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Grafting A Multi-Pepper Plant?

PrairieChilihead

PrairieChilihead

I have a dream to take a well established 2 year old Seven Pod plant with a thick, woody trunk and graft branches from maybe 3 other peppers onto it. I'm thinking maybe a Fatalii branch, a Naga and a Bhut Jolokia. I have so little room to over winter plants that such a creation would provide me with a nice pepper assortment and also be an interesting project. Those peppers are sufficiently different in colour and shape to be visually arresting.

Of course, it's just a dream. But is it possible? Has anyone ever done such a thing?
 
I've not done it but with experimentation it is most definitely possible. It's done with apples, avocados, as well as solanaceous plants like tomatoes and peppers! That's an absolutely stellar idea PCH!

I recently read an article about heirloom apple hunters who've done this with established apple trees in their own yards and now have trees with 10-15 different varieties growing from them. I also know for a fact that tomatoes starts are now being produced for commercial farmers that are bacterial wilt resistant wild type rootstocks grafted onto more tasty and productive tomato plants. Without it, farmers with bacterial wilt in their fields wouldn't be able to grow tomatoes in them anymore.

Wow, what a great concept man. It most certainly can be done, but will take time, practice, and patience. If you're willing to sacrifice a bit and do your research, I think it would be successful.
 
FiveStar said:
I've not done it but with experimentation it is most definitely possible. It's done with apples, avocados, as well as solanaceous plants like tomatoes and peppers! That's an absolutely stellar idea PCH!

I recently read an article about heirloom apple hunters who've done this with established apple trees in their own yards and now have trees with 10-15 different varieties growing from them. I also know for a fact that tomatoes starts are now being produced for commercial farmers that are bacterial wilt resistant wild type rootstocks grafted onto more tasty and productive tomato plants. Without it, farmers with bacterial wilt in their fields wouldn't be able to grow tomatoes in them anymore.

Wow, what a great concept man. It most certainly can be done, but will take time, practice, and patience. If you're willing to sacrifice a bit and do your research, I think it would be successful.
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origamiRN said:
Sounds like a great idea! I see no reason it wouldn't work.
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Really?! :shocked: I thought I was going to get panned. Would you carefully cut off a branch and graft a branch from another plant onto it? Or am I being too simplistic?
 
No not being simplistic, i agree with ***** that it's a great idea and one that should be done post hast!

Do some research on the stuff that the professional growers use like hormone gels and the like as i am pretty sure you need to treat the parent and the graft with some kind of "stuff"! :P

Only problem i can foresee is that the cutting would most probably be "green" as in young and the older plant would be woody, im not sure how that would effect the process.
 
That's pretty much it! I'd start with one of the branches that come from the base of the stalk as a side shoot I believe, rather tha one of the main branches just to be safe. It's important that the branches be roughly the same size, and and the very least that the one on the plant with the roots still attached be the same size or a bit larger than the branch being grafted onth the plant. Once again, I'd urge you to be careful and not ruin a perfectly good plant, especially one you've overwintered once, and plan to save again this year.

Also, you should try to be VERY sterile with the operation. If possible, do the cutting of the rootstock plant or preferably both indoors with little air movement, or at least on a nice dry day outside. Moisture in the air could lead to fungal or bacterial contamination of the graft. Also, if use a very sharp instrument to do the cutting with, like a razor blade or a very sharp knife, and sterilize the blade by dipping into very high proof pure alcohol (everclear if available) and then lighting on fire. Allow to cool enough not to burn the plant, and do your thing.

I'm not going to condone this, simply because I'd hate to see you hurt yourself or a plant. However if you're feeling like you want to try something crazy, or are just feeling squirrely, do some research before you go for it. Read up on the internet a good bit at the very least, if not check out a book at the library. Also, I know there is grafting tape and also grafting wax that can be purchased to seal the two pieces together and prevent disease.

Here's a quick pic of one kind of graft that can be done. There are many different grafting configurations and techniques, so do your research and try to find one that's been successful with peppers and or solanaceous plants..

qu-graft.gif
 
FiveStar said:
That's pretty much it! I'd start with one of the branches that come from the base of the stalk as a side shoot I believe, rather tha one of the main branches just to be safe. It's important that the branches be roughly the same size, and and the very least that the one on the plant with the roots still attached be the same size or a bit larger than the branch being grafted onth the plant. Once again, I'd urge you to be careful and not ruin a perfectly good plant, especially one you've overwintered once, and plan to save again this year.

Also, you should try to be VERY sterile with the operation. If possible, do the cutting of the rootstock plant or preferably both indoors with little air movement, or at least on a nice dry day outside. Moisture in the air could lead to fungal or bacterial contamination of the graft. Also, if use a very sharp instrument to do the cutting with, like a razor blade or a very sharp knife, and sterilize the blade by dipping into very high proof pure alcohol (everclear if available) and then lighting on fire. Allow to cool enough not to burn the plant, and do your thing.

I'm not going to condone this, simply because I'd hate to see you hurt yourself or a plant. However if you're feeling like you want to try something crazy, or are just feeling squirrely, do some research before you go for it. Read up on the internet a good bit at the very least, if not check out a book at the library. Also, I know there is grafting tape and also grafting wax that can be purchased to seal the two pieces together and prevent disease.

Here's a quick pic of one kind of graft that can be done. There are many different grafting configurations and techniques, so do your research and try to find one that's been successful with peppers and or solanaceous plants..

qu-graft.gif
Click to expand...


So FiveStar, That looks straightforward enough. What is the risk to the root plant? If the graft doesn't take, would the root plant die? Thanks for the illustration. That really helps.


Novacastrian said:
No not being simplistic, i agree with ***** that it's a great idea and one that should be done post hast!

Do some research on the stuff that the professional growers use like hormone gels and the like as i am pretty sure you need to treat the parent and the graft with some kind of "stuff"! :P

Only problem i can foresee is that the cutting would most probably be "green" as in young and the older plant would be woody, im not sure how that would effect the process.
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Yes, I see that happening. The plants that would be "donating" branches are just from this year. I guess I have some (a lot) of research to do. :lol:
 
This is very intriguing to say the least. You could be creating a Frankenstein pepper plant. Oh too cool. Brilliant PC way to think outside the box. I may have to try something like this myself. I'll need an assistant, anybody know an Igor?
 
VERY interesting idea. You would have a lot of pepper street cred if you could pull that off! You'd probably have to maintain the plants area like a grow room/ surgery ward!
 
Great idea PC. I wish you luck and success with this project. Looks like you'll have a lot of fun playing with this. The Naga and Bhut are fairly similar; you might consider swapping one of those for a chocolate chinense for more color variety.
 
One of these days I'd like to get a tree like member of the nightshade family, using the roots only because pepper roots dont do so well after three years and graft a large habanero type plant to it, try and get it to grow real leggy and tall, make myself a Habanero tree!

The idea is, hopefully the rootstalk of the tree like plant will keep the habanero plant alive for more than 3 years without trimming the roots, and get a very large "tree like" habanero, at least 6 feet tall.
 
My mate got a couple of plants from a market over here that had a long thin type and a Pequin type growing on the same bush. A closer look and 2 plants had been grafted together. Had a picture somewhere, i'll post if I can find it.

Micca
 
This is very interesting. I am going to try this tomorrow with a couple spare plants that I have left from the beginning of the season.
 
patrick said:
This is very intriguing to say the least. You could be creating a Frankenstein pepper plant. Oh too cool. Brilliant PC way to think outside the box. I may have to try something like this myself. I'll need an assistant, anybody know an Igor?
Click to expand...

Yes there is an Igor as a member here. You would have to travel to Croatia to collect him though!
 
PrairieChilihead said:
So FiveStar, That looks straightforward enough. What is the risk to the root plant? If the graft doesn't take, would the root plant die? Thanks for the illustration. That really helps.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't think the root plant would die if the graft didn't take, but you would just risk cutting off a large branch that wouldn't be there for next year. I seem to remember that you'd overwintered that plant completely intact in a window rather than cutting it down to a short stalk. This makes sense given the shorter growing season you've got.

Really, worst case scenerio would be you let in some kind of disease on the rooted plant, but peppers don't get too many diseases really, so you'd probly be fine. Hmmmmm Now you've got me thinking even more!

Having one frankenplant to overwinter seems like a really fun idea. Hell, you could to the bonchi/bonsai think with the other plants you chop up to make the pieces to graft onto the rooted plant just in case the grafts don't take. That way, you've got a space saving version of the grafted bits that you could overwinter as well just in case!
 
I've been planning to try this for many years, ever since I saw an apple tree with multiple varieties. I just never have the extra plants to sacrifice:(
 
Prairie, phenomenal idea. Now I know what I can do with some of my indoor plants.

Anyone have any ideas in regards to grafting Baccs, Annums, and Chinenses? Mix them all on the same plant?

I've chip-bud grafted apple trees in the past. That may be an option if I could just figure out which buds would be best from the donor plant and then how to stimulate its growth on the recipient plant.

Humm... I've got a nice and compact Jalapeno M plant that produced a small indoor crop. It has since been relegated to an east facing window while I isolate plants for seed.
 
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