The ability to clone plants has been important to horticulturists for many centuries, allowing the multiplication of plants with superior fruit production, growth or ornamental attributes. Cuttings may be a whole stem, a piece of stem, or a piece of leaf or root. Cuttings taken from leaf or root tissue require the development of new vegetative shoot meristems. These meristems are adventitious. Propagation by rooting requires control of several variables.
Cuttings are generally shaded to prevent excessive water loss and leaf scorching.
The rooting medium must allow excellent aeration around the rooting zone. Supplemental heat to overcome the cooling effect of mist may be necessary. Some difficult to root cuttings may benefit from topical auxin applications to stimulate rooting. This exercise will illustrate cutting propagation of plants using several different cutting types. On 10 cuttings, remove one-half the leaves.