AY Honors/House Plants/Answer Key
Layering is a technique for plant propagation in which a portion of an aerial stem is encouraged to grow roots while still attached to the parent plant, and then removed and planted as a new plant.
The process typically involves wounding the target region and optionally applying rooting compounds. In ground layering, the stem is bent down and the target region buried in the soil. In air layering, the target region is surrounded in a moisture-retaining wrapper such as sphagnum moss, which is further surrounded in a moisture barrier such as polyethylene film. In either case, the rooting process may take from several weeks to a year.
Layering is more complicated than taking cuttings, but has the advantage that the propagated portion can continue to receive water and nutrients from the parent plant while it is forming roots. This is important for plants that form roots slowly, or for propagating large pieces.
