Show #43/5804. Propagating Trees

Selection Process

One thing that's very important - When we've made the selection, we want those traits that we've selected for to be what ends up being out in the field. Otherwise, it's not definitionally a cultivar. What we'll do and these are great examples, we've got a little stem cutting, it's about a four inch piece of stem material that's then treated with a rooting hormone and it's stuck in this container.

If we were to cut the plant here and here, we can then make two copies, even a third copy or a fourth copy. That's how you build the numbers up and that's how we're doing that in this case, through vegetative propagation.

You could also bud or graft a plant if it doesn't like to be on its own roots. So let's say that it doesn't root well or the quality of that root system is not what we want, then you can use budding or grafting. The tree has to have good anchorage. But a lot of trees don't have good anchorage they do not do well on their own roots. That's when budding or grafting becomes important.