Grafting

Grafting fuses one tree with another in order to allow the younger tree to behave as though it were the age of the older tree. Rather than waiting for a new seedling to mature to seed-producing age (about 7 years old) researchers use this technique in order to jump years ahead in their studies of a promising tree family. 

There are two main types of grafting:

• Top grafting, done with tall, older trees using a hydraulic lift to reach the treetops. This type of grafting produces cones the most quickly and is used when researchers are testing which tree families will be the best performers.
• Container or pot grafting, done with trees that have growing for a few years in a container rather than the ground. After researchers select the ideal trees through top grafting, they use pot grafting to establish a whole lot of these trees in a short period of time. The container trees are then planted in a seed orchard, where their pinecones will produce millions of seeds.