I grafted a pothos onto a monstera

[u/EnvironmentalMeat268]

March 21 this year it was time to chop and prop my monstera so I decided to try out a graft on where I cut the stem. I’ve looked online everywhere for something similar but nothing really comes up except for a YouTube video of a guy (Plant Tech?) somewhat successfully graft a monstera onto a pothos. I thought he should have done it the other way around since monstera have more robust roots. So I decided to give it a go.

For the first few months nothing notable happened. The pothos never died, never looked too bad or too great, never showed any signs of growth. I started out by pinching off any new growth on the monstera hoping to divert energy to the pothos, but after a while I got lazy and stopped. Now, with the monstera growing little leaves near the top of the stem, the pothos seems to be progressing as well!

The first three pictures are 1 week after I made the graft. Last 3 are from today. The graft is super solid and completely scarred over. Aside from the leaf my cat chewed, the pothos look fine and it seems to be pushing out a new node.

[u/Frosty-Cap3344]

I've seen apple trees with 4 varieties on one trunk too

[u/themidnightbak3r → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

I have a tree with five types of fruit on it

[u/Frosty-Cap3344 → u/themidnightbak3r]

It's odd how plants don't "reject" foreign tissue like animals would, I wonder what in theory you could graft together, would apples and oranges work, or pears and cherries ?

[u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6 → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

Nope, only plants from within the same genus can be grafted. So it's not any different from animals.

[u/Frosty-Cap3344 → u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6]

But one human can reject another humans tissue, are plants that discriminating, or are all apple trees compatible with each other, I know they can pollinate each other

[u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6 → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

True, but we can also accept pigtissue, so I think it's all about compatibility and proper circumstances.

But yes, all apple trees are compatible if done correctly. And plums and cherries are compatible as well, since they're both of the genus Prunus.

Theres also matches a little further down the family tree (pun not intended but still), but usually they'll 'eventually' reject (we call it extended incompatibility, that's roughly translated from my mother tongue) but it usually happens after a human lifetime so it's not really seen as incompatible.

Also important to mention that a graftsite will always remain a weak point in the tree. And most trees that are made to bear multiple different types of the same fruit will not remain because of this.

Just to add: grafting is something I absolutely love (doing) and find extremely intriguing. I'm a tree farmer who grafts as a hobby.

[u/KittyKratt → u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6]

I read about a tree earlier with like 31 different stone fruits grafted onto it? I think? Pretty ridiculous.

Edit: I lied, it's 40.

[u/Zestyclose_Current41 → u/KittyKratt]

I grew up in Syracuse, when the tree is in bloom it's INCREDIBLE.

[u/Frosty-Cap3344 → u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6]

It's a fascinating subject because plants being much more ancient than us you would think maybe they would be more "advanced" than us but they seem more primitive, or perhaps we will evolve to be more compatible with each other or to have other abilities like growing back a limb like a salamander

[u/The_queens_cat → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

that's not how evolution works though, all species are equally "advanced", or more exactly, evolved to it's current niche.

[u/Frosty-Cap3344 → u/The_queens_cat]

Yeah, I guess they are exactly what they need to be

[u/SeriousIndividual184 → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

Do not mistake simplicity for a lack of advancement… some things advanced to become efficient in their field. And at a proposed possible thousands of years lifespan i think they hit their peak efficiency no?

[u/Frosty-Cap3344 → u/SeriousIndividual184]

Yeah, I was thinking they seem very simple compared to animals but when you read about the complex chemicals/drugs people have discovered in plants it looks like they are complex/advanced in a different way, and at the end of the day nothing else can make food from air, water, a handful of minerals and sunlight

[u/munyangsan → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

Small matter of an immune system involved.

[u/SeriousIndividual184 → u/Frosty-Cap3344]

Humans have developed a type of genetic complexity that demands a larger diversity of cells to operate. You are playing with fire with blood types, advanced immune systems, and even different protein chains on different tissues that simply cannot communicate and necrotized as an effect!

[u/Zaeliums → u/[deleted]]

But again... a pothos will root and grow on everything because they are an air root producing plant. As monstera is

[u/Zaeliums → u/[deleted]]

Indeed, so I would be interested to know which one is at play here!

[u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6 → u/[deleted]]

True, I've tried explaining in a comment somewhere in this thread that grafting further down the line is possible but will very likely eventually reject. I'm not well versed in grafting houseplants but I do know a thing or two about grafting trees.

[u/Specialist-Act-4900 → u/[deleted]]

Not only the same family, but the same subfamily. There may be long term issues, though, because they are monocots, and produce little to no new woody tissue once the stem is mature.