ABSTRACT
Taking cuttings should result in the production of new plants from pieces of stem, root or leaves of older plants. The daughter plant resulting from a cutting is a clone of the mother. There are several methods but the primary aim is to encourage the cut tissue to produce first roots and subsequently a shoot. If new shoots grow away before the root system has developed there will be an inadequate supply of water and the plant will die. Many of the methods used therefore concentrate on ways to increase the environmental conditions under which a vigorous root system will develop, e.g. applying basal root zone warming (bottom heat) and using hormone treatments.
