If you plant a seed fallen from a Japanese red maple, it woon't grow into another Japanese red maple.
If you plant a seed fallen from a Japanese red maple, it woon’t grow into another Japanese red maple. Rather, it would become a maple of some sort, rather ugly, with small green leaves and no outstanding features.
Ditto for flowering crab, blue spruce, apple tree, weeping caragana, oriental cypress, Japanese cherry and a host of popular and everyday nursery plants.
Horticulturists are a clever bunch. Centuries ago, after finding a tree or shrub with positive attributes, they discovered reproduction by seed would not guarantee identical offspring. Research determined that if they wanted child plants that looked like their parents, it would be necessary to use vegetative propagation, or cuttings, instead.
Growing plants from cuttings had its advantages. If grown in the right conditions, at the right time of year, propagation from cuttings made much more sense than planting seeds. After learning about stem cuttings, nursery growers were happy to eliminate the tedious job of planting seeds, with the benefit of quicker growth and higher success rate.
But there was a problem. Certain plants refused to grow roots from stem cuttings. Some of the most desirable plants could not be reproduced either by stem cuttings or seeds.
Enter the process of grafting. Our horticultural ancestors soon discovered that if they cut a stem off a tree and “welded” it to the root of a related tree, the two parts eventually would become a new tree, with the stem depending on roots for survival.
Fast forward to today, and grafting is common practice. Most nursery-grown trees and many shrubs are grafted rather than grown from seed or cuttings. Whether you grow a maple, magnolia, locust or linden, it likely was grafted.
Some trees are grafted twice. Weeping peashrub, weeping mulberry and dwarf tree lilac are grafted at the roots and grafted again above a long stem to achieve a weeping or lollipop form.
Fruit trees always are grafted. If you plant a Granny Smith apple seed, it may grow to become a tree that would have roots (understock) suitable for grafting onto stems (scions) of a proper apple tree. Fruit tree growers also found they could graft multiple apple tree varieties onto the roots of one understock, providing a solution to gardeners with limited space who want a few types of apples.
Nursery growers are smart enough to know there are limitations to grafting. It is important to line up the size of a scion to an equally sized root stock. The flow of water and nutrients must be able to continue to travel up and down the tree. It takes time for the two parts to connect successfully. Sometimes wax is applied to the junction to prevent the two parts drying out.
The other limitation is that it is important for the scion and root stock to be compatible. Don’t try to graft an apple to a pear, maple, or locust.
Next week’s Garden Clippings will examine tissue culture, the newest propagation method.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
GARDEN CLIPPINGS: Most nursery trees made from grafting
14
0
12.01.2024
If you plant a seed fallen from a Japanese red maple, it woon't grow into another Japanese red maple.
If you plant a seed fallen from a Japanese red maple, it woon’t grow into another Japanese red maple. Rather, it would become a maple of some sort, rather ugly, with small green leaves and no outstanding features.
Ditto for flowering crab, blue spruce, apple tree, weeping caragana, oriental cypress, Japanese cherry and a host of popular and everyday nursery plants.
Horticulturists are a clever bunch. Centuries ago, after finding a tree or shrub with positive attributes, they discovered reproduction by seed would not guarantee identical offspring. Research determined that if they wanted child plants that looked like their parents, it would be necessary to use vegetative propagation, or cuttings, instead.
Growing plants from cuttings had its advantages. If grown in the right conditions,........
© Sarnia Observer
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
