A plant that has lost its lower leaves can be air layered--a propagation technique that turns the long stems of leggy specimens into new plants. The procedure is to make a cut on the stem of a plant (
figure A) and enclose the cut with sphagnum moss until roots develop.
Not only will you get new plants from the process, but by cutting back the parent tree after the air layering is done, new growth may appear at the base. Good candidates for this procedure: Dracaena, dieffenbachia, rubber plant, croton, camellia and ornamental figs. Way to Grow host Jackie Chicchino and guest Robert Bowden, executive director of the Leu Botanical Gardens demonstrate the procedure:
- With a pair of clippers, make a small cut in the surface of a plant stem.
- Brush some rooting hormone on the new cut (figure B).
- Insert a flat book match or a toothpick in the cut to keep it slightly open.
- Wrap the cut with moist sphagnum moss and cover the moss with plastic wrap. Tie the bottom and top of the plastic with twist ties (figure C). (Use rubber gloves when handling the sphagnum moss.)
- In six to eight weeks, roots will have developed. Cut the stem below the new roots. Make a hole in a pot filled with soil, set the plant in the hole and firm the soil around the new plant (figure D).
- If after five to six weeks, roots haven't formed, remove the match, moss and plastic wrap. Place a small piece of masking tape over the cut and it will heal.
Air layering is a wonderful way of sharing a plant that you love or of making a miniature version of a plant that is too large to move.
Resources The Complete Book of Plant Propagation
by Graham Clarke (ISBN: 0706370791)
Ward Lock Ltd, (May 1992)
Order this
title.
Guests Robert Bowden
Executive Director, Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens
1920 North Forest Avenue
Orlando, FL 32803-1537
Phone: 407-246-2620
Fax: 407-246-2849
URL:
www.leugardens.org/
Also in this Episode
)
)
)
)
)
