How to Take Root Cuttings

Step 1: Gently dig through the soil to expose young, growing roots, approximately pencil-size. Herbaceous perennials may be thinner.

Step 2: With a sharp knife cut the root straight across, and place an angled cut further down the root. This way you can tell which end is up.

Step 3: If you must transport the cutting, wrap it in a moist paper towel.

Step 4: Remove any fibrous roots. You can divide long cuttings and shorten thinner ones to between 3 and 5 inches. Make a fresh, slanted cut in each piece to designate top and bottom.

Step 5: Dip cutting into rooting hormone.

Step 6: Insert cutting into moist rooting medium with the slanted end down and the straight-cut-end level with the surface. For thin roots, lay them sideways, and cover lightly with soil. You can root some species, such as lilac and sumac, directly into the garden site.

Step 7: Pot or transplant roots after a few leaves develop.

Leave it alone, except to water, until the end of the next growing season. If the roots are strong, then cut the new plant from the parent and transplant.

A variation, called serpentine layering, involves anchoring a long stem to the soil in several spots. It's a great way to make several copies of plants, such as clematis or climbing roses, that send out long, flexible stems.

Some plants, raspberry and blackberry varieties in particular, reproduce readily by tip-layering. It works like simple layering, except you bury the tip of the vine.

Another technique is air layering, whereby you trick the stem into believing it has been anchored in the soil. Remove any leaves that are in the way. Make a sleeve from plastic wrap and fit it over or around the stem; wrap the bottom with tape. Make a slanted cut upwards into the stem with a sharp knife, and quickly pack around the stem with moist sphagnum moss using the back of the knife. Pull the sleeve up, pack fully with more damp moss, and seal the top of the plastic sleeve firmly with tape. Eventually roots will show through the plastic. At this point, cut the stem off just below the new root ball and pot up the new plant.