Plant Propagation — Different Ways to Make More Plants: Cutting, Dividing, Grafting

There are a few main ways to make more plants, where each way has its own special parts and is good for different kinds of plants.

We will look at both the ways where you use a piece of a plant to make a new one like cutting, dividing, and grafting and the way where you use seeds, which is how you make a new plant from seeds. 

Using a piece of a plant lets you get a new plant that is exactly the same as the parent plant, which is very important for keeping the special qualities of a sort, while using seeds can sometimes make new and special kinds of plants because the new plant gets parts from both parent plants. 

The way you choose depends on what you want to do and what kind of plant it is, and if you learn these main ways, you can make your garden a place where you grow a lot of new plants, checking the health of new plants via an Android plant identification app.

Cutting: How to Cut and Grow Roots on Cuttings

How to Choose and Cut a Piece of a Plant

1. Choosing a parent plant: You should only choose a plant that is healthy and strong and does not have any signs of sickness or bad bugs.

2. Choosing a branch: It is best to take pieces from young but already a little hard branches from this year, and they should be soft enough but not too soft, and the best time to cut them is in the morning when the plant has the most water.

3. Making the cut: You should make a cut that is not straight but at an angle of with a sharp and clean knife, and the cut should be about 1 cm below the place where a leaf is on the stem, because a cut at an angle makes a bigger area for the piece to take in water.

4. Size: The piece of a plant is usually 10−15 cm long, and it should have at least 2 to 3 spaces between where the leaves are.

5. Getting ready: You should take off all the leaves at the bottom and leave only 2 or 3 at the top, and if the leaves are too big, you can make them shorter by half so that less water goes out.

How to Make the Piece Grow Roots

1. Getting the soil ready: To make the pieces grow roots, it is best to use soil that is light and has a lot of air and is clean, and you can use a mix of peat and sand or just perlite or some other things.

2. Using things that help: To make the process of growing roots faster, you can use special things, so you should dip the bottom cut of the piece into the powder or liquid that helps.

3. Planting: You should make a small hole in the soil and put the piece in it carefully, pushing it in about 2 to 3 cm, and you should not push the soil down too much so you do not hurt the cut.

4. Making a good small place to live: For the pieces to grow roots well, they need a lot of wet air, so you should cover the pot with a clear bag or a plastic bottle to make a small greenhouse, and you should let air in often so that the plant does not get sick.

5. Light: You should put the pot in a warm place with light that is not direct, so you should keep it away from direct sunlight.

6. Care: You should keep the soil wet but not too wet, and after 2 to 4 weeks, when you see the first new leaves, it means that the piece has roots and you can move it to its own pot.

Dividing a Plant: Making More Perennial Plants

Dividing a plant is the most simple and fast way to make more of many plants that live for many years, and it is good for plants like hostas, peonies, irises, and many others, and dividing helps not only to get new plants but also to make the old ones that have become too big or do not have many flowers young again.

When and How to Divide

1. Time: The best time to divide is in the early spring before they start to grow a lot or in the early autumn after they stop having flowers.

2. Digging: You should carefully dig up the plant, trying not to hurt the roots, and you can use a garden tool or a shovel.

3. Dividing:

• For hostas and astilbes: You should use a garden knife or a shovel to divide the roots into parts, and each part should have at least one part that will grow a new plant and some roots.

• For peonies: The roots of peonies are very close together, so you should shake the dirt off the roots, and then you should divide the plant into parts, where each part should have 3 to 5 parts that will grow new plants.

4. Moving: You should plant the new parts in a new place that is ready for them, and the hole you dig should be deep and wide enough so the roots can fit in it.

5. Care after dividing: You should give the new parts a lot of water, and for a little while they will need water often until they grow well in the new place.

Grafting: The Basics of Grafting Fruit Trees

Why People Use Grafting

• Keeping the sort: Grafting lets you keep all the special things of a sort, which is not possible when you use seeds.

• Strength: The scion gets good strength against sickness and bad bugs and can also handle cold weather from the rootstock.

• Many sorts: You can put many different sorts on one tree, which is a very good thing for small gardens.

The Basics of the Method

1. Time: The best time to graft is in the early spring, before the tree starts to grow a lot.

2. Tools: You will need a sharp grafting knife and a special material to tie them together.

3. Steps:

1. Getting the scion ready: You should cut a piece from the scion with 2 or 3 parts that will grow new branches.

2. Getting the rootstock ready: You should make a cut on the bottom part of the tree.

3. Putting them together: You should put the scion and the rootstock together so that the green layers under the bark are touching, because this is a very important part for them to grow together well.

4. Tying: You should tie the place where they are together very tightly with a special tape to keep air and water out.

But, of course, for the beginners it may be hard to adapt all of these rules for their plant — so, take a picture of your plant → upload it into the app → take the personalized tips. 

Making More Plants with Seeds: Rules for Getting and Planting Them

Getting and Storing Seeds

1. Getting: You should only get seeds from healthy and strong plants, and the seeds must be completely ready

2. Cleaning: You should clean the seeds from the fruit and other pieces

3. Drying: You should make the seeds very dry by putting them in a thin layer on paper in a place with good air

4. Storing: You should keep the seeds in paper bags or glass jars in a place that is dry, cool, and dark

Planting Seeds

1. Choosing the soil: You should use special clean soil for small plants or a mix of peat, sand, and other things

2. Planting: You should plant the seeds in pots or boxes — the depth of the seeds should be two or three times the size of the seeds.

3. Watering: You should be careful when you water the soil, and it is best to use a spray bottle so you do not wash the seeds away.

4. Conditions: You should cover the box with glass or plastic to make a small greenhouse, and you should put it in a warm and bright place.

5. Care: You should let air in often and water the plants, but you should not let the soil get too dry or too wet, and after the plants start to grow, you can take off the plastic.

You can start with the most simple ways like dividing and cutting, and then you can learn the more difficult ones.