Layering can be done on many plants. It is done most successfully at the start of the growing season and involves bending shoots down to the soil and partially burying them. If you like the idea of trying this method then you have to select a shrub on which to try it! Choose a stem near to the ground and trim off all the leaves and small shoots but leaves the leaves on at the growing tip. Then gently bend it down until it touches the ground. At this point you have to make a small cut in the stem so that you can bend it up ever so slightly and then bury that part into the ground to a depth of two to three inches. Some growers rub hormone rooting powder into the wound at this point in the operation. To make it doubly secure peg it down to prevent any tendency for it to flick out of the ground. Work fresh compost into the ground at this point so that once roots start to form they have something nutritious to get hold of. When you have finished it will look as though a fresh young growth is beginning to come out of the ground a few inches away from the main plant. After a few months roots should have formed and the plant can be cut away from its parent.
Another very interesting method of increasing the numbers of a plant, or just reducing the size of it is called air layering. Basically it involves making a circular cut on a stem where you wish roots to form, or if you prefer, an upward sloping cut. These cuts are then packed with moss (because it’s sterile and holds moisture quite well). Some people even treat the cuts with hormone rooting powder before applying the moss. Then just wrap polythene around the stem tying the bottom part to the stem first and then the top and then tape the ends with electrician’s tape so that a nice, tight package is formed. You have to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t dry out. Now it is a fact that some air layering can take a very long time to produce roots, in some cases up to a year or more. Patience is required more than with most methods of propagation, but it does work, and it can mean that a great long gangling plant of say, Cordyline or Dracaena can be turned into a small compact plant once again. What is more, the parent plant which in many cases just looks like a stick in a pot will often produce new shoots to replace the one that’s been cut away.
In Guyana the higher temperature will quicken the rooting process of any method of propagation, but especially this is so with plants which are layered or air layered. The important thing is that they are not allowed to dry out and as the rains ease off, this is a danger. In Guyana the sun can be so blisteringly hot that a great deal of hard work can be spoiled by a few moments carelessness. With conventional cuttings you need to make sure that they are not exposed to hot sun before they have formed roots to replace any water that is lost.
Until next week may your God go with you wherever you may be.
