Methods of propagation of horticultural

Propagation simply means how we grow new plants. There are two main ways: sexual and asexual. Sexual propagation uses seeds—think of planting tomato or pepper seeds in your garden. The new plants grow from male and female parts combining. Asexual propagation doesn't use seeds at all. Instead, we take cuttings from stems or leaves, or we use layering where a branch touches soil and grows roots. In Nigeria, many farmers propagate cassava using stem cuttings because it's faster and cheaper than waiting for seeds. Grafting is another method where we join parts of two different plants together; this works well for fruit trees like mango and citrus.

Each method has advantages. Seeds take longer but create variety. Cuttings produce identical copies of the parent plant quickly, which is why nurseries prefer them for most horticultural crops.