In Botany, What is Grafting?
Grafting is a process which fuses plant material from two different plants. There are a number of reasons to perform a graft, ranging from cosmetic to practical. Viticulture, raising grapes for wine making, is a field in which grafting is commonly used, and many fruit trees are also grafted. It is relatively easy to graft successfully, although the procedure does take some practice. Gardeners have been grafting since at least the Roman era, and the procedure has remained much the same throughout history. When a graft takes successfully, two separate plants appear to be growing as one unit. Often, the grafting seam is close to invisible, except for someone with a great deal of horticulture experience. Grafting is extremely useful for plants and gardeners alike, which is why the practice has endured for so long. The plant material being grafted to a parent plant is known as a scion or slip. It is usually a small cutting with a few buds. The parent plant is called the stock or rootstock,