How to Graft Cucumber Step-by-Step

Cucumbers are a common garden plant, but some varieties of the plant have more desirable features than others. Some varieties of cucumbers are resistant to certain root diseases while others produce a more flavorful fruit. Gardeners can combine these two characteristics by grafting the two plants together. The graft produces one plant with strong roots and foliage or fruit with the desired characteristics. The scion is the plant that will grow above the graft, and the rootstock is the plant with the desired rooting characteristics.

Seed starting cells
Potting soil
Pot
Utility knife
Tape or grafting clip

Instructions

- 1
  Fill a seed starting cell with loose potting soil, such as a mixture of soil, peat moss and coarse sand. Insert the scion seed into the soil until it is completely covered then water it until the soil settles. Set the cell in a sunny spot.
- 2
  Wait five to six days. Fill a second seed starting cell with the loose potting soil. Insert the seed of the rootstock into the soil. Water it until the soil settles then set the cell in the sun. Wait 10 to 12 days, after the rootstock germinates, to graft it to the scion.
- 3
  Fill a pot two-thirds of the way full with potting soil. The pot needs to be big enough to hold the root balls of the rootstock and the scion.
- 4
  Remove the rootstock cucumber variety from the seed cell, along with the soil around the root ball. Loosen the root ball with your fingers and lower it into the pot. Remove the scion plant from the seed cell and loosen its root ball. Place it in the pot 2 to 3 inches from the rootstock.
- 5
  Fill the plant pot the rest of the way with potting soil until both root balls of the cucumber plants are covered. Mold the soil with your hands.
- 6
  Hold the stem of the rootstock seedling. Make a cut on the stem with a utility knife, just below the first secondary leaf of the plant. The cut should be downward and 1/2-inch in length.
- 7
  Grasp the stem of the scion plant. Make an upward cut with the knife, 1/2-inch long, at the same height as the cut on the rootstock.
- 8
  Place the outer edge of one of the incisions into the cut of the second incision so the internal tissues of the plants are touching. Wrap a piece of tape around the stems to keep them in place or use a grafting clip to secure the stems.
- 9
  Water the plants until the soil settles. Use the knife to cut off all the leaves but one on the rootstock. Put the pot in a sunny, humid location and continue watering frequently enough to keep the soil moist. Wait 10 days then remove the portion of the rootstock that is growing above the incisions. Cut the stem of the scion that is growing below the incisions.

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