Stool layering, also known as mound layering or stooling, is a plant propagation technique where a plant is cut back to the ground and then soil or other suitable media is mounded around the base of the emerging shoots to encourage root formation.
Here's a breakdown of the process:
- Preparation: During the dormant season (typically late winter or early spring), the parent plant is severely pruned, often cut back entirely to the ground.
- Shoot Emergence: As new shoots sprout from the base of the pruned plant, soil, compost, sawdust, or other rooting media is gradually mounded around them.
- Root Development: This mounding encourages the buried portion of the new shoots to develop roots. The moist environment created by the mound helps facilitate root formation.
- Separation and Planting: Once the shoots have developed sufficient roots (usually by the next dormant season), they can be separated from the parent plant and planted as individual, self-sufficient plants.
Key Features and Benefits of Stool Layering:
- Vegetative Propagation: It's a method of vegetative propagation, meaning the new plants are genetically identical to the parent plant. This preserves desirable traits.
- Ease of Implementation: Stool layering is a relatively simple and inexpensive propagation technique.
- High Success Rate: It often has a higher success rate compared to other layering methods.
- Suitable for Certain Plants: It's particularly well-suited for plants that readily produce shoots from their base, such as fruit trees (especially rootstocks), shrubs, and some ornamental plants.
Why is it done?
- To propagate plants that are difficult to root by other methods.
- To produce a large number of plants from a single parent plant.
- To create plants with strong root systems.
In essence, stool layering is a simple yet effective way to clone plants by encouraging roots to form on new shoots growing from a pruned base by mounding soil around them.
