Q: What is grafting and why is it done?

A: There are two main forms of grafting and they are done for different reasons. The first involves joining two different plants. The classic example of this is the union of the wine-producing grape (vitis vinifera) with the root stock of native North American grapes. This was done because the North American vines were resistant to phylloxera vastatrix, a root grub that had ravaged the vineyards of Europe. This graft allowed the vineyards to be safely replanted. The second graft (also known as budding over) involves uniting a shoot or a bud of one type of grape variety with the growing vine of another. Typically, this is done to respond to changing market conditions or the belief that a different grape will do better in that location. This type of graft will yield a crop in one year – a distinct advantage over the three to five years that a total replanting would require.