Personal Home and Garden:
Propagation can be undertaken by anyone with access to a plant and some water or soil. This approach is widely employed in personal gardens and community gardens as a cost-effective means to increase plant populations. Furthermore, it can be applied to various indoor houseplants as well.
Restoration:
Along with personal use, plant propagation can be a really important part of restoration projects and can be especially important when trying to restore native species of plants to a certain area. Propagations can be taken from other local plants to be grown and planted in an area that is being restored. An example of this is the Crissy Field Restoration Project in San Francisco in which seeds and clippings were taken from the surrounding area to help restore the land from a United States military airbase to a native wetland and marsh environment. The project uses a large greenhouse in which seeds, clippings, and plants being grown are kept and distributed to nearby environments and projects.
Preventing Plant Extinction:
As mentioned before, saving seeds can keep certain genes and species intact and prevent them from disappearing altogether. A local example of this is the Franscican Manzanita plant, thought to be extinct in San Francisco (Rosenthal). One last plant was found in the Presidio of the Golden Gate National Park Boundary in San Francisco by a botanist who was driving by and recognized it. Clippings were taken in order to plant the species in other locations and prevent its extinction. They collected cuttings and fruit, as well as surrounding soil that may contain seeds and microorganisms essential to the plant’s growth, then moved the last wild remaining plant itself along with 25,000 pounds of soil and replanted it in a different, undisclosed location in the Presidio to ensure its protection.
Creating Hybrids and Cloning Desirable Species:
When cloning a plant, the most effective way to do so is to take a cutting of a plant so that it has identical characteristics of the parent plant. Taking propagations can also be a way to create hybrid plants, as well as being able to choose certain favorable characteristics (Malone). There are ways to breed plants so that they have desired or superior characteristics such as disease resistance, tolerance for extreme temperatures, or unique colors and appearances. Along with this, two different plants can be joined together using the grafting technique to create a hybrid that has characteristics of both plants. For example, a plant whose roots are prone to a soil disease can be grafted onto the rootstock of a different plant that is resistant to that disease, ensuring successful growth
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