Here I introduce how you can use your own intuition to understand the plants around you and their preferred method of plant propagation, rather than having to rely on specialized knowledge. Through a series of questions, you can learn to look at any plant, anywhere in the world, and begin to see some of its fundamental characteristics.
This simple series of 5 questions allows us to determine the best method of plant propagation. Our first question is:
What is the most obvious and interesting thing about you? Perhaps it is a showy flower, or a colorful fruit, or a big seed. Maybe it’s the plant’s bark, leaves, or color. Maybe there’s not much o interest at all.
If it is a flower fruit, or seed then we look for seed. Seeds are the first method of plant propagation. Sometimes a flower or fruit does not contain any obvious seed; if you cannot easily find the seed, then we move onto the second question.
Are you woody and upright? A plant that is woody and upright will generally do best if you propagate them by taking cuttings. If the answer is no, we keep asking.
Are there a lot of baby plants growing around you? If so–as is the case with the banana plant in our video–the best method of plant propagation is probably plant division.
Do you fall over and make roots where you touch the ground? Ground covers, such as mint, do best with the layering method of plant propagation.
Is there that much really going on above ground? If none of the questions so far have suggested a method of plant propagation, we take a step back and look at the plant. Is there even that much to look at? If not, this suggests that the important work is happening below ground, and that root division would be the best way to propagate.
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