Grafting is a very useful technique for testing the transmission of long-distance signals in plants and is used in agriculture and gardening for different purposes. This protocol, based on a previously published one (Jackson et al., 1998), describes a grafting method for potato plants, which has successfully been used to test the transmission of tuber-inducing signals (Martin et al., 2009; González-Schain et al., 2012). We describe first the procedures for plant growth and then the grafting procedure. Although this method has been used for grafting plants that were initially grown in vitro, it should work as well with plants grown from tubers in soil. This protocol probably works well for other plant species, with small modifications.
Soil composed of blocking compost (Plantaflor® Presstopfsubstrat) and sand in a 3:1 proportion
KNO3
NH4NO3
K2HPO4
KH2PO4
Ca(NO3)2.4H2O
MgSO42.7H2O
FeSO42.7H2O
Kelamix
Fertilization solution: modified Hoagland’s solution (Johnson et al., 1957) diluted 1/60 (see Recipes)
2MS medium (see Recipes)
Equipment
Plant growth chamber
Laminar flow hood
Sterile forceps
Glass jars, glass tubes or plastic containers suitable for in vitro growth Note: Equipments 1-4 is not required if plants are grown from tubers in soil.
Sterile scalpels
Pots
Stakes
Plant twist ties (e.g. Garden Odyssey, catalog number: T001 )
Beaker
Paper surgical tape (e.g. 3 M Micropore medical tape, catalog number: 1530-0 )