Propagation Methods
Posted on 10 May 2008
© 2007 Andrea Anderson
Traditionally, there are three natural methods for propagating plants.
1) Open Pollination
2) Hybridization
3) Cloning
Open Pollination is when pollen or seed is carried naturally (either by animal, insect, wind or rain) with the end result being the reproduction of a plant of the same variety. This is the type of propagation most consider “natural” but it is a common misconception that it is the only type of natural propagation.
Hybridization is when two plants of a different species, genus or family procreate. Despite the widespread belief that humans invented this type of propagation, it has been happening in nature for thousands of years. For example, peppermint plant is a natural hybrid (dating back to 1,000 years B.C.) of watermint (Mentha Aquata) and spearmint (Mentha Spicata). On the other hand, manual forced hybridization has only been around for a few hundred years or so.
Plants of different species are likely (but not guaranteed) to hybridize with similar characteristic because they share many of the genes and a similiar DNA sequence. As well, for the same reasons, hybrids are likely (but not guaranteed) to reproduce results similar to the characteristics of the hybrid parent plant. However, hybrids of two different genus or families will rarely reproduce with similar results. In fact, what you will most likely get from a hybrid of two different genus or families is a mixed match combination of any of the many different characteristics of the combined parent plants which could be wide in range due to the dissimilar genes and DNA.
Cloning is when a piece of the actual plant is used to reproduce rather than the seed or pollen of a plant. Many asexual plants (plants that don’t need a partner to pollinate) reproduce in this way. Humans have adapted this method of propagation, as well, to reproduce plants with reliable DNA structures. This type of propagation is used very consistently and reliably, in nature, via three methods .
The first is called layering. This is how one of the first cloned plants called King’s Holly (over 43,000 years old) has reproduced itself and how the creosote bush continues to stay alive as the oldest known living cloned plant. It involves plants reaching the ground and rooting themselves to create a new plant while still attached to the original parent plant. Eventually, the parent plant dies off but the new plant with a separate root system stays alive and continues to grow and reproduce. Humans do this manually and call it “serpentine rooting”.
The second way is called cutting. This is when a piece of a plant falls to the ground, no longer attached to its original parent plant, but still reproduces an identical plant by rooting itself. Humans also have adapted this method, calling it a “cutting”.
The third method of cloning is a bit more complicated because it combines the complete DNA structures of two different plants. This method is called “grafting”. In nature, it happens when two different pieces of plants combine to create a new plant. For instance, if a tree in a forest falls onto another tree in a forest and both still carry a life force this life force may combine to make a new tree before the other two trees die off. Humans have adapted “grafting” and it is used most often to create new and improved plants.