CUTTING PROPAGATION BHT221

Become an Expert Plant Propagator

A course for both the enthusiast or the commercial propagator. This is a unique training program; offering an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills that are in high demand around the globe. A skilled propagator is pivotal to the success of any viable nursery, and much of the information conveyed in this course would normally take years to discover by just working on the job. The quality of tutors who support and mentor you here is outstanding; having both advanced scientific training and exceptional practical experience in propagation of plants from cuttings.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course is divided into eight lessons as follows:

1. Introduction
   • The principles of propagating plants by cuttings.:Importance of cuttings
   • Phenotype vs genotype
   • Why choose cutting propagation
   • Where to get cuttings from
   • Basic cutting technique.
2. Stem cuttings
   • Ease with which tissue forms roots
   • Types of stem cuttings (softwood, hardwood, semi hardwood, herbaceous, tip, heel, nodal, cane etc)
   • Treatments (eg. basal heat, mist, tent, etc)
   • Testing rooting, etc.
3. Non-stem cuttings
   • Leaf cuttings
   • Root cuttings (natural suckering with or without division, Induced suckering, In situ whole root cuttings; ex situ detached root cuttings)
   • Bulb cuttings, scaling and twin scaling, sectioning, basal cuttage.
4. Materials and Equipment
   • Stock plant Quality
   • Criteria for Selecting Plant Material
   • Planting Out Stock Plants
   • Care of Stock Plants
   • Stock Plants for Root Cuttings
   • Disinfecting cutting material
   • Sources of Hypochorite
   • Plant Containers
   • Tools and Equipment
5. Growing Media
   • Propagation media
   • Biological, chemical and physical characteristics of propagation and potting media
   • Testing for toxins
   • Air filled porosity
   • Nutrition Management
   • Potting up cuttings
   • Soil-less mixes, rockwool, etc.
6. Factors affecting Rooting
   • Juvenility
   • Cutting Treatments
   • Hormones & their application; auxins, cytokinins, gibberelins
   • Applying Hormone
   • Anti transparents, acid/base treatments, disinfectants etc
   • Callusing
   • Mycorrhizae
   • Carbon Dioxide Enrichment, etc.
7. Setting up a Propagation Area
   • Creating and managing an appropriate cutting environment in terms of: Water; Disease; Temperature; Light and Air Quality.
   • Greenhouses and other structures, cloches, cold frames, greenhouses, etc
   • Watering methods (mist, fog, capillary etc)
   • Heating, etc.
   • The Nursery Site
8. Management of Cutting Crops
   • Estimating cost of production
   • Efficiencies in Cutting Propagation
   • Keeping records
   • Management

AIMS

• To familiarise the student with the principles of propagating plants by cuttings
• To develop an understanding of how to propagate plants from stem cuttings
• To develop an understanding of how to propagate plants from non-stem cuttings
• To develop an understanding of the materials and equipment used for propagating plants from stems
• To understand the principles of growing media in relation to cutting propagation
• To understand how and why cuttings form roots. To learn how to manipulate the formation of roots on cuttings
• To understand the principles for establishing successful plant propagation areas
• To understand the principles of nursery crop scheduling

WHAT YOU MAY DO IN THIS COURSE

• Establish an area near where you live that can be used for the raising of cuttings. It doesn't need to be a greenhouse, just a sheltered place where you can raise the cuttings you will be asked to grow for this course.
• Select ten different plants that can be grown by stem cuttings. Practice preparing different types of cuttings until you feel you can do this well.
• Place samples of your cuttings in a propagating mix and place in the propagation area. Keep the mix moist and observe the behaviour of the cuttings. (eg. does it put on new leaves? Do changes in temperature effect growth? Do any cuttings die? etc. ) Make notes of your observations. You will be asked questions about your results later in the course.
• Prepare leaf cuttings for different plant species. Practice doing this until you feel you can do this well.
• Prepare root cuttings for different plant species. Practice doing this until you feel you can do this well.
• Prepare bulb cuttings for different plant species. Practice doing this until you feel you can do this well.
• Place samples of cuttings in a propagating mix.
• Visit three plant propagation nurseries and see if you can find out where they obtain their propagation material.
• Test soil samples and name them.
• Visit a local retail nursery and/or garden supply and determine out what rooting hormones they sell. determine what chemicals the products contain.
• Visit different commercial greenhouses.
• Prepare a pot of cuttings and estimate the cost of production for each cutting produced.

REFERENCE BOOK

Even though the course provides all necessary reference materials; you may decide to also purchase our principal's book. click here to order a copy

By our Principal John Mason

Published by Simon and Schuster

How Do You Succeed with Cuttings?

There are many factors that can affect your success. Here are a few of the issues you will find covered in both the course and the book.

FACTORS AFFECTING ROOTING

Generally the ability to form roots easily or not so easily, appears to be cultivar specific (ie. this can vary significantly between two varieties of the same species), although there are usually general similarities that apply to most cultivars within a genus or species (always be aware that exceptions exist).

Often (not always) some characteristics, which alone only have a minor affect upon rooting, can act together and have a much more significant affect. For example, if you provide the ideal conditions for rooting but select cutting material at the wrong stage, rooting may be as good as if you selected material at the right stage. If you select material at the right stage, and get hormone treatment, propagating media, and cutting preparation correct, but don't have the temperature right, rooting may still occur, but slower; but when you get temperature AND type of cutting material wrong, the results might be very poor.

In hardwood winter cuttings, the level of dormancy may affect success. If taken late in winter, the cuttings will have been chilled already and the arrival of spring will encourage new foliage and root formation. Cuttings taken too early and not given the chance of dormancy may fail to initiate roots.

JUVINILITY

Juvenility refers to the age of material used for propagation.

Juvenile wood or tissues, are those plant materials which have grown recently. Material that is perhaps 6 months old, is usually considered juvenile; material that is 1 year old is less juvenile, and material 2 years old is even less juvenile. Juvenility is a relative thing, and what is juvenile for one species might be considered older wood for another.

As a general rule, juvenile cutting material is more likely to be healthier, more vigorous, and provide a higher strike rate. For some plants, excessively juvenile tissue is also very tender tissue, and highly subject to dehydration. As such, that material might not strike well because it will dehydrate and weaken extremely fast.

Eg: Cuttings taken from 3 year old Picea aibes trees can strike at more than double the rate of cuttings taken from a 12 year old tree.

Strike rates for many plants can be improved by pruning the stock plant to encourage sprouting of clean, vigorous and juvenile shoots that can be taken for cuttings.

Rejuvenation and stimulation of juvenile cutting material may be achieved by:

-Hedging ... ¦keeping the distance between the plant root & growth tip short, juvenility is able to be maintained, and routine tip pruning promotes greater numbers of growth tips (for tip cuttings)

-Adventitious shoots ... (eg. suckers can be Adventitious or Axillary), are usually more juvenile (eg. a stool bed)

-Shoots or sprouts from stumps, suckers etc.

STOCK PLANTS

Stock plants are those plants from which you take cuttings.

Stock plants are frequently the most under rated aspect of cutting production.

"YOUR CUTTINGS ARE ONLY EVER AS GOOD

AS THE PLANTS THEY COME FROM"

If your stock plants are in poor condition:

• Your cuttings may have a lower rate of success.
• Your cuttings may be slower to form roots.
• You may transmit pest or disease problems from your stock plants to other plants in your propagation bed or greenhouse.
• Your cuttings may not develop as strong a growth as it might otherwise.

ENROL NOW TO LEARN MORE

REFERENCE BOOKS
ACS operates a student bookshop that supplies a range of horticulture texts to supplement our courses.
Many are written by the principal (well known gardening author John Mason), or other staff. All have been reviewed and approved by our academic experts (to be accurate and relevant to students studying our horticulture courses).

• Student discounts are available to anyone studying with ACS Distance Education.
• Both printed books and ebooks (as downloads) available

• Click on above link for info
• Sample pages available to download for all ebook
• E Books can be purchased online for immediate download (Can be read on a computer, ipad, iphone, lap top, most book readers or similar devices).
• GO TO www.acsbookshop.com for more titles