Last week I told you about certain types of layering that can help you in the propagation of your plants. I promised to go into further detail about layering.

Air layering is commonly used for propagation of fiddle- leaf figs, rubber plants, crotons, hibiscus, oleanders, camellias and azaleas. The first step is to remove leaves and twigs on the selected limb for three to four inches above and below where the air layer is to be made. This is usually made a foot to a foot and a half below the tip of the branch.

The branch is wounded by either removing a one-inch ring of bark and scraping clean the wood underneath or by making a long slanted cut upward about half way through the twig. This incision should be kept open with a small chip of wood or toothpick to prevent the cut from healing over.

The wounded area should be bound with a handful of moist, but not wet, sphagnum moss. Tie the moss firmly in place and wrap the sphagnum ball with clear plastic and tie securely above and below the ball to prevent the moss from drying.

Cover with aluminum foil to prevent excessive heat build-up from the sun. When a mass of roots has developed in the sphagnum ball (one month to one year) the layered branch can be removed from the parent plant.

Before planting the new plant in the garden, it is best to allow the plant to develop a larger root system in a container or protected area to avoid highlight and dry conditions.

Tip layering is good for propagating climbing roses, jasmine, oleander orpyracantha. Most vines can be propagated using this method. A low branch, or one that can be bent to the ground, has a one-inch wound applied four to five inches from the tip. The wounded area is anchored two to three inches in the soil. It is once again important to keep the soil moist. The layered section should have roots before removal from the parent plant.

Trench and serpentine layering are similar to tip layering except that a longer branch is placed in a trench and covered with soil. These methods produce several new plants from each layered branch. Trench layering is useful on plants whose buds will break and grow under the soil surface such as willows, viburnum and dogwood.

Serpentine layering involves burying every other bud, leaving the alternate bud above ground. This method requires plants with pliable, vine-like stems such as grapes and confederate jasmine.

Mound layering can be used to propagate heavy stemmed or closely branched plants such as crotons or tibouchina. Mound layering is started in the spring. The plant is cut back severely just before spring growth. The new shoots that emerge are wounded and soil is mounded around the base of the plant in several stages about one and a half feet. Add peat or sphagnummoss to the mounding soil to help removing rooted branches. It takes about one growing season to produce shoots that have rooted sufficiently for transplanting.

Plants with a multi-stem or clumping habit of growth, offshoots, or with underground storage structures such as rhizomes or tubers can be propagated by division. This involves cutting large clumps into smaller sections, making sure each section has as adequate amount of stems, leaves, roots and buds to survive transplanting.

Ferns, orchids, daylilies, bulbous plants and lariope can be propagated this way. Some plants can be pulled apart, but many must be cut. Do not divide plants when they are flowering, but any other time of the growing season is fine.

The last — and least expensive — way to produce large numbers of new plants is seed propagation. A disadvantage of this method of propagation is that seedling characteristics are usually quite variable. Seed propagation is a means of reproducing plants that are extremely difficult or impossible to propagate vegetatively. Most palms are grown from seed because they are single stemmed and cuttings cannot be taken without destroying the parent plant.

The sooner you start propagating, the sooner you’ll enjoy some new plants for your landscape.

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Eileen Ward and her husband, Peter, own and operate Greensward of Marco Inc., a lawn maintenance and landscaping company. Besides completing horticultural courses from the University of Florida, she has a commercial maintenance spray license and is a registered dealer in agricultural products in Florida. To reach Ward, call 394-1413.

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