The Complete Guide to Flower Cutting Propagation Methods, Beginners Can Learn It Easily

Growing and planting flowers can soothe the mood and relax the heart. To grow more flowers, you also need certain methods. Cutting propagation is the most commonly used method in flower propagation. What are the flower cutting propagation methods?

1. By Cutting Material

By cutting material: there are stem cuttings, leaf cuttings, leaf-bud cuttings, and root cuttings.

1. Stem cuttings: using plant stems as propagation material for cuttings is called stem cutting, and this is the most widely used method. Among these, using the tender parts of herbaceous plants as cutting material is called herbaceous cutting; using the green young shoots of woody plants that have not yet fully lignified as material is called softwood cutting or greenwood cutting; using the fully lignified old branches of woody plants as material is called hardwood cutting or ripewood cutting; using dormant branches for cuttings is called dormant branch cutting; using relatively young buds that have not yet elongated as material is called bud cutting; using the tip portion of a branch for cuttings is called tip cutting; using a branch with the tip portion removed for cuttings is called normal cutting or detipped cutting, and this is also the most common cutting method.

2. Leaf cuttings: the method of using leaves as material for cuttings. This method can only be applied to species that can produce adventitious buds and adventitious roots from leaves, such as snake plant (Sansevieria), begonia (Begonia rex), and gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa). Plants that can be propagated by leaf cuttings mostly have thick leaf stalks, leaf veins, or fleshy leaves.

The commonly used leaf cutting methods include the following:

(1) Flat placement method: also called whole-leaf sowing. First cut off the leaf stalk, then lay the leaf flat on the sand surface, fix it with bamboo needles, and make its underside closely adhere to the sand surface. For example, Kalanchoe can produce small plantlets from the leaf margin. Begonia produces small plantlets from the leaf base or leaf veins.

(2) Upright insertion method: also called leaf stalk insertion. Insert the leaf stalk into the sand, with the leaf blade standing on the sand surface, and adventitious buds will form at the base of the leaf stalk. In the leaf cutting of gloxinia, a small bulb first forms at the base of the leaf stalk, and then roots and buds form.

Scale cutting: lily scales can be peeled off for cuttings. After lilies bloom in July, dig up the bulbs, dry them for several days, peel off the scales and insert them into moist sand. After 6-8 weeks, small bulbs can form at the base of the scales.

Leaf section cutting: also called cut-section insertion. This method divides one leaf into several pieces and inserts them separately, so that each leaf piece forms adventitious buds. For example, snake plant, gloxinia, and pepperomia can all be propagated by this method.

3. Leaf-bud cuttings: using leaves with axillary buds for cuttings, which can also be seen as a single-node cutting with a leaf between leaf cuttings and stem cuttings.

When materials are limited and more seedlings are desired, this method can be used. For example, India rubber tree, camellia, dahlia, and pothos are often propagated by this method. For tree species such as Japanese red pine, cutting off the tip portion of young shoots to promote the activity of adventitious buds at the base of the needles to form short shoots, and then cutting them off together with the needles for cuttings, is called leaf-bundle cutting, which also belongs to a type of leaf-bud cutting.

4. Root cuttings: the roots of some plants can produce adventitious buds and form young plants, such as wintersweet, persimmon, peony, Chinese peony, and sea lavender, which have thick roots, and can be propagated by root cuttings. This is generally done in autumn or early spring when transplanting. The method is to dig up the plant roots, cut them into 4-10 cm root segments, and bury them horizontally in the substrate. One end of the root can also be slightly exposed above the ground and buried vertically.

2. By Cutting Substrate

By cutting substrate: there are soil cuttings, sand cuttings, perlite and vermiculite cuttings, sphagnum cuttings, water cuttings, and mist cuttings.

1. Soil cuttings: using soil as the cutting substrate, this is the most common method. With different types of soil, the cutting results vary greatly, among which sandy soil and sandy loam soil give better results.

2. Sand cuttings: using sand as the cutting substrate. Uniform fine sand gives better results.

3. Perlite and vermiculite cuttings: using mineral materials such as perlite and vermiculite as the cutting substrate. This kind of substrate has good air permeability and water retention, is suitable for the cuttings of various plants, and gives the best results.

4. Sphagnum cuttings: using sphagnum with strong water retention as the cutting material. It is suitable for soft cuttings and other special cuttings.

5. Water cuttings: suitable for plants that root easily in water, such as willow, Chinese rose, oleander, dahlia, and dragon blood tree, all of which can be propagated by water cuttings, but the water must be changed frequently to keep the water clean. Sand can also be placed at the bottom of the water to fix the cuttings.

6. Mist cuttings: fix the cuttings indoors or in a container, and supply water or nutrients through misting. This is a special cutting method, characterized by avoiding insufficient oxygen and making it easy to observe rooting conditions.

There are many cutting methods, and the propagation method needs to be chosen according to the variety and characteristics of the plant.