Grafting Marijuana -Multiple Strains One Mother Plant

[bobsakamoto]

this is going to be AWESOME!!

[Weasel]

Ha ha. Don't bet on it mate...
But if they don't wilt and die, from being cut almost completely through their stems, then eventually I think the graft will take. Nothing will happen for at least two weeks though. Except, I will try to upload some photos of how I made the cut

[bobsakamoto]

hey man, i'm just excited to see two people who know what they're doing with such things try this (assuming rude tries a Duck.) no pressure, WEASEL.

[Weasel]

Ok the pics are sort of uploading again well enough to function.



Both these plants are pure sativas from Ace seeds. The plant I mean to keep as the 'host' plant (root stock) is a Panama. The branch I'm trying to graft on is from a Malawi plant. I will join them together as best as I can and tie them in place and hope for the best.



Panama is one the left and Malawi is on the right. I've just made opposing cuts with a sharp blade and tried to shape them to fit together a bit.

The Panama is a very small clone.
The Malawi plant is a medium sized plant. I've taken a branch of it and curved it down next to the Panama- staked it down and lined it up so that it isn't under a lot of stress simply being in that position parallel to the Panama stalk. That's a big part of the battle.

Other than that I just put them together and wrap the whole area up with a pipe cleaner, well- two pipe cleaners.. I'm sure there's plenty of other ways of doing this but this is what I had on hand.

In the second picture -it's a bit hard to see what's what,
but the Malawi branch curves in from the right and I'm holding it in my hand. The Panama is just growing out of the pot that's in the foreground.

[bobsakamoto]

dude, that first one is brilliant!!! you can really see how you shaped them to fit together. holy crap this is gonna rock like bon jovi.

[Weasel]

Yeah kinda like 'livin on a prayer'. I have a way less optimistic attitude than you- that is to say I'll just see what happens and I'm not going to be losing sleep over it one way or the other -but thanks! Chances are now that I'm on this tangent I'll just keep trying. I would like to have a three strain sativa. Hope it doesn't get too ugly trying.

[Weasel]

I won't be updating on this much, because there will be nothing to look at for quite a while, but I'm happy to see that both branches involved are still alive. So hopefully it's just a waiting game. It might not take, or maybe it will. It will be helpful if I don't get impatient and remove the bandaid too soon



I'll have to slip something under the Malawi branch (the right hand sprig) which is resting on the ground. I don't want it to grow roots into the ground, 'cause that would complicate things.

[mcruderalis]

Wow weasel You jumped right into this grafting .I saw a graft with duck tape and he had to stop pulling it off afraid to hurt the graft I would have used white or blue masking tape instead of duck tape.Pipe cleaners why didn't I think of that.Will the clothe on the pipe cleaners help hold moisture in there at the graft. Did you take the panama and try graft it too Malawi plant.
hearing that grafting may take several trie scared me away,plus for now I have only one strain.You should start it's own topic this is gonna be great.Ok I'm getting ahead of myself
Keep us updated!!!

[Weasel]

Did you take the panama and try graft it too Malawi plant.

I didn't quite get that part - but at this point the two are spliced together. If the graft takes, it's my choice which plant to cut free. But my plan is to cut the Malawi free and have a Panama root and plant, with a Malawi branch out one side.

Pipe cleaners are the most useful item in my grow. I'd never use tape for anything much it just doesn't work well- going on or coming off. As for the pipe cleaners holding in moisture-maybe a little but, not really. I'm counting on the fact that both plants are still alive and getting moisture from their pots. Hopefully the cut area will knuckle over with scar tissue and join together eventually.

I don't think this is really the 'normal' way to graft. It was mentioned on a friend's journal- seemed a simple concept and I just went for it without research . Later when I googled grafting techniques I didn't see this one mentioned - but I never looked very hard. A more normal way would probably be the way that Green75 mentioned. I tried that way a little bit halfheartedly but it didn't work for me. Since it's more common it may well be a better method.

If it works I'll try to join the frankenplant to my favorite Thai sativa. I may wait up to three weeks before removing the pipe cleaner.

[Weasel]

Man I feel like I've been wrestling with technical issues on this forum since I joined. There are constant weird things going on. I can't post regular posts anymore using safari as of a couple days ago, so I downloaded a new browser which lets me post, but not post photos. It just crashes completely and I have to google for the forum online,find it and log in and find the thread and proper page again. Long process. So I'll try downloading a third browser tomorrow and see if that one works.
Sometimes safari lets me upload photos. Not working tonight but I'll try one more time. Maybe I can post text with this program and photos with the other.?
The graft is maybe working. It's only been 8 days. Looks like a mess but there are signs that the two plants may be somewhat joined. I've also been half-assedly trying a couple other grafting methods. I'll post photos when I can. Screen is jumping all
over the place as I type and it's hard to focus.

Edit- no, its hopeless. Screen jumping all over and constantly redirecting me to the top of the thread as I type. Safari not only won't upload- it gets stuck trying and won't cancel. I'm typing blind as the text window won't stay in view while I type. So I'll try another browser tomorrow and see if it's worth fighting with the issues much longer.

[Weasel]

Downloaded a third browser and spent a couple hours trying to upload photos but no luck. I did get one to upload after I shrunk it to 50kb- but no amount of waiting will let me upload a 500kb photo which is about as small as I want to shrink it down.
I'm finding the site so frustrating that I think I'll just quit visiting it for now. I'll check in now and then to see if any upgrades have happened that fix some of the issues.

Anyway- the graft appears to be working- I'm 90% sure I could cut the Malawi free at this point and have both strains on the Panama stem- but I'll leave it a while longer to be safe. As soon as possible I'll try to graft a Thai limb on to the Malawi/Panama and I'll put a photo up someday if possible.

[Komatchi]

It's not very challenging. You can do it two different ways easily.

1.) As pictured, I took a scion and another 3" cut for a root stock then grafted them using para-film and placed them (after dipping them in IBA) in a clone dome just like you were taking cuttings. 2 weeks later it rooted. Link
2.) Take 2 established plants and make a slit to the xylem on each. Wait a few weeks then cut the rootstock of one and scion of the other. Link

Parafilm Link

From my experience, the plant takes on the bud structure and leaf structure of the rootstock while keeping the smell of the scion.

[Weasel]

Thanks- interesting idea to cut both the scion and rootstock at the same time and root them. So presumably the rootstock section would have a few nodes on it to produce branches from later on?

Have you done any grafting and is the picture shown that of a graft that you've done yourself?

In your photo I don't see any limbs left on the rootstock. So what is the point of the graft?

I thought about doing that because it would be way more convenient than the way I'm doing it now. But I figured it would be too many processes happening at once to expect much success.
One reason I'm grafting the way I am instead of using the conventional whip or cleft cutting method is I'm away from the grow a lot and can't be here to tend to the plants or mist a humidity dome/bag.
Anyway- it's working and I'm 90% sure I have a Malawi/Panama plant. This is the same way I grafted my plants a couple years ago, before later accidentally destroying that plant.

The site is driving me crazy with the technical issues so it may be a while before I get to post any photos.
Thanks for the idea, I'll try that tonight.

[Weasel]

So I cut the Malawi branch, nothing is wilting, and it seems like the graft will work. I'll let this plant recover a while and work on her (their) root system a bit before grafting a Thai on to her.
Not much fun without pictures. I'll try uploading when I'm in town tomorrow with a better connection. If that doesn't work- I don't know... probably time to move on.

[Komatchi]

I'm only allowed 15 pictures per post so this will be broken up into 2 posts I guess. I'll answer each question separately.

Yes, I have extensive grafting experience, Yes, this is a picture of one of my grafts.

In these pictures I have removed the plant tags which is why the images may look funky.
I learned it by doing it on apple trees when I was 9 or 10 years old. That was done with rubber bands and wax though.
Parafilm makes it so much easier. The reason I suggest spending the $7 on parafilm is:
When you try and use other things, one plant doesn't have time to bond to the other plant and forms a scab which doesn't allow the tissue to join. Parafilm also prevents diseases from forming if you made sure everything was clean when you started. It allows the plant to naturally grow out of the film. so you don't have to remove the parafilm ever or worry about it past the first wrap.

Edit:
When anyone starts grafting they tend to have about a 5-10% success rate. It generally just means there wasn't enough humidity in the dome or your tools weren't clean, or they sat in standing water to long without oxygen.
Grafting is not not hard to do, anyone should be able to get at least one successful graft if they take enough. I highly encourage anyone reading this to try it out! It taught me a lot about how plants root and various ways to prevent molding.
If you do experience molding dunk the entire plant in a 3% hydrogen peroxide Link solution for 30 seconds - 1min. It will kill whatever is growing and allow the plant to heal hopefully.
I always highly recommend getting some jars and letting parts of plant scraps mold. It taught me what conditions actually grows fungus and bacteria and how to prevent them.

[Komatchi]

You also asked what the point is. There are three points to grafting I know of.
1.) Grafting onto a root stock that isn't susceptible to disease. Almost every wine grape vine uses grafting today becausde of a root disease that happens. Link
2.) Grafting to preserve genetics. There is a process called layering that allows you to create roots (or shoots) on a plant that doesn't have enough branching or is hard to propagate Link
3.) Recover problem genetics. You can fix pre flowering and all sorts of other plant problems with grafting or tissue culture.

Here are The rest of the pictures.