How to Graft an Avocado Plant
Avocado trees usually produce fruit but sometimes, even under "perfect" growing conditions, they don't. Planting the seed of a premier fruit can produce a fruit-bearing tree, but even so it might take 7 to 15 years to produce fruit. Stems from desired avocado seedlings are often whip grafted onto seedling rootstock trees with high productivity. Steps are relatively straightforward for whip grafting avocado plants. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Avocado rootstock plant (either a seedling or a mature tree)
- Avocado cultivar twig (to be grafted onto the rootstock plant)
- Sharp knife or grafting knife
- Budding rubber
- Grafting wax
Instructions
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Prepare. Avocado should be grafted in the spring. Choose a rootstock plant with a stem between 1/4- and 1/2-inch diameter. Choose a twig from a cultivar plant with the same diameter at the point you will cut it.
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Cut the rootstock stem. Make a diagonal cut with the knife or razor through the stem about 2 inches long. Discard the end you cut off.
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Cut the cultivar stem. Use a mature "green wood" stem with the same diameter as the rootstock stem. Make an identical diagonal cut in the cultivar stem, but keep the end you cut off. That will be grafted to the rootstock stem.
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4
Cut a "tongue" in the rootstock stem. Looking at the rootstock cut face-on (so it looks like an oval) make a vertical cut across the middle of the shortest span of the oval (side to side) straight down toward the roots, about 1/4- to 1/3-inch.
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Cut a tongue in the cultivar stem. The matching tongues in the two stems will allow the stems to lock when they are placed together. Hold the cultivar twig upside down so the cut is next to the rootstock cut and the ovals, side by side, look identical. Make a matching tongue cut in the cultivar twig across the cultivar oval and down toward the leaves.
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Place the cultivar stem on the rootstock stem. Position them so the tongues interlock.
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Wrap in place with grafting rubber. Seal with grafting wax. The cultivar and rootstock stems should line up so they look like a single continuous stem. Keep the graft protected from direct sunlight until it is fully healed.
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Tips & Warnings
The key to a successful graft is to have the thin green layer under the bark on each stem touching one another. Cut new foliage off the rootstock plant to divert energy to the cultivar stem. Even when a cultivar is grafted onto a seedling rootstock, expect it to come into fruit sooner--the grafting process causes the cultivar to form seeds earlier. Whip grafting is not the only technique for grafting. You can also graft cultivars to mature trees by bark grafting.
Check local and state regulations before importing cultivar stock for grafting to prevent the spread of plant viruses and diseases.
