Propagating Plants by Layering: Ground and Air Methods

Layering encourages roots on branches still attached to the parent, which supplies water and nutrients during rooting.

Ground Layering (Simple Layering)

Easy for a few new plants; may take up to a year. Natural for trailing blackberry; suited to forsythia, gooseberry, grape, hazelnut, mountain laurel, rhododendron, rose, spiraea, lilac.

1. Spring: Select a low, pliable, healthy shoot. Loosen soil, add compost, dig shallow trench. Cut halfway through shoot from underside where it will touch soil. Dust cut with rooting hormone; insert pebble/matchstick to hold open. Lay shoot in trench, secure with wire/forked stick. Tie tip to stake for upright growth.
2. Fill trench, firm soil. Place rock/brick on top. Keep moist all season; mulch helps. When roots form (months to >year), sever from parent, dig with soil ball, transplant.

Air Layering

For higher branches. Used for large houseplants (rubber tree) and some outdoor shrubs/trees (citrus, witch hazel, magnolia, rhododendron).

1. Encourage active growth: fertilize, place in sun. When new leaves appear, proceed.
2. Below a node: make slanting cut (hold open with matchstick) or remove bark ring. Dust with rooting hormone. Encase in damp sphagnum moss; wrap with plastic to retain moisture.
3. After several months, if roots appear in moss, sever stem, pot or plant out. Remove ~half the leaves to reduce transpiration. If no roots, callus forms and bark regrows.