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Types of cuttings
• Stem cuttings
– Hardwood
• Deciduous
• Narrow-leaved evergreen
– Semi-hardwood
– Softwood
– Herbaceous
• Leaf cuttings
• Leaf-bud cuttings (single-eye or single-node)
• Root cuttings
Hardwood deciduous stem cuttings
• Definition: segments of shoots from matured, dormant
hardwood stems after leaves have abscised; before new
shoots emerge in spring
• Features: easy to prepare, not readily perishable,
require little or no special equipment
• Many deciduous crops are propagated this way:
– Ornamental shrubs - e.g., privet, forsythia, rose rootstocks
– Fruit spp. - fig, quince, mulberry, grape
– A few trees: willows, poplar
Methods of preparing/handling hardwood deciduous
cuttings before planting
• Direct spring planting
– Stems gathered, stored cold till spring
– Cuttings made at planting time
• Direct fall planting
– Cuttings planted directly into the nursery in the fall
– From So. Canada (orn. shrubs) to Texas (rose rootstocks)
• Warm-temp pretreatment
– Cuttings taken in the fall (dormant period)
– Cuttings treated with rooting hormone (PGR), stored warm 35 weeks, placed back in cold till spring
Hardwood evergreen (narrow-leaved) stem cuttings
• Definition: dormant (late fall to late winter) cuttings
with functioning leaves
• Features: cuttings are slower to root than those of
deciduous spp; moisture loss must be prevented; poly
or light mist , rooting hormone (PGR) treatments
enhance rooting
• Arbor-vitae (Thuja), low-growing junipers (Juniperus)
root easily, yews (Taxus) fairly well
Semihardwood stem cuttings
• Definition: cuttings from woody, broad-leaved
evergreen species and leafy summer and early fall
cuttings of deciduous plants with partially matured
wood
• Features: rooting under high humidity is essential to
prevent leaf abscision
• Ornamental shrubs (camellia, pittosporum,
rhododendron, euonymous, evergreen azaleas, holly,
and fruit spp. (citrus, olive)
Softwood stem cuttings
• Definition: cuttings from soft, succulent new spring
growth through early to mid-summer (before green
wood begins to mature)
• Features: high humidity during rooting; very useful for
difficult-to-root spp.
• Many ornamental woody shrubs (lilacs, weigela,
spiraea)
Herbaceous stem cuttings
• Definition: cuttings from succulent nonwoody plants
such as mums, coleus, carnations, foliage spp.) that
retain a portion of the stem and (typically) leaves and a
shoot tip
• Features: humidity control is usu. required; rooting
occurs quickly and in high percentages for most spp.; v.
useful for many greenhouse floral crops
Herbaceous leaf cuttings
• Definition: cuttings made up of a leaf blade, or a leaf
blade and petiole
• Types cuttings:
– Spp. with primary meristems (plantlets arise from notches
around the leaf margins) such as Bryophyllum
– Spp. with secondary meristems (adventitious buds, shoots, and
roots form at the base of the leaf and develop into the new
plant) such as African violet (Saintpaulia)
Leaf-bud cuttings (single-eye or single-node)
• Definition: a cutting consisting of a leaf blade, petiole,
and a short piece of stem with attached axillary bud
• Features: usually used where material is limited, and
when adventitious shoots will not form from leaf
cuttings; humidity control is necessary
• Useful for many greenhouse floral crops
Root cuttings
• Definition: cuttings taken from roots
• Features:
– Usu. cuttings are taken in late winter or early spring
– Correct polarity is important
– A shoot and root system are formed adventitiously (not all spp.
are competent)
– Some forms (thornless cultivars, variegated forms) can’t be
propagated this way