DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE

RESEARCH & EXTENSION

Agriculture and Natural Resources

University of Arkansas System

FSA6024

Plant Propagation

for Home Gardeners

James A. Robbins
Professor and
Horticulture Specialist
Ornamentals

Many home gardeners wish to

reproduce special plants in their
landscapes or start their own vegetable and bedding plants. Plant
propagation is the controlled reproduction of plants using a variety of
methods. These methods can be
broadly grouped into sexual and
asexual (vegetative) methods. Sexual
propagation is focused primarily on
propagating plants by seed. Seed
propagation offers some advantages in
that the technique is often economical
and efficient and lends itself to longterm storage. The primary disadvantage of seed propagation is that many
seeds do not come true to type, so
the offspring are not exact copies of
the parent. Asexual propagation tech
niques include cuttings (e.g., root,
stem, leaf), budding or grafting, layer
ing and division. Asexual propagation
techniques, while often more labor
intensive than seed propagation, do
allow the gardener to get an exact
copy of the parent plant.

sterile and typically holds too much

water. Manufacturers often sell a soilless media designed specifically for
propagation. The media should be
moist before sowing the seed. For very
small seeds, it may be easier to
sprinkle the seeds on the media
surface and then use a fine spray of
water to settle them into the media.
For larger seeds, you can sow the
seeds and then cover them with an
appropriate depth of moistened media.
The general rule of thumb for covering
seeds is to cover the seed with two
times the diameter/width of the
seed. Again, use water to settle the
media in after topdressing the seed
with media.

Seed Propagation
Seed propagation is commonly
used by a home gardener when
starting plants for the vegetable
garden or for some bedding plants.
Most gardeners are well aware of how
to prepare a seedbed in a vegetable
garden and then follow the directions
on the seed packet to sow the seeds.

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Starting seeds indoors for the

vegetable garden or for bedding plants
is fairly simple. The two most critical
factors are using a high-quality seed
germination mix and then keeping the
seeds moist but not overly wet. Media
for seed germination should ideally
be sterile, most likely consist of a
significant percentage of peat moss
and never contain garden soil. Garden
soil is a poor choice because it is not

Figure 1. Germinating seed.

Keeping the media moist (i.e., not

wet and not dry) during germination
of the seed is critical. Once the media
is at the correct moisture level, simple
techniques can be used to maintain
that level for the entire germination
period. One simple method involves
placing a glass plate or sheet of plastic or Saran above the lip of the
seed tray or container. If the plate or
sheet is elevated just slightly above
the media surface, it will need to be
raised or removed once the seeds
begin to germinate and grow. The
other common option is to place a

University of Arkansas, United States Department of Agriculture, and County Governments Cooperating

clear plastic bag over the container, again with the

goal of simply trapping existing moisture contained in
the media. If the bag is not rigid, it is common to use
an appropriate length of bamboo stake or chopstick to
keep the bag from collapsing in on the fragile
seedlings. Some seedlings are very sensitive to salts
in water; therefore, for small seed germination
projects, you may wish to use deionized bottled water
until seedlings are up and actively growing. If seed
has been sown with a high density, you will most
likely have to transplant the fragile seedlings to a
different container (e.g., cell pack) to allow the
seedlings to reach a size that can be transplanted into
the garden or landscape.

surface. Seeds can also be scarified using hot water

(170 to 212 degrees F). With this method, simply drop
the seeds into four to five times their volume of hot
water, remove water from the heat source and let the
seeds soak for 12 to 24 hours unless the literature
states otherwise.

Vegetative Propagation
Vegetative (asexual) propagation techniques
include cuttings (e.g., root, stem, leaf), budding or
grafting, layering and division. Propagation tech
niques such as cuttings, layering and division can be
easily performed by home gardeners; however,
budding and grafting typically require more skill.

Cuttings

Figure 2. Seed germination trays.

Especially with woody plants, you will need to

become familiar with two terms: stratification and
scarification. In a simple sense, stratification involves
different methods imposed by man to cause seeds to
germinate after simulating environmental conditions
that seeds would normally experience in nature. For
example, think about a red oak acorn that falls to the
ground in the fall. In nature it is exposed to winter
temperatures and then begins germinating the
following spring. The internal signals keep the acorn
from germinating in the fall before harsh weather
sets in. Knowing this, if you harvest red oak acorns in
the fall and then want to germinate the seed indoors,
you need to replicate what would have gone on in
nature. Therefore, the red oak acorns are placed in a
container with moistened media and then placed in a
refrigerator (32 to 45 degrees F) for three months.
These stratified seeds can then be removed from the
refrigerator and sown, and germination should begin
soon if the temperatures are suitable. Reference
books will clearly mention what kind of stratification
regime is required for each species.
Scarification is any physical process that softens
or damages the seed coat making it more permeable
to water and air. Again, propagation books clearly
indicate which species require scarification to
improve germination. Plants in the Legume family
are one group often mentioned. For small seeds, you
can simply place the seeds between two layers of
medium sand paper and then rub the sheets back and
forth. For larger seeds (e.g., Kentucky coffee tree),
you can use a metal or nail file to abrade the seed

An understanding
of terminology is
required before going
further. A number of
terms are used when
discussing cutting
propagation. Simple
terms are used to
describe where the
cutting originated
from (e.g., root, stem, Figure 3. Typical three-node
leaf), or with stem
semi-hardwood cutting with
cuttings, the relative basal leaves removed.
age of the wood/tissue
(e.g., softwood, semi-hardwood, hardwood). With stem
cuttings, we may also refer to the number of nodes.
Nodes are simply the locations on the stem where the
leaves originate from (i.e., more precisely, where the
buds are located). It is also common to refer to the
overall position on the stem that the cutting was
taken from (e.g., terminal, sub-terminal). For exam
ple, it is common for a gardening book to instruct you
to collect terminal cuttings with three to four nodes.
With most cuttings, you also need to pay attention to
the original up and down ends of your cuttings
(polarity). If you think you will have trouble keeping
track once you have removed a cutting from a stem,
you can simply use a lateral or cross-cut to reference
the top/up and an angle cut to reference the
bottom/down of the cutting.
The media you use to root cuttings can have a
significant impact on your rooting results, not only
the number of new roots but the growth of these
roots. An ideal rooting media needs to be sterile, well
drained and provide adequate oxygen. Individual
components that are most commonly used include
coarse perlite, coarse vermiculite, peat moss and
sand/pumice. These individual components can be
combined in a variety of ways and percentages.
Examples include 50% peat moss: 50% perlite
(volume basis); 50% perlite: 50% vermiculite; 100%
perlite; 100% sand/pumice; and 100% peat moss.
Rooting cubes (e.g., Oasis Rootcubes) made out of
foam are also used.

have formed roots, you can start this transition by

periodically venting your cover with increasing
frequency to reduce the relative humidity slowly
over time.

Figure 4. Effect of media on rooting performance.

Left: vermiculite, peat moss, perlite, peat:perlite

The rooting environment has a major influence

on the rooting results. Remember that with cuttings
we have separated a portion of the plant from the
parent plant, thus removing its source of water and
nutrients until a new root system has reestablished.
Environmental conditions that add stress or hasten
water loss diminish the rooting success. Therefore,
conditions such as high light, high temperature or
breezy conditions often have a negative impact on the
rooting results. Even with cuttings that have leaves,
it is hard for people to imagine that making food is
not a priority but forming roots is. Cuttings will rely
on stored food until new roots are regenerated. With
this in mind, ideal temperature conditions for most
cuttings are to have the air temperature 10 to 15
degrees cooler than the rooting media. Ideal tempera
tures for many types of cuttings would be an ambient
temperature of 55 to 65 and a media temperature of
65 to 75 degrees F. In most home situations, having
a dual temperature is difficult; however, garden
suppliers do sell waterproof heating mats designed
specifically to place propagation trays on to elevate
the media temperature. As for light levels, it is criti
cal to keep cuttings out of direct sunlight until they
have rooted. Appropriate light levels can be found in
north-facing windows or by using grow lights in dark
rooms or basements.
The critical factor with cuttings that contain
leaves is to maintain the highest level of relative
humidity possible around leaves until roots form.
Commercial propagators use intermittent mist sys
tems or fog systems to achieve this goal. While these
options are possible for a homeowner, there are easier
solutions. No matter what option you chose, the goal
is the same: you are trying to trap moisture already
present in your rooting media. For very few cuttings,
using an inverted Ziploc bag or one-half of a clear
plastic soda bottle works very well over a single pot.
If you use the threaded end of a plastic bottle, you
can easily remove the bottle cap to vent moisture if it
builds up too high in the bottle. For large numbers of
cuttings, it is easier to use a seed tray or flat. To trap
moisture when using a tray, use a clear tray lid or
pieces of bent strap metal (Fig. 7) to keep a plastic
bag from touching the cuttings. With most leafy
cuttings, we need to transition or harden off cut
tings before planting them outside. Once cuttings

Figure 5. Simple propagation option using plastic bag.

Figure 6. High dome for rooting cuttings.

Figure 7. Simple propagation tray.

Figure 8. Plastic bottles (top or bottom) for rooting cuttings.

Houseplants
Many different kinds of common houseplants can
be easily propagated by stem, cane or leaf cuttings
and by division or layering.

Stem Cuttings
There are a number of common houseplants that
can be easily propagated by stem cuttings. These
include coleus, begonia, Christmas cactus, fuchsia,
geranium, poinsettia, rubber plant, shrimp plant and
wandering jew. Take cuttings from shoots that are
vigorous, pest free and, ideally, not flowering. Cut
tings will typically be 4 to 6 inches long depending on
the plant. Cut the stem just below a node with a
sharp knife or razor blade. Remove leaves from the
lower half of the cutting and dip the basal 1 to 1.5
inches in a rooting hormone. Rooting hormone is
probably not necessary for easy-to-root plants such as
coleus and fuchsia, but it will not hinder the rooting
process either. Carefully stick the dipped end of the
stem cutting into the rooting media. Some people like
to pre-drill the hole using the eraser end of a pencil.
The rooting media would then be firmed around the
cutting after inserting into this preformed hole.
A modification of this works well for foliage
plants that have a larger stem such as dumb cane,
corn plant and Chinese evergreen. In this case you
will remove a leafless section of the stem, now
referred to as a cane, and lay this cane horizontally
on the media surface. If the cane is thick, you will
push the cane slightly into the media surface so you
get good media contact.

Leaf Cuttings

(lamina) and the petiole that attaches it to the

original stem. This method is commonly used for
African violet, peperomia and some begonias. Roots
and a new plantlet typically originate at the base of
the petiole.
Leaf-Blade Cuttings Leaf-blade cuttings consist
of the leaf blade only and are commonly used to
propagate many succulent plants such as jade plant
and sedums. In this case the leaf is most commonly
inserted vertically into the media with a majority of
the leaf visible above the media surface. Roots and
new plantlets typically originate from the base of the
leaf. One exception would be kalanchoe. In this case
you lay the leaf horizontally on the media surface
and plantlets will develop at many of the serrations
or notches in the margin of the leaf.
Leaf-Vein Cuttings The classic example of this
cutting method is the begonia. You simply lay the leaf
on the media surface and cut several slices perpen
dicular to the major leaf veins. Some people also flip
the leaf over and lightly dust those cuts before laying
the leaf back on the media surface. Roots and
plantlets will develop at the cuts in the veins.
Leaf-Section Cuttings The most common
example of this technique is used to propagate
mother-in-laws tongue (Sansevieria). In this case you
cut the long tongue-like leaf into 2-inch segments
and insert the bottom inch into the rooting media.
Remember to keep the original orientation of the
leaf intact (polarity). Some of the baby plantlets that
will form at the bottom of the leaf piece from a
variegated selection may develop as green only (i.e.,
no variegation).

Leaf cuttings are used to propagate many house

plants including begonia, African violet, Episcia, glox
inia, jade plant, kalanchoe, mother-in-laws tongue
and peperomia. There are several variations of leaf
cutting types depending on what parts of the leaf are
used and whether a leaf petiole is attached or not.
Leaf-Petiole Cuttings Just as it sounds, a leafpetiole cutting includes both the wide part of the leaf

Figure 10. Mother-in-laws tongue leaf-section cuttings.

Figure 9. Begonia leaf cuttings.

Preformed Plantlets A small number of house

plants produce preformed plantlets along aerial
shoots. Examples include spider plant, wax plant
(Hoya) and strawberry begonia (Saxifraga
stolonifera). Propagation is simple involving the
removal of these plantlets (with or without aerial
rootlets) and then inserting the base of the plantlets
in a high-quality potting soil and treating the
plantlet as if it were a stem cutting.

Outdoor Plants
Many of your favorite outdoor shrubs, vines and
ground covers can be easily propagated by cuttings.

Softwood Cuttings
Softwood cuttings are prepared from the soft,
succulent, new flush of growth. Many ornamental
plants can be propagated by softwood cuttings includ
ing lilacs, forsythia, magnolia, weigela, oleander,
pyracantha, spirea, apple, peach, pear and plum.
While softwood cuttings tend to root easily and faster,
they may require more care since the soft tissue is
more susceptible to drying. In general, with softwood
cuttings, we are talking about cuttings that are
typically 3 to 4 inches long, with two to three nodes
and the basal leaves removed before inserting the
cutting into the media.

Semi-Hardwood Cuttings
Realistically, terms such as softwood and semihardwood are not absolutes. Once the very soft flush
of new growth starts to stiffen up and form wood,
we have likely passed into the semi-hardwood stage.
A majority of our common ornamental shrubs are
propagated from semi-hardwood cuttings. Plants such
as viburnum, camellia, azalea, holly, crape myrtle,
hydrangea and euonymus use this type of cutting.
In Arkansas this peak time is often between May 15
and June 15.

Figure 12. Hardwood cutting.

Root Cuttings
Root cuttings are used very rarely and only on a
few species that typically do not root well from stem
cuttings. These include Aesculus, Aralia, Koel
reuteria, sumac (Rhus) and sassafras. The most
challenging aspect of root cuttings is uncovering from
soil the roots of your desired plant and not some
other plant. While root cuttings may be made at any
time of the year, it is probably more common to do
this in the dormant season. Root pieces can be held in
moist media in a cooler (>38 degrees), placed nearly
horizontal in rooting media like you would treat other
cuttings or direct planted in well-prepared garden
soil with the top of the root-piece just barely
emerging from the soil.

Grafting/Budding

Hardwood Cuttings

Realistically, grafting or budding is not an easy

technique for home gardeners to master. Most people
would be amazed at how many ornamental plants in
their landscape originated from budded or grafted
plants. Many shade trees, all Japanese maples, many
weeping plants and all hybrid tea roses use these
techniques. Budding or grafting is also the mainstay
of the tree fruit industry. Budding and grafting are
essentially the same technique; however, with
budding you are simply attaching the bud from your
desired plant to the rootstock/understock, and with
grafting you are using a piece of stem that contains
many buds on it. The obvious advantage of
budding is you can potentially get many more plants
from your desired scion/stockplant. The major

Hardwood cuttings are made from woody,

dormant wood on deciduous plants (e.g., grape,
poplar, rose, willow, peach, wisteria, elderberry,
blackberry, forsythia) or some needle evergreens (e.g.,
junipers, arborvitae). Hardwood cuttings are easy to
prepare and less perishable. For deciduous plants the
cuttings are leafless and tend to be longer than soft
wood cuttings. Hardwood cuttings are typically 6 to
12 inches long. As a general rule for the needle ever
greens, rooting percentages tend to be increased
when cuttings are harvested in mid- to late winter.
As a general rule, higher rooting percentages occur
on junipers when a small heal of wood is included
at the base of the cutting.

Figure 13. Chip budding.

Figure 11. Dipping prepared holly cutting in rooting

hormone.

disadvantage of budding is that you are typically

working with a very small bud versus a larger piece
of stem that is easier to handle. A good propagation
text can go into the specific details related to budding
and grafting.

Layering
Layering is a method of rooting a new plant while
the stem is still attached to the parent plant. It is
simple to perform and can be done in the home
without special equipment or
structures.

for plants such as wisteria, brambles, forsythia,

weigela and spirea. Ground layering simply involves
bending an intact shoot over and burying the middle
portion (i.e., shoot tip comes back up above ground
and is exposed) under the existing soil. You may wish
to wound the lower portion of the bent stem. With
easy-to-root plants, roots will often form along the
buried stem. Once roots have formed, you simply cut
the stem below the rooted zone, excising the plant
from the mother plant.

Division
Many home gardeners did not realize that they
were actually plant propagators when they divided
common perennials such as cannas, hosta, daylilies,
iris, peonies, bleeding heart, many ornamental
grasses, ferns and lily-of-the-valley. As a general rule,
the best time to divide plants is during the dormant
season.

Air Layering In the

case of air layering, we are
forming roots on stems well
above the soil. This method
can be used successfully on a
number of common tropical
houseplants including croton,
dumb cane (Dieffenbachia),
dracaena, rubber plant and
schefflera.

Resources

The process is quite

simple. First, pick a point in
Figure 14. Air layering
the stem at least 10 to 12
Mahonia.
inches from the tip. Remove
all leaves several inches on either side of the region
where you will make your air layer. The area will
typically be about 6 inches in length. Two types of
stem cuts are typically used. One involves making an
upward-angled cut into the stem that stops about
halfway through the stem. The other method involves
removing a ring of the outer bark. The ring of bark
tissue will be 1 to 1.5 inches long. Apply a rooting
hormone to the cut surfaces. If an angled or vertical
cut has been made into the stem, you will want to
prevent that from closing by inserting a small piece
of toothpick in the wounded area. Next, take a hand
ful of moist sphagnum moss and pack the moss in
and around the cut surfaces. To retain the moisture
around the wounded area for weeks/months, wrap a
layer of plastic sheet around the entire work area
and seal both ends with electrical tape. Many people
also cover the plastic with aluminum foil to prevent
any light from penetrating the rooting zone and to
reflect any heat from sunlight. You can simply keep
your foliage plant in the same place (i.e., indoors or
outdoors) where it was originally growing. Once roots
do form, simply make a single cross-cut in the stem
below the rooting zone. You should end up with roots
on the bottom and leaves at the top: a new plant.
Ground Layering Ground layering can be
used to easily propagate a number of ornamental
shrubs and vines. This simple technique works well

Bubel, Nancy. 1988. The New Seed Starters

Handbook. ISBN-10:0878577521.
Dirr, M.A., and C.W. Heuser Jr. 2006. The Reference
Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed
to Tissue Culture: A Practical Working Guide to
the Propagation of Over 1,100 Species. Varsity
Press. ISBN-10:1604690046. Basically an A to Z
recipe book for propagating woody ornamental
plants.
Druse, Ken. 2000. Making More Plants: The
Science, Art and Joy of Propagation. ISBN
10:051770787X.
Gowdy, Mary Ann. 2002. Home Propagation of House
plants. University of Missouri - Columbia. G6560.
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/g6560.pdf.
Hartmann, H.T., D.E. Kester, F.T. Davies, Jr., and
R.L. Geneve. 2010. Plant Propagation Principles
and Practices. Prentice-Hall. 8th edition. ISBN
10:0135014492. This is considered the bible of
plant propagation. It is used in every college and
university. Expensive, but thorough.
Heffernan, Maureen. 1997. Burpee Seed Starter: A
Guide to Growing Flower, Vegetable, and Herb
Seeds Indoors and Outdoors. John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN-10:0028610024.

Supplies

Your local garden supply store can often provide

trays, media and rooting hormone.
A.M. Leonard, Piqua, OH, http://amleo.com/
Hummert International, Earth City, MO,
http://www.hummert.com/

No endorsement is implied or discrimination intended for firms or references included or excluded from this publication.

Printed by University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Printing Services.

DR. JAMES A. ROBBINS is professor and horticulture specialist ornamentals, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture,
Little Rock.

FSA6024-PD-9-13RV

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8

and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Director, Cooperative Extension Service, University of
Arkansas. The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its
programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national
origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or
any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative
Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.