap Grafting of Pecans. Oklahoma State University Extension.