Objective:

Students will be able to:

1. Define the term cutting
2. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of cuttings
3. Describe the types of cuttings

Lesson:

1. Cutting: a stem, root, or leaf that is cut from a plant and induced to form roots and/or shoots, thus producing a new plant

2. Advantages of Cuttings

a. Many new plants can be started in a limited space from a few stock plants
b. Inexpensive, rapid, and simple
c. No problems with compatibility as is found with grafts
d. Great uniformity of offspring

3. Disadvantages of cuttings

a. No genetic variation
b. Greater chance of crop failure in the case of catastrophic disease/insect outbreak

4. Types of Cuttings

a. Stem cuttings: most important method; can be divided into 4 categories

(1) hardwood - uses wood of previous season's growth
(2) semi-hardwood - uses partially matured wood of current season's growth (deciduous trees and shrubs)
(3) greenwood - uses soft, succulent, new spring growth
(4) herbaceous - uses succulent, herbaceous stems

b. Leaf cuttings: uses leaf blade, or leaf blade plus petiole to start a new plant
c. Leaf bud cuttings: uses leaf blade, petiole, and a short piece of the stem with the attached
auxiliary bud
d. Root cutting: uses roots of the plant to produce new top growth