Whats the point of vegetative propagation?
There are two very important reasons why it is done: • To be free to grow a species – many tropical trees flower and fruit rarely; and/or their seeds are not easy to store. By rooting cuttings, plenty of nursery plants can be obtained at any time, without having to rely on seeds. Vegetative multiplication is also particularly valuable: • if pests or diseases destroy most of the seed crop; • when fruits or seeds are hard to collect, so the crop is small; • with young material, before trees reach the flowering stage. • To get improved trees quickly – most tree species have not undergone selection by mankind; and breeding is much slower than with annuals. Vegetative propagation allows more rapid genetic improvement, because: • trees with desirable, inherited characters can be used directly to produce improved planting stock (A 10–13); • this direct selection captures more of the desired characters than is possible by seed; • with each selected clone (A 11) existing as many plants, it is e
