Hi I’m curious to hear about grafting experiments, experiences or whatnot on the subject of Grafting weed strains. Or maybe even grafting weed with different plants altogether.
What got me thinking about it was that I’d just seen a guy do it with his tomato plants (which I’d never heard anyone do it with tomatoes before), and it made me go “Hmmmmm…”.
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We used to have a guy in my area that grafted orange branches to a pineapple tree and they were the best things ever. As far as weed, I’ve read of grafting but nothing about whether or not it was successful. With different species of plants having different environmental and nutrient requirements, i don’t know how well that would work. Be a heck of a success story!
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I’ve heard of cloning (but I don’t clone 'cause i grow autos) but what about the opposite? Grafting. Has anyone heard of or done experiments in grafting strains together? I ask because I saw a show the other day where the guy was grafting tomato plants and it hit me - what would happen if…?
Thanks in advance!
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Start a grafting thread. It’d be interesting and different.
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Please try not to make duplicate topics. The mods have to sort through all the stuff, and it also makes it easier for other growers to find/respond to any info/inquiries.
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Thanks 
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It can be done. Only would make sense for a mature mother, and a mature donor… it can take months to get a “new” branch growing appropriately. The rest of the plant would likely get out of control. I went into this rabbit hole a couple years ago. Just doesn’t seem worth it.
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I’m with @Low, The reason grafting is done is to take advantage of a root system that is immune to problems and graft a top that has poor root qualities or prone to diseases. All my fruit trees are grafted. Some species have excellent production but are prone to root issues or are difficult to clone. So they are grafted to a healthy root. I have yet to see cannabis with root issues when properly taken care of. The few I have seen were rot of various sorts.
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I love when fruit bearing trees are utilized. I’ve seen several in urban areas, small foot print but a beautiful variety. Years of time invested. If I had a larger property in a more tropical place where I could do this I totally would. 
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So what happens when you harvest a plant, but instead of a 1-cut harvest at the main stem, you cut higher up and leave several bare branch stumps and slip scions into those? Rather than cloning them and letting them develop their own roots, you utilize the roots from a harvested plant and stick in 5 or 6 grafts and treat with honey?
Sounds like a shitz’n’gigglez experiment! I’ll try in 3 or 4 weeks when I harvest my flower tent. The cellar dweller clones I have will be ready to flip then, so I will take a few cuttings to try this. As well as a bunch to root out themselves as true clones! I take too many clones anyways, so even if I lose 5 trying to graft onto a harvested stalk, won’t set me back anything.
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Its been tried a couple times around here. By one of the old mods even. He kinda let it go by the wayside, but ive seen writeups of it a few times.
I think for a legal grower with a low plant count, it could be a boon. Get 10 strains going on one plant. N flower cuttings as needed.
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It’s worth the attempt if you are seriously curious, and have a space. I wouldn’t do it after harvest, and you want to graft to the main stalk. I wouldn’t do multiple graft attempts once on such a small plant atleast not at once. But you could try. These are small relatively compared to the normal grafting candidates… so do all your research. personally I would grow a 3-4’ plant, with nodes STACKED tight on each branch, so in the event the grafting does take you can cut those branches back to about the same size of the grafted limbs… then I’d chop down to the bottom half of the nodes, leaving the main stalk above. graft above those nodes left on the main stalk, and hope for the best. Keep it in LOW-AMBIANT light to avoid any growth/stretching whatsoever but on 24 hours. Literally a cfl in the room, and feed/water less often. They will stay alive. I would use a sativa, their roots are usually very vigorous and they are more resistant to disease, but their nodes are also usually spread further apart. So narrowing down a host would be a job in itself.
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This would probably be the most tedious and important step. Finding the ‘mother’
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A hybrid of some degree that has resilience of a sativa. 
I’d imagine this being 1-2 year project with no guarantees outcome on a home level. Just to get established The overall result would be massive. Granted, would love to see it, who wouldn’t. It would be a giant weird bush, with branches that “might” require different things from one feed source.
Cool 
Time consuming
Guaranteed results are time dependent/trial and error
I am genuinely interested in this, I purchased e books and supplies for grafting just to realize… oh sh*t, this is too in-depth to get the results that float around my mind.
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What a good thread and question to ponder @Squatch. Here are my thoughts. Avid fruit tree grafter here. I do probably 50-100 bench grafts to rootstock and another 50-100 cleft grafts every year. I sell fruit trees at the PTA plant sale every year.
The main advantage with trees is that it takes 4-5 years to pheno hunt. If you find your seed sprouted tree is crab apples you can take a known cultivar and use the root stock of the crab apple to grow a new top. Without loosing those 4-5 years. Or take an old overgrown tree and turn it into a Frankenstein tree of many fruits. Think urban fruit tree revitalization. With fruit there are early, mid, and late ripening varieties that can chronologically make the tree more spread out and productive.
Also, like mentioned above by @Spiney_norman, grafting trees is often used for proven pest resistant root stock. Or rootstock proven to dwarf an otherwise larger stretch monster tree. This is all relevant for fruit due to the long life expectancy of trees compared to annuals.
Cannabis will graft as easy as the tomatoes. Easier than fruit trees even. This is all counter productive in cannabis. Different flower times due to different top work would make growing that plant more difficult as nutritional needs change on a fast growing annual. Think putting a fast indica and a 16week Sativa on the same rootstock. Who do you cater too? As in there is varying ripening times on the finishing flowers. Also, the time waiting for the graft to callous over (heal) would be as long to veg a seedling and flip it to flower. One could pheno hunt and flip the seeds to flower before the graft heals. Time is working against you on the graft. Then there is introduction of viruses. If you put ten top works on one mother root stock you have to insure that those 10 individual tops aren’t sick. If one grows 10 seeds there is a good chance 1 plant will be sickly. It can be removed or given extra love. If all are on one rootstock all the eggs are in one basket so to speak it would spread to the other tops. It’s an IPM nightmare.
The only reason to do it besides pure enjoyment (trust me I get that aspect) would be in an anal retentive plant count (like some of the earliest medical markets 20 years ago) where one can only have a few plant counts. Back when genetics were harder to trade or come upon for the average self grower.
If you want to become a grafter I would humbly reccomend trying it on a couple of fruit trees. Apples and pears are the easiest. Persimmons and peaches are the toughest. Cherries are in the middle. Cannabis and tomatoes are easy to graft. Most tomato growers I know graft because they start indeterminate style (everfruiting vining) cultivars early indoors to grow big roots. Those varieties grow much bigger and tend to be smaller fruits like Roma and cherry tomatoes. Then they top work to the rootstock a determinate variety like beefsteaks or pounder (Slicing tomatoes) that tend to be smaller plants and roots. Determinate ones are more like auto flowers. They fruit a bit and die. No vining or stretch. Tomato grafting gives you the best of both and is quite popular on the vegetable growing/fruit forums for that reason.
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Wish my kid went to that school 
Can you clone new growth off of fruit trees?
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The tomato and potato, fries and ketchup in one grow, I seen. Both in the solanacae family or something like that.
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That one is on the fruit veggie forum all the time. It’s like the solocup grow off challenge there. Good fun.
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Yes and no. The trick is usually to take new seasons (non woody) growth late in the season before leaves fall off. While temps are still not too cold. Then put the cuts (terminal ends) into mostly sand and out of direct sun. By spring the dead looking green stem (all the leaves will fall off) will leaf out. The ones that do grow are rooted, and the ones that didn’t go to the composter. This works great for mild winters.
If you live in a colder serious winter wonderland then you are better taking the cutting (thinnest last years growth terminal ends) early spring time right as they start to leaf out. Often the buds will stall out or look dead. I usually give them till July 1st to start growing or toss them out. 1/2 to 1/3 usually take. Many will not be viable so take extra.
Grafting has a much highier success rate. Sucker branches from the trunk of old fruit trees make great rootstock. So does sprouting apple/pear seeds or peach pits. Once they are tall enough clip them off at the ankles and attach the known top of a proven tree.
I have never got a peach to clone/root. But I have done countless apples and blueberry clones this way.
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Thank ya, that’s been a question in my head for a couple years 
I’m 3 years behind on starting my fruit stand. Had 30 trees but didn’t know bought from bs dude and they was bs trees. So got kinda perturbed and have done anything since.
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