A powerful yet not-so-popular growing technique is called grafting. Grafting marijuana is a practice in horticulture that allows the plant to grow multiple from one mother to marijuana. Typically, this is done by experienced cultivators, however, in this article, we will show you a tutorial guide on how to graft marijuana and what are the benefits of doing this growing technique.
Understanding Grafting Marijuana
When applying grafting on your marijuana, you are essentially removing the upper portion of the plant or as popularly known as scion and this is attached to another plant called the rootstock. Generally, this method is utilized to easily reproduce plants and help in preserving the essential and ideal characteristics of marijuana while acquiring the characteristics of its rootstock. Similar essence applied when cloning marijuana.
Furthermore, in grafting marijuana, the usual reason would be preventing or treating root problems. With this, you are preserving the scion of the plants and help it survive. Nonetheless, grafting marijuana plants involves a complex and intense effort to execute properly. A grower needs to have a sufficient understanding and experience of horticulture to attain success.
Advantages of Grafting Marijuana
Increase Variety
If the scion is compatible with the rootstocks, there will be no trouble in growing numerous varieties from a similar marijuana plant. It can also provide accommodation in a growing limited area.
Pollination
There are some issues that some growers will encounter in cultivating marijuana, which includes not being to grow male plants near enough to the female marijuana plants. Hence, in grafting marijuana, you can control to create a male scion that will ensure to pollinate the female plants regardless if the growing area is limited.
Root Repair
In grafting marijuana, the roots can easily recover from damages caused by harsh winds, storms, rains, and infestation of pests. You can graft the roots of marijuana into an older marijuana plant right above the damages.
Testing The New Marijuana
The best thing in grafting marijuana is to be able to accomplish multiple types of marijuana even from a single plant. This can be convenient when you are trying to test out a new strain that you seem to have no understanding of. Instead of completely cultivating a new strain of marijuana plant, you can easily take a clone from it and undergo a grafting process.
Easy Tutorial on Grafting Marijuana
Regardless of being popular among experienced and skillful growers, grafting marijuana is also attainable by beginners to try at home. It is important to note that if you have experience in cloning marijuana, you can easily handle grafting as it follows an almost similar process.
Gathering Materials
To begin grafting marijuana, you need to gather a few materials needed for this process and make sure that the instructions are clear and sensible. You’ll be needing some, shears, a razor blade, grafting tape, bags made of plastic and seal, wire for gardening, a cutting board, bottle spray with a nutrient solution intended for the vegetative stage, and a glass of water.
Selecting The Scion and Rootstock
In grafting marijuana, when choosing a scion, make sure that you are getting it from a healthy marijuana plant and likewise in spotting a rootstock. Ensure that when selecting, both the width of the scion and the rootstock are identical to guarantee that an outcome of success is achieved. At this point, the marijuana plants must be in a vegetative period only, not earlier nor late than that.
Preparation of Scion and Rootstock
Once the selection is done, it is ready to begin preparing the parts in grafting marijuana. Remove the foliage of the scion you selected and the only left should be some leaves on the limb’s tip portion. A similar process should be done on the rootstock as well. When all these are accomplished, start cutting the scion of the plant at the branch using garden shears. After this, transport it to the cutting board. Make sure everything is clean and no bacteria must contaminate your cuttings. Grab a razor blade and cut the scion’s base diagonally to allow a larger surface for the rootstock and scion to connect.
When this part of the grafting marijuana process is done, transfer the cutting into a cup of water while on the other hand preparing for the rootstock. This process must be done as quickly as possible because it would be better than the scion is slightly exposed to air. At this point, you can start preparing the rootstock by removing the foliage on the graft. Using a garden shear, cut a slight upper side of the branch on the graft. Same with the scion, cut it diagonally as similar as possible to the scion’s cutting size.
Binding Together
Let’s move on to the next step in grafting marijuana. As quickly as possible, you want to make sure that the attachment of the scion to the rootstock is immediate. Grab the scion and rootstock and spray it with a nutrition-filled solution. Match the two cuttings as identical as possible to help in the binding process a lot easier. If there is an obvious difference between the cuts, submerged it quickly in the water and re-cut it according to the size identical to both.
When the size is fit perfectly, tie them together utilizing a grafting tape. Begin to put a small tape around the branches to hold them initially together. Once done, put a larger tape again and tightly cover it around numerous times. In this way, you are helping the cut from unwanted air and light. Once you notice that the binding is perfect, you can remove them after a few days. Get ready for the next step in grafting marijuana.
Propagation Process
The next step in grafting marijuana, grab a wire, and make a criss-cross run across the grafting site to allow maximum strength on the bond you made. Begin at the lower portion of the cut and followed by the upper portion later. Once everything is secured, spray a nutrient solution in the plastic bag where the newly made branch is placed. Close the bag completely, only leaving a small space to let the branch breathe in and create a suitable atmosphere for optimal propagation.
What Strain To Graft
In grafting marijuana, the most common issue would be knowing what strain to undergo grafting. The strains you decide must have comparable flowering duration to one another. This is important because it can avoid any type of deficiency in nutrients to occur when grafting marijuana. Or else, you will be needing to flush your plants more than several times and may cause unwanted issues during the flowering period.
Final Words
Grafting marijuana has numerous benefits and plays a great role in the industry of marijuana cultivation. Apart from the convenience of limited space growing, the quality of plants is not compromised. Instead, it can create ideal plants with optimal characteristics like resistance to diseases, stability in changing weather, tolerance against temperature and humidity fluctuations, and most greatly, cultivating various strain in one plant.