Grafting a Pecan Tree

In pecan trees, the varieties with high quality nuts often have weak roots. Varieties with strong roots have poor quality nuts. To get high quality nuts on strong roots, pecan farmers insert a scion from a high quality nut variety into a strong rootstock variety. This procedure is called grafting. graft: a shoot or twig inserted into a slit on the trunk or stem of a living plant rootstock: a living plant into which another variety is grafted scion: a young shoot or twig of a plant, cut for grafting

Step 1 From the top of the longer carrot, measure ½ inch (1.27 cm) and mark. With the plastic knife, cut to the mark. This is your rootstock.

Step 2 Stick the smaller carrot stick, the scion, into the slit of the rootstock.

Step 3 Use a thumbtack to secure the scion in the rootstock.

Step 4 Wrap tape around the rootstock up past the graft so it is covered.