A Series of Lectures By Mr. Allah Dad Khan Former DG Agriculture Extension KPK , Provincial Project Director CMP II MINFAl Islamabad and Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

2. Kitchen Gardening
( Plant Propagation)
A Series of Lectures
By
Mr. Allah Dad Khan
Former DG Agriculture Extension
KPK , Provincial Project Director
CMP II MINFAl Islamabad and
Visiting Professor the University of
Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

3. Objectives
 Why is plant propagation important?
 What is the difference between sexual and asexual
propagation?
 How do you successfully direct seed outdoors?
 What are the factors involved in planting seeds for
transplanting?
 What are the various methods of stem cutting
propagation?
 What are the various types of growing media used
for cuttings?
 What is grafting and what are three common
methods?
 What is the difference between separation and
division in plant propagation?
 Why is tissue culture important?

4. Why is plant propagation
important?
 Plant propagation- reproduction of new
plants from seeds and vegetative
parts, such as leaves, stems, or roots
 Produce new and better breeds of
plants faster
 Can reproduce exact duplicates of
desirable plants
 Can increase quality of plant and food
items

5. What is the difference between
sexual and asexual propagation?
 Sexual propagation
 Reproduction of plants with the use of
seeds
 Requires the union of pollen and egg to
produce the seed
 Requires extensive research to get best
crossing of plants for the desired
outcome
 May require years to produce the desired
seed

6. What is the difference between
sexual and asexual propagation?
 Asexual propagation
 Reproduction of new plants from existing
stem, leaf or root of parent plant
 No seed is formed
 Produces an exact duplicate of the parent
plant called a clone
 Can produce new plants from plants that
are difficult to produce from seed

7. What are types of asexual
propagation?
 Stem cuttings
 Leaf cuttings
 Leaf-bud cuttings
 Root cuttings
 Grafting
 Budding
 Layering
 Separation and division
 Tissue culture

8. How do you successfully direct
seed outdoors?
 Direct seeding
 Seeds are planted directly into the soil
outdoors where the plants are intended to
be grown

9. Success depends upon:
 Site selection- adequate sunlight & soil drainage
 Seedbed preparation- need loose, fine soil free of
weeds
 Planting date- determined by germination
temperature required by seeds
 Planting depth and spacing- need to be sown at
proper planting depths and spacing
 If unknown, plant 3-4x width of seed
 % germination, conditions, and mature size affect spacing
 Moisture
 Water when first planted
 Keep soil moist, but not wet

10. What are the factors involved in
planting seeds for transplanting?
 Indirect seeding
 Seeds planted indoors or in greenhouse
in containers of germination medium
 Once germinated and grow into seedling,
then transplanted outdoors into
permanent location

11. Overcoming Seed Dormancy
 Seed coat
 Often needs to be scarified, broken or
softened
 Embryo
 May need certain temperature exposure
called stratification

12. Row vs. Broadcasting Seeds
 Row planting
 Requires more space
 Allows for easier transplanting & reduces
chances for disease
 Broadcasting
 Evenly distributed over surface of media
or soil

13. Moisture, Temperature, Light
 Moisture- proper moisture necessary
 Mist after planting and when media dries
 Temperature- most seeds germinate
best at temperature of 70 to 80 F
 Light- needed by some plants, move
seedlings to direct sunlight

14. What is damping off?
 Rotting of stems at soil line due to
fungal disease
 To prevent
 Avoid warm, wet media
 Use sterile soil and containers
 Use a fungicide drench when
transplanting

15. Transplanting seedlings
 Handle carefully to avoid injury of the
stem, leaves, or roots
 Need to be hardened-off
 Exposure to cooler temperatures and
less frequent watering to prepare for
transplant shock

16. What are stem cuttings?
 Stem cuttings- a portion of the stem
that contains a terminal bud or lateral
buds is cut and placed in growing
media to produce roots

17. What are various methods of stem
cutting propagation?
 Softwood cuttings
 from soft, succulent growth
 3-5” in length with 2 or 3 nodes
 Cut at angle @ ¼” below a node
 Herbaceous cuttings
 also considered softwood cuttings
 3-4 inches long and contain several
leaves

18.  Semi-hard cuttings
 From woody, broad-leaved plants, new
shoots
 Hardwood cuttings
 From one-year-old growth, deciduous or
evergreens
 Conifer cuttings
 Also considered hardwood cuttings
 Taken from narrow leaf evergreens in
early winter and may require several
months to produce adequate roots

19. Leaf cuttings
 From plant
 consists of a leaf blade or leaf blade
with petiole attached

20. Leaf-bud cuttings
 From plant
 consists of a leaf, petiole, and a short
piece of stem with the lateral bud

21. Root cuttings
 From root pieces of young plants
during late winter or early spring

22. What are the various types of
growing media used for cuttings?
 Peat moss and perlite mixture
 Good moisture retention and yet provides good
aeration
 Vermiculite
 Good moisture retention
 Sand
 Good aeration
 Sand and peat moss mixture
 Good mix of moisture retention and aeration

23. What are three common methods
of grafting?
 Utilizes scion and understock
(rootstock)
 Scion- short piece of stem with two or
more buds
 Understock (rootstock)- lower portion of
the graft containing the root system

24. Grafting
 Process of connecting two plants or
plant parts together in such a way that
they will unite and continue to grow as
one plant

25. Grafting Methods
 Whip and tongue
 Joins small scion and rootstock together, usually
under an inch in diameter
 Used for fruit trees in the winter
 Cleft
 Joins small scion to larger rootstock
 Usually done in winter
 Bark
 Similar to cleft grafts
 Done in early spring when bark easily separates
from wood

26. Budding
 Similar to grafting except that scion
wood is reduced to a single bud
 Methods
 T-Budding- taking buds from one plant
and inserting them under bark of
rootstock
 Patch budding- bud is “patched” onto
stem when bark is thick

27. Layering
 Method of asexual propagation where
roots are formed on a stem while it is
still attached to the parent plant

28. Types of Layering
 Simple layering- branches are bent to
the ground and portions of branches
are covered with soil
 Terminal ends are left exposed
 Covered portion must have a bud or buds
and must be injured- roots form in this
area

29.  Trench layering- dig a shallow trench
near the plant and place a stem
attached to the plant in the trench.
Cover it with 2-5 inches of soil. After a
few weeks, roots develop and may be
removed from parent

30.  Mound layering- parent plant is pruned
to within 2-4 inches of ground during
its dormant season. In spring, new
shoots are cut back to 2-4 inches. In
summer, soil is mounded over half of
new shoots. They will form roots in
the mound of soil and may be
separated from parent plant.

31.  Air layering- remove a portion of the
bark on the stem and cover with
moistened sphagnum moss. Then
cover with plastic to prevent drying
out; roots should form in this area

32. What is the difference between separation
and division in plant propagation?
 Separation
 Method in which natural structures are removed
from parent plant and planted to grow
 Division
 Method in which parts of plants are cut into
sections that will grow into new plants naturally
 Plant structures that can be separated or
divided
 Bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers, plant crowns

33. Why is tissue culture important?
 Micropropagation
 Also known as tissue culture
 Involves taking a small piece of tissue or
a group of cells from the parent plant and
growing it on a nutrient-rich agar gel in a
sterile environment to produce hundreds
of new plants in a short amount of time