Plant Propagation

Course Schedule - Week 2

Reflecting on my college education the most important skill I developed, and continue to develop, was how to track down and vet information that is helpful to me as I address issues I confront every day. Given how important I believe this skill to be, I want you to leave this class with a good understanding of where to look for and assess reliable, science-based plant propagation information.

To help you develop this skill, we'll break into groups to discuss and develop brief reviews of a number of the resources I have shared with you in the syllabus. We'll also compare these resources to those that are readily available on the internet.

At the end of this class session I'll assign the first low-stakes (ten possible points) quiz of the semester (Quiz #1). It will focus on the course syllabus and the propagation-related resources we dicussed in today's class. Please email me your completed quiz by midnight tonight. I'll then post a short rubric by noon tomorrow (Thursday) to help you with your self-grading effort that will be due to me by midnight this Friday (January 27) evening.

(Note: to prepare for group discussions and quizzes it will be helpful to spend some time considering the questions posed at the end of each video lecture.)

Recall from the Learning Outcomes section of the syllabus that "my over-arching goal for you is that by the end of the semester you will possess the deep knowledge and skills needed to teach plant propagation." Therefore, we'll continue discussing the relationship between the seedling and clonal lifecycles and practice your teaching skills through a "peer instruction" exercise (also known as "think-pair-share").

Looking ahead to next week, make sure to read Chapter Three in the textbook and watch the Chapter Three videos. Also make sure to watch the short video clips prepared by former students in which they offer their thoughts on the various media we'll be studying. (Links to these videos can be found at the bottom of the Chapter Three content page under "Supplemental Video Content.") You will also find the descriptions of various media components found in Chapter Five - "Media and Containers for Seed and Cutting Propagation and Transplanting" of the supplemental reference "Plant Propagation: Concepts and Laboratory Exercises" to be helpful.

Finally, by noon today I will email you the second quiz (Quiz #2) of the semester. Your completed Quiz #2 will be due to me via email by midnight, tonight. I'll then post the grading rubric for the quiz by noon tomorrow and your self-grading effort will then be due to me via email by midnight this coming Sunday (January 29).

Rooting stem cuttings in a glass of water (such as the willow cuttings, at right) is for many of us our first experience with plant propagation. In fact, the rooting of stem cuttings in one form or another ("softwood," "semi-hardwood," or "hardwood") is the most widely utilized of all "clonal" (a key concept in this class) propagation techniques.

Stems, however, are not the only structures that can be used as cuttings. During this lab session we will also clonally propagate a number of species by leaf cuttings and root cuttings.

For more information on this lab session including treatment rubrics and video instructions, click on this link Lab Session #2 - Clonal Propagation by Cuttings.