Grafting

Grafting consists of introducing a perfectly round nucleus, taken from the shell of a mussel cultivated in the Mississippi river, into the gonad of an oyster, along with the graft.
The graft is a small piece of the mantle from another oyster.
The grafting operation is delicate and from 2000 shells only 400 will have a commercial value and less than 10 will produce a pearl of A quality.
After grafting the waiting period for a pearl to form is around 18 to 24 months.