Contents
How to multiply one plant from another?
How to multiply fruit trees
The multiplication or reproduction of a tree consists of the formation of several individuals from an original individual.
Multiplication techniques allow you to obtain new fruit trees or any type of tree without having to buy it.
Proper techniques to multiply fruit trees
Multiplication can be carried out in the following ways:
- Multiplication by seeds
- Multiplication by layering
- Multiplication by cutting
- Multiplication by grafting
How to choose a specimen tree?
When carrying out the multiplication of a fruit tree we will have to take into account a series of factors that favor the good development of the new plant. Among these the fundamental ones are the following:
- The youth of the mother plant: Young plants have a greater capacity to regenerate. This regeneration capacity decreases as the plants age. It is much more difficult for old trees to grow new roots.
- The health of the mother plant is essential to obtain new healthy specimens.
- The season in which these tasks are carried out.
- The conditions in which they are carried out. It is important, for example, in the case of cuttings, to control the temperature, humidity, light or nutrients so that the cuttings produce new roots.
- Using the right techniques and using the right materials
Multiplication by seeds
Multiplication by seeds is called sexual reproduction because the male and female sex participate in the new specimen obtained.
Therefore, it is a type of reproduction that does not guarantee that the new plants have the same characteristics as those of the tree from which the seeds were obtained.
Multiplication by cuttings or layering
When we reproduce by layering, cuttings or grafts we are carrying out asexual reproduction in which only the genes of the parent plant that are found in the fragment that we have chosen to carry out the reproduction intervene. It is a cloning process that produces exactly the same individuals. Another advantage of asexual reproduction is the faster growth and fruit production.
It is decisive, therefore, for this type of multiplication, to choose fragments of the appropriate tree, since all the good qualities of the new tree will depend on this choice. (Its growth, its vigor, the quality of its fruits, its ability to resist pests or diseases, its productivity index, its appearance, etc.).
For example, if we choose a fragment of an apple tree (graft) that produces crisp green apples and graft it onto a stem (graft rootstock) of an apple tree that produces mealy red apples, the tree will produce crisp green apples above the point where the graft was made.
Likewise, if we choose wrongly, we will find a tree that has all the problems of the mother plant (Low fruit production, poor quality fruits, low vitality, high tendency to disease, etc.)
More information on fruit trees
