What is Budding?

I’ve heard of grafting but what’s budding?

This is a question we are regularly asked in the nursery.

Budding is similar to grafting in that it is the process of creating a union between two different plants. 

The principle of both processes remain the same; expose an appropriate amount of cambian tissue on both the rootstock and the chosen piece of the plant (bud or scion) and bind carefully together. This will promote cell division and encourage sap flow between both areas and promote growth.

However, whereas grafting uses a piece of budwood (known as a scion), budding instead uses a single bud placed carefully beneath the bark of the rootstock and bound together to heal. 

The resulting plant grows ‘true to type’ of the variety from which the bud was taken with the added growing advantage that the selected rootstock offers.