Now let’s look at some other adaptations for asexual
propagation.Stolons, runners. Stolons, also called runners, are horizontal
creeping aboveground stems. These stems travel along the soil surface and can sprout new,
genetically identical, plants at nodes along their length. Strawberry growers are familiar
with runners—strawberries readily produce runners and sprout new plants, and part of
managing the crop is choosing which runners to keep and which to prune away. And
houseplant lovers will recognize the runners on spider plants and the "baby"
plants that develop at nodes.
Stolons are an efficient way for plants to spread. Many
ground covers and grasses spread by stolons—a plus if you are trying to fill in a
bare patch. Unfortunately, many noxious weeds also spread by stolons, making them
difficult to eradicate.
Stolon on strawberrry plant
Suckers. Another way plants propagate
asexually is by suckering. A sucker is a
shoot that arises from an adventitious bud on an underground root. (The word sucker is
often also used to refer to shoots arising from stem tissue at the base of a plant.)
Blackberries and raspberries are famous for their vigorous suckering—in fact, left
unpruned, these prickly brambles will spread, claiming a larger and larger area as their
own.
Because they have both shoots and roots, suckers can be
used to propagate plants. If you want more lilac plants, for example, look for suckers
that are at least two years old. Using a shovel, sever the root connecting the sucker to
the main plant. Wait several months (or until the following year) for the shoot to develop
more feeder roots before transplanting.
Sucker on lilac bush
Suckers also often arise from rootstock tissue on
fruit trees and roses. (We’ll talk about rootstocks in a minute.) Conscientious
orchardists and rose growers know to prune off any suckers arising from the rootstocks, to
keep the suckers from competing with the main plant.
Now let’s look at some horticultural methods for
asexual propagation.
