Answer:
Explanation:
Propagation without seeds is called vegetative reproduction. Certain plant parts, such as stem or leaf cuttings, will develop roots in growing medium and produce new plants with the same characteristics as the mother plant. Rooting media can be an equal mixture of perlite and peat, or vermiculite, perlite and peat.
Answer:
1. Crown Division
The simplest form of vegetative propagation is crown division. This technique is useful for any herbaceous plant that is clump-forming. The crown of the plant is the place where the shoot system meets the root system, and with this technique, the plant is dug up and separated into pieces. As long as each piece contains a portion of the root system attached to a portion of the shoot system, it’s a viable division and will go on to produce a new plant. Crown division is necessary for maintaining most perennials because, over the course of a few years, they often become overgrown and crowded. Seeing bare centers and reduced flowering is a sign that crown division is necessary.
Many common plants can be propagated via crown division. Avoid doing it, however, on plants with a long tap root or on woody plants with a main trunk, as they don’t have the type of growth habit that responds well to crown division.
Crown division should take place when the plant is not in flower. For example, divide spring-blooming perennials just after they finish blooming, and divide summer- and fall-blooming plants early in the spring. This enables their roots plenty of time to reestablish before flowering begins.
To propagate plants using this method, start by digging up the entire plant, leaving as much soil on the root mass as possible. Densely packed or thick crowns, such as those of hosta, daylilies and ornamental grasses, will need to be chopped into divisions using a sharp shovel, a pruning saw or a pick-ax. More fibrous or delicate root systems, such as those of black-eyed Susans, asters, bee balm and the like, can simply be torn or teased apart with the fingers or cut with a pair of clean, sharp pruners or scissors.
Once the plant has been separated into viable divisions, plant them immediately into a new home or temporarily house them in a pot for later planting. Keep the divisions well-watered until they become established a few weeks later.
2. Layering
“Simple layering is a very easy way to propagate plants vegetatively,” Feather says. “Many plants do this naturally on their own, but we can also do it purposefully.”
When layering takes place without human assistance, the tips of arched branches meet the ground and root all on their own. Gardeners can also do this intentionally, bending and pinning branches to the ground where they’ll take root.
“Shrubs with flexible stems work best for layering,” Feather says. “Azalea, forsythia, rhododendron, willows, climbing roses, spirea and hydrangea are all great choices. I like simple layering because the new plant remains attached to the mother plant until it has developed a sufficient root system to survive on its own. They don’t require much care.”
Layering also doesn’t require any special equipment or skill. You simply bend a branch down to the ground, or into a pot of soil, wound the bark with a sharp knife at the point of soil contact, dust some rooting hormone (available at your local garden-supply center) onto the wound to speed up root formation, and pin it down on the soil using a landscaping pin or even a brick.
Burying the contact point 1 to 2 inches into the ground is another option. Depending on the type of plant, roots will form within a few months. At that point, the plantlet can be cut from the mother plant, carefully dug out and moved to a new location. For most shrubs, layering is best attempted in the spring, just before active growth occurs. Roots should be formed by fall.
3. Stem Cuttings
Starting new plants from stem cuttings is a very simple way to propagate them, though it does require a bit more time and attention than the two techniques described previously. Many herbs and houseplants, along with herbaceous annuals and perennials, are easy to propagate via stem cuttings. When you take a stem cutting, a portion of stem is removed from the mother plant and forced to generate an entirely new root system.
“With stem cuttings, the plant is in a race against time to grow new roots before the stem dries out,” Tychonievich says. “To grow these new roots, the specialized cells making up the various parts of the stem have to dedifferentiate into generic plant cells which can then turn into new root cells. Rooting hormone speeds up that process, but keeping the cuttings cool, moist and exposed to the right amount of light keeps them from drying out while they are growing their new root system.”
To take stem cuttings, start with a clean pair of scissors, a few small plastic pots, a bag of sterile potting mix, a container of rooting hormone and a handful of clear plastic baggies and twist-ties or some type of clear humidity dome. Fill each pot with damp potting mix, and lightly tamp it down. Cut off several 2- to 3-inch-long stem pieces with the scissors.
Feather advises that each stem section should have at least two growth nodes, the place where the leaves meet the stem. “Remove the lower leaves before inserting the cutting into the gr
