There are many techniques you can use when growing cannabis to make things more interesting. Cannabis plant grafting, is a technique of sticking multiple cannabis strains together, onto one plant. This is will bring you a beautiful plant with different flowers on each branch. But is cannabis plant grafting worth it?

At first, growing cannabis is very exciting, and you have a lot to learn. As time goes on, and your grow skills increase, you will look for interesting fun things to do with your cannabis plants. Cannabis plant grafting, is one of those. It is a high stress technique, and can be a very good if you have the time and space to dedicate to such a plant.

What is Grafting

The cannabis plant, is very resilient, it can survive many things. As long as you can give water, food, air and light to your plant, it should survive if the environment is optimal.

Because the cannabis plant can overcome massive amounts of stress, it is possible to completely cut off a branch, and regrow it as another cannabis plant. This is known as taking cuttings.

Grafting is similar to taking cuttings, but instead of planting it, you will ” graft” it to another cannabis plant. This branch will then consume its water and nutrients via the root ball of the bigger plant.

You can add multiple strains to one plant by grafting. It is a simple procedure, and can easily done, the main tool you will need, is patience.

If you have any questions about cannabis plant grafting, then feel free to ask for help in our cannabis growers forum

How to Graft a Cannabis Plant

There are a few items you will need for cannabis plant grafting. You will need to clean the area you are working in, and sterilize all tools you will use for taking your cuttings. Keep things clean and reduce the risk of infection.

Cannabis plant grafting should only be done on cannabis plants that are in veg. Do not graft any cannabis plant that is in flower, or is an autoflowering plant. This will reduce your yield and increase the chances of mould and rot forming on your flowers.

What you need for Cannabis Plant Grafting

Isopropyl Alcohol

Razor Blade/ Exacto knife

Tape ( 19mm Masking Tape)

Glass of water ( Room temperature)

Spray Bottle with Weak nutrient solution

This is all you will need. You will of course need a cannabis plant, and a cutting to graft together. If you are grafting numerous plants onto one, the principle is the same. Just make sure you label which one is which so you don’t lose track of the strains.

Choosing a Cutting to Graft onto a Cannabis Plant

You must first choose a cutting that you will use to graft to your cannabis plant. When looking out for a cutting, you should consider a few things;

The strain of the cutting

How long are the flowering period of all strains

The size of the cutting, and the branch it will go to

The overall health of the plants.

You need the strains to have a flowering cycle that is around the same time. This is to ensure your strains will all finish around the same time. The size of the branches matter too. Try and pick branches on both plants, that are around the same size. The better they fit together, the more success you will have grafting a cannabis plant.

Taking Your Cutting

Take the size of both stems into consideration here. Make sure they are as close as possible to the same size. Find out what branch you would like to use and begin remove it.

Step 1: Take the razor blade, or exacto knife, and clean it, in some isopropyl alcohol.

It is vital to keep you equipment sterilised when cutting a cannabis plant. Mould spores and pathogens will get into the plants tissues via open wounds. Try and reduce the risk of infection by using sterilized blades, whenever you chop anything from a live cannabis plant.

Step 2: Cut halfway down the branch, at a 45 degree angle

Cut the branch around half way down the stem. Try and make sure the sizes of your stems are the same or as close as possible. Having both sides cut at a 45 degree angle will help. It will increase the surface area and increase the chances of successful grafting.

Step 3: Place the cutting into some room temperature water.

Never leave a cutting sitting in just air. Air pockets can form around the base of the stem, and it may cause issues when you’re grafting or trying to root a cutting. You have some things to do on your other plant now, so let this cutting sit in water for a while.

Choosing Where to Graft Your Cutting

Now you have your cuttings, you will have an idea of what size branch you will need to graft them to. Check on your main plant, and find the best location for it. Look for a place that will receive a lot of light, as the cutting will need it once they are grafted.

Preparing a Branch for Cannabis Plant Grafting

Once your place has been selected, use the same technique you used when removing the cutting for grafting. Clean the blade with isopropyl alcohol, and cut the branch around half way down, at a 45 degree angle. Try and get the size of the two branches you are grafting the same. This will improve the chances of a successful graft.

Grafting a Cannabis Plant

Now you have both sites prepared, it is time to start grafting them together. Make sure the area is clean, and all of you equipement is ready and close by. Once you have begun, you want the process to be done quickly, and efficiently.

Step 1: Take your cutting out of the water, and spray the end with a weak nutrient solution.

Mix it so it is just 0.2 EC over your background EC. Or 1/10 of what you are usually feeding the plant. Do the same for the grafting site on the main plant.

Step 2: Line up both ends of the branches.

Have tape ready, as when the two branches make contact, you want to stick them together straight away. Line the two end up, and apply a thin layer of tape.

Step 3: Secure with tape

Add more tape now, to ensure the branch is well supported. The cannabis stems will work hard on repairing themselves and having some support will help them do so. They can work on making repairs to the stems, rather than spending energy making them strong.

After a few days, the branches should be healed and you can remove the tape. Do this gently of course, as the stem may be fragile. Cannabis plant grafting is a very easy technique. As long as you follow the above steps, and be patient, you should have a multi strain cannabis plant.

What are the benefits of Cannabis Plant Grafting

There are two main benefits of grafting a cannabis plant. One is, flowering numerous strains at the same time, from the same plant. So if you have very little room, you can use this technique to grow multiple strains in a small space.

The other is to keep a mother plant with numerous strains on it. This is a very good use of a grafted cannabis plant. If you have a multiple strains that you keep mother plants of, you can save space by grafting them all onto one plant.

This can save a lot of space, which will allow you to use less light, and can also save on energy bills.

Mostly, I think grafting a cannabis plant is a novelty thing you can do for fun whilst growing cannabis. Along with cannabis bonsai, it can be a fun project for a cannabis grower.

Do you have a grafted cannabis plant? Have you had one before? Tell us about your experiences in our cannabis growers forum, we would love to hear from you.

Good luck if you decide to give this a try! If you do, take pics and enter our plant of the month competition. It is bound to be a winner, you don’t see grafted plants often.

Thanks for reading! You can find more information on anything related to growing in our cannabis grow guides. All of our guides are written by experienced growers, and members of our cannabis growers forum. If you have any questions, sign up. It is free, and we are always happy to help!