Plant Grafting Essay Research Paper 1The Wonderful

Plant Grafting Essay, Research Paper

1

The Wonderful World of Grafting

Grafting has been used for thousands of years. It is said that the Chinese have been grafting plants since 1000 BC. It was and still is used all over the world. Even Aristotle mentioned it as a metaphor, “If some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches” (Allen, 59).

If you want to learn how two, three, or more different plants can grow together as one, read on about the wonderful world of grafting and be amazed! Grafting has been used for many purposes, but it was not till the 16th century that it became popular. Not only was it a way to repair plants, it was also a form of art. Grafting flourished in the Renaissance period when many

2

paintings and other art work were done of grafting, such as a plaque done by the great Florentine sculptor, Luca della Robbia.

In horticulture, grafting is a sort of propagation. This is the art and science of establishing and replacing plant life that is used in daily methods. Propagation is separated into two categories. One is sexual propagation, and the other is called asexual propagation.

Asexual propagation simply means to reproduce a plant without having to start out from a seed. Another name that is often used for asexual propagation, is artificial propagation. The most effective way to artificially propagate, is through grafting.

Grafting means to join two plants with cut surfaces together until they can unite. The union is done when the tissues in the plant connect and weave together. After some time, the wound between the plants will heal, and the grafting case will be one plant. In many cases, the grafting point heals so well that it can’t

3

even be seen, unless under a microscope. This union is just an act of tissue regeneration.

Grafting has many purposes. It can be used to repair a injured plant, such an example would be to graft a branch of a certain tree to another, more desirable, but injured tree to maintain it’s composure. Another important purpose is to strengthen a plant’s resistance to a certain kind of disease and also to strengthen the power to adapt to certain climates. For example, one plant can’t live in dry areas, but if you graft it to a plant that is already living in this area, it may start to adapt to this climate, because the same dry weather adapting genes in the dry area plant are now growing into the first plant. Next, It can grow multi fruit, or multi flowered plants. It can also take a great demanded plant into faster production by grafting part of the more desirable plant onto a less desirable one. Grafting can also make a plant germinate more by grafting the desired plant onto a more

4

productive one. A final, and most attractive purpose of grafting is to produce a nonexistent form of plant.

Before anything, a few words should be said about the plants. A plant is a complicated organism, and isn’t always fully understood. “Plants breathe, but have no lungs, they digest food but have no stomachs,” stated A.S. Hitchcock (World of Plants 2). Just like humans, too much of anything for them is bad. Plants usually cannot just grow in water or just soil.

No two plants are the same. Although most plants get most of their food from soil water, not all plants take in the same amount of each nutrient. For example, on plant can be taking in twice the amount of calcium as it’s neighbor. Although plants need a lot of things to feed and grow on, they have an infinite amount of sodium, magnesium, and silicon. Nitrogen and phosphorus on the other hand, need to be replaced. This can be done with fertilizer.

5

Every plant has three parts to it. It has the root, the body, and the stem. The root is used to hold the plant in place so it

doesn’t fly away, and it’s also used to absorb nourishment. The body is used to transport the nourishment. Finally, the stem is used to give the plant weight for support so that it does not fall. It also the place where most of the heat and light nourishment is caught.

The root is just about the most important piece of the plant. It is where the vertical growth takes place. It happens in a short point just behind the root cap, which is a thin replaceable cap that protects the root’s growing point as it burrows into the ground. Although only the growing point grows in length, all of the root grows in thickness. Just above the point of growth, fuzzy root hairs grow out. These hairs absorb water, and other nutrients. The most important thing about the root is that it is the life of the plant, and it needs oxygen. So, if the growing area it flooded, or the air is not able to be found, the whole plant will die.

6

Almost all plants can be grafted {Allen states that a New York newspaper once naively and erroneously reported the introduction of a table d’hote tree on which, through grafting, such disparate crops as tomatoes, cucumbers, and potatoes grew in profusion (Allen 60)}, but not most plants can be grafted together. In order for two plants to be grafted, they should belong to the same genus, or genera. The more alike two plants are, the more likely they can be grafted. Allen states that there was once a man w

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать