What Does Rootstock Mean?
Rootstock, as the name suggests, is typically the underground part of the plant or a rhizome. From the rootstock, new plant growth is possible. Rootstock (chunks taken from a plant's root system) is often used to facilitate plant cuttings, grafting, and budding.
Usually, rootstock is used with disease prone plants that fruit and flower, as cultivar plant diseases can be prevented by grafting rootstocks with the help of scions. Due to this, rootstocks have been popular since the 20th century.
Rootstock is also known as stock or understock and works along with scions to prevent plant disease.
Maximum Yield Explains Rootstock
Given that rootstocks are used to preserve the plant and save it from diseases, it is important to understand how they function. A scion cultivar or species can alter the state of a rootstock.
Things like plant perocity, vigor, and fruit size are key in altering rootstocks that are resistant to not just diseases but also environmental hazards like droughts and root pests.—all of which must be considered while selecting the ideal rootstock.
For example, one of the most common uses of rootstocks in commercial grapevines. Vines are prone to phylloxera damage and they are grafted on rootstocks to ensure vines are phylloxera-free.
Rootstock is also closely related with plant scions, as they are both interrelated parts of a plant. The relationship lies in the fact that the scion is the top part of the plant while the rootstock is the root or bottom part of the plant.
While the scion is the fruit-bearing part of a plant, a rootstock determines the course of the scion. So, while grafting, cutting, and budding, it is important to use a rootstock for optimal yield.
