- THE FLORICULTURE VEGETATIVE CUTTING INDUSTRY 127
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 3.1. Vegetative floriculture cutting production: (a) benches of lantana stock plants in
Nicaragua; (b) open box of unrooted cuttings, each bag is identified with a label and a bar
code that identifies the greenhouse and bench from which the cuttings were harvested;
(c) open bag of 100 thunbergia cuttings; (d) single note cutting of thunbergia ready to be
inserted in propagation tray by the grower.
are allowed to grow over several weeks or months, and then the entire
shoot is harvested and one cutting is created from each node. The shoot
tip and the tender, young growth at the top of the stem are discarded as
is the oldest, woody growth, since those tissues tend to perform poorly
in the propagation environment. Crops, such as succulents, which pro-
duce many offsets or side shoots, are also harvested infrequently as the
offsets require a considerable time to develop.
Stock-plant production consists of multiple phases, starting with a
“clean” stock program that outlines a series of rigorously designed
protocols for the purpose of avoiding dangerous pathogens. Cuttings
cleared from the clean stock program are used to create a small group
of “elite” stock plants from which cuttings are harvested to start the