Bougainvillea is an ornamental plant that is popular because of its vibrant colors and its adaptability to extreme conditions. They makes for a beautiful, hardy, and memorable addition to many gardens.
Grafting of Bougainvillea
There
are many ways to graft bougainvillea. Choosing the correct technique
requires an understanding of the different options available combined
with the specifics of your grafting situation. Three of the most popular
bougainvillea grafting methods are as follows.
- Cleft Grafting
- Bark Grafting
- Approach Grafting
Scion and root stock
Bark Grafting
You need an established stem with roots which is called the stock or root stock.Scion refers to the branch or small twig that is cut from a plant.
Smoothly cut the stem with a sharp knife to prepare the branch for grafting. Select the desired plant and cut the scion off from its original root stock. Remove all of the leaves from the scion. This encourages the scion to perform stem growth instead of leaf growth.
Now,
take your knife and separate the bark from the stem of the stock. The
cut should be about 1/4-inch wide and 1-inch to 2-inches long. First,
cut vertically down the stem, then slide the knife behind the bark to
separate the bark from the stem for the length of the cut. For bark
grafting, only prepare a scion that is smaller. This is because the
scions should easily slip behind the bark of the stock.
 |
| grafting tape |
Now,
shave down the scion until it is very thin and it should look like V
shape. Place it in the root stock and secure with tape. Cover the plant
with a neat plastic sheet to keep moisture inside.
Keep the plant
away from direct sunlight or in a shady area for 25-30 days. Remove the
cover after three weeks. Place the plant in sunlight once the shoots
started growing. Remove the grafting tape in another one month.
Cleft Grafting / V-graft
Cleft grafting is the most popular form of bougainvillea grafting. It can be done on root stock from about 1/4-inch to 2-inches. Generally speaking, this grafting method makes a pointy V out of the scion, and a deep V cut into the stock. These are then joined by grafting tape and let grow together. Depending on the scion and stock size, you can join many scions to the V in the stock.
Prepare the scions by removing the flowers, leaves, and thorns attached to them. Each scion must have at least four to six nodes. Make a wedge on both scion and root stock. Then insert the scion into the root stock as deep as possible.
Two to three scions can be inserted in one root stock cleft. Make sure that the scion’s skin touches the skin or cambium of the root stock. Keep them intact by securing them with grafting tape. Wrap the fused scion and root stock with plastic and tie it with a string. The wrapping is important because it preserves the moisture inside and will prevent the scion from drying out.
Approach Grafting
In approach grafting, we are taking two independently rooted plants with the same size. Remove the outer skin of both the plants as shows in the below picture. Join the scion and the stock together so that there is as much contact as possible. Now thoroughly use grafting tape or grafting wax to bandage up the connection.
Once you see bark growth from both the scion and the root stock and the two branches appear well connected, cut the stem away from scion plant. If you want to grow this as a new one, cut 2 inch away from grafted portion from the root stock and scion and plant it in new pot.