The term cutting refers to any part of a plant that has been severed from the mother plant for purposes of propagation. Four common types of cuttings are stem cuttings, leaf cuttings, leaf-bud cuttings, and root cuttings. To be successful as an asexual propagule, a cutting must develop adventitiously the organs it lacks. A stem must develop roots, a leaf cutting must develop roots and shoots, a leaf-bud cutting must develop roots, and a root cutting must develop shoots.

The objective of this laboratory exercise is to introduce the technique known as cuttage and the various types of cuttings. Each student will make several types of cuttings and place them in the propagation bed. The cuttings will be used to develop a collection of houseplants, make a dish garden and terrarium and add to the herb garden.

Make several stem, leaf bud, leaf and leaf section cuttings of plants. Put emphasis on stem and leaf bud cuttings since the leaf and leaf section cuttings take much longer to produce new plants.

• Make cuttings of 30 to 40 indoor plants chosen to represent a wide range of plant materials that can successfully be propagated by cuttings. Make some succulent cuttings for a dish garden and some humid tolerant, tropicals for a terrarium and a few for your herb garden.
• Pot up the cuttings after they have rooted in small pots of the peatlite mix that you made.
• Learn to identify the plants that are in your section of the propagation bed.
• Make notes on the identity of the plants in your notebook so that you can identify these plants in the future, for example, on the lab exam!

Successful Cuttings