Have you ever wondered how you can propagate plants? Growing your own plants is so satisfying. There are so many options when you have the knowledge and skills- save money from buying plants or even start your own business.

Here's a little overview of plant propagation. If you need more information on propagation, we have some great ebooks or courses that can give you a great start.

Sexual propagation involves fertilisation of female plant parts by male parts to produce seeds or spores from which new plants are grown.
There are many different reasons why we might choose to propagate plants one way rather than another:
-    the availability of propagating material (can you get plenty of seed or cuttings?)
-    ease of propagation (which technique is the easiest?)
-    speed of propagation (which technique produces new plants quickest?)
-    importance of maintaining true characteristics (plants grown from seed can differ from their ‘parent plant in terms of colour, shape, size etc. Asexually propagated plants do not vary in this way).

SEXUAL PROPAGATION
Following are the most important considerations when attempting to germinate seed or spores.

Provision of a Correct Environment
Requirements here can vary considerably from plant to plant Drainage and structure of your propagating mix, amount of watering, temperature and light (or dark) can be important for success. For most seed (but not all), an ideal mix would be 75% coarse propagating sand plus 25% of either peat moss or vermiculite. Most seed is best germinated under glass.

Pre-germination Treatments
While some seeds will germinate immediately in the correct temperature and moisture conditions, others have to be treated in some way first.
Both callistemon and melaleuca require no pre-germination treatment but it may be necessary to heat the seed cases gently in an oven before the seed can be extracted.
Kennedia, Acacia and Hardenbergia are legumes with beanlike seeds which require hot-water treatment to stimulate germination.
Seeds from the Proteaceae family (e.g. hakea and banksia) are extracted from woody fruits by placing in a warm position. Fruits then open and drop seeds.

Many Australian natives (and some overseas plants) have extremely hard seed coats which must be broken physically, usually by burning or treatment with hot water. Some plant seeds contain chemicals which inhibit seed germination: these inhibitors must be leached out of the seed before it will grow. Many deciduous trees and conifers will not germinate from seed until the seed has been through a period of coldness. Such seeds are usually stored in the refrigerator for a period before planting.

Protection From Disease
Plants are most susceptible to disease in the early stages of life. One of the most common causes of failure of seed propagation is attack by fungal disease. These problems are most likely to occur in poorly drained mixes, unclean mixes (keep your propagating area equipment and soils free of disease), overcrowded seed trays and pots, or badly ventilated areas. These diseases spread very rapidly - they can appear one morning and within the space of one day kill thousands of plants.

ASEXUAL PROPAGATION
Here are the main methods of asexual propagation.

Tissue Culture
This is a highly technical method in which microscopic pieces of a plant are cultured or grown under laboratory conditions. Tissue culture allows propagation of very large numbers of plants from one single plant within a relatively short space of time. Because of this advantage tissue culture has become a very important technique in some sections of the nursery industry. Tissue culture requires a much greater degree of expertise than could be discussed here.

Runners
A runner is a trailing growth, extending from a plant above the ground, which takes root and produces new plants along its length. Examples of plants that produce runners are strawberry and Chlorophytum.

Suckers
Suckers are growths which spring from the base (below ground) of existing plants. Plants grown from suckers will tend to sucker more than plants of the same variety grown by some other technique.
Raspberries are grown from suckers because it is desirable to have plants suckering.
Poplars, while easy to grow from suckers, are best grown in other ways because suckering trees are undesirable.
The ‘piggyback plant’ (Tolmia menziesii) develops shoots at the base of the leaves, and is propagated by cuttings known as ‘leaf offset’.

Separation
In this situation, plants naturally produce completely new offspring at the base of existing specimens. Separation simply involves breaking these clumps apart; examples are daffodil, tulip, gladioli, hyacinth and crocus.

Division
Some plants grow in such a way that one individual plant can be cut into sections and each section will grow as a new plant; examples are phlox, canna, iris, dahlia and potato.

Layering
Layering involves promoting the growth of roots on a stem while it is still attached to the parent plant. Once these roots establish, that section of the plant can be cut away and planted as a new plant. The main advantage of layering is that it does not risk the loss of propagating material if the operation is unsuccessful.

Budding and Grafting
These techniques involve attaching a part of one plant onto another plant in such a way that the two will grow together. The end result of budding or grafting is a plant which has one variety for its root system and a different variety for its top. This is a valuable technique in many situations, e.g. growing a variety that is susceptible to root disease on a resistant root system.

Cuttings
Cutting propagation is by far the most commonly used asexual technique. It involves inserting a section of a plant in a soil mix to promote leaf and root growth.
There are four types of cutting:

STEM CUTTINGS, which use a section of stem with most of the leaves removed.
ROOT CUTTINGS, which use a section of the root
LEAF CUTTINGS, which use either a whole leaf or section of leaf.
LEAF BUD CUTTINGS, which use one leaf attached to a very small section of stem with a bud.

Get some great hints on Starting your own Nursery with our ebook- Starting Nursery or Herb Farm

Learn more about propagation with our Nursery and Propagation Courses.