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Air Layering

/air LAY-er-ing/
✂️ Propagation●● Intermediate

Also known as: marcotting, marcottage

Air layering (also called marcotting) involves wounding a section of stem, wrapping it with moist sphagnum moss and plastic to create a humid micro-environment, and waiting for roots to form at the wound site. Once rooted, the stem section is severed and planted as an independent plant. This technique works well for plants difficult to root from cuttings, such as magnolia, rubber plant, and citrus.

Etymology

From Greek aer (air) + Old English lecgan (to lay down)

Example

Air layering the fiddle-leaf fig produced a well-rooted new plant in about eight weeks without disturbing the parent.