This propagation method is suitable for any non-grafted plants that send up new shoots or suckers from their roots.  

Grafted plants are not suitable for this method of propagation, as suckers from grafted plants will be of the rootstock not the named cultivar. Suckers from the rootstock do not resemble the cultivar. They can occasionally be useful as rootstocks for

This involves joining the roots of one plant to the stem of another related plant, so they fuse together to form one plant. There are various methods, all requiring great skill. Grafting is mainly carried out by commercial growers to combine one plant’s qualities of flowering or fruiting (the upper section or scion) with the vigour or resilience of the other (the roots or rootstock). Fruit trees are often grafted, along with a few ornamental shrubs and trees, and in recent years grafted vegetable plants (mainly tomatoes, but also chillies, cucumbers, aubergines, etc) have become available.

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Grafting ornamental plants and fruit trees
Chip budding
T budding

• Loosen the soil around the
  Suckers are growths that appear from the root systems of many trees and shrubs such as lilac, cherries, Robinia. On grafted plants such as roses, suckers can grow from below the graft union, on the rootstock material. Suckers are usually removed by gently pulling off when young.

  sucker with a fork, and then carefully expose and lift the sucker and associated roots, being careful not to disturb the parent plant.
• Using sharp secateurs or a knife, sever the sucker, making sure that it has fibrous roots on the detached portion. Replace and firm the soil around the parent plant.
• Trim the sucker by removing the main root or stolon (creeping underground stem) up to the fibrous roots.
• Reduce long, leafy shoots by about half to limit drying out of the sucker after planting and to promote bushy re-growth.
• Plant the sucker into fertile, free-draining soil enriched with organic matter such as well-rotted garden compost, manure or leafmould. If potting up the sucker, multipurpose
  Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: • Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

  compost is fine to use.
• Water well after firming the soil around the roots. The roots are usually insufficient to sustain the plant without careful watering for the first season.

Establishment is usually the main problem. Very careful watering is needed for the first season as the roots of the suckers are not well developed.

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Trees and shrubs: establishment problems