Editing Gardening (section)

=== Asexual reproduction ===
[[Asexual reproduction]] occurs when plants produce [[Cloning|clonal offspring]]. This method of reproduction is often more simplistic and provides rapid population growth. Cloning may result in highly vulnerable plant populations if they do not also reproduce sexually in order to create genetic diversity, thus allowing for certain levels of [[natural selection]] and [[Heterosis|hybrid vigor]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=13. Propagation {{!}} NC State Extension Publications |url=https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/13-propagation |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=content.ces.ncsu.edu |language=en-US}}</ref> There are various methods of asexual plant propagation taken advantage of by gardeners. These include [[Vegetative reproduction|vegetative propagation]], which involves the growth of new plants from vegetative parts of the parent plant, such as roots, stems, and leaves.<ref>{{Citation |last=Pierik |first=R. L. M. |title=Vegetative propagation |date=1997 |work=In Vitro Culture of Higher Plants |pages=183–230 |editor-last=Pierik |editor-first=R. L. M. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5750-6_19 |access-date=2024-03-22 |place=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer Netherlands |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-94-011-5750-6_19 |doi-broken-date=2 November 2024 |isbn=978-94-011-5750-6}}</ref> Certain plants such as strawberries and raspberries produce [[stolon]]s or [[rhizome]]s which are stems which grow horizontally above or below ground, developing new plants at nodes. Another common method of asexual reproduction in garden plants is [[Fragmentation (reproduction)|fragmentation]] which involves a separation from the parent plant.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ceccherelli |first1=Giulia |last2=Cinelli |first2=Francesco |date=1999-06-11 |title=The role of vegetative fragmentation in dispersal of the invasive alga Caulerpa taxifolia in the Mediterranean |url=https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v182/p299-303/ |journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series |language=en |volume=182 |pages=299–303 |doi=10.3354/meps182299 |bibcode=1999MEPS..182..299C |issn=0171-8630}}</ref> This is common for shrubs, and trees such as willows which may shed their branches which is termed [[cladoptosis]]. Placing the shed limb into water or soil produces [[budding]] and causes roots to form.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAzxAAAAMAAJ&dq=vegetative+propagation+of+willow&pg=PA129 |title=General Technical Report SRS |date=1999 |publisher=The Station |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Corm_stolons5680.jpg|thumb|[[Stolon]]s growing from nodes from a [[corm]] of ''[[Crocosmia]]'']]
Perhaps the most commonly known method of asexual reproduction in gardening and farming is [[grafting]]. A human may choose to graft an excellent fruit-producing cultivar on a selected [[rootstock]] cultivar of the same species.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Jung-Myung |last2=Kubota |first2=C. |last3=Tsao |first3=S. J. |last4=Bie |first4=Z. |last5=Echevarria |first5=P. Hoyos |last6=Morra |first6=L. |last7=Oda |first7=M. |date=2010-12-08 |title=Current status of vegetable grafting: Diffusion, grafting techniques, automation |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423810003699 |journal=Scientia Horticulturae |series=Special Issue on Vegetable Grafting |volume=127 |issue=2 |pages=93–105 |doi=10.1016/j.scienta.2010.08.003 |bibcode=2010ScHor.127...93L |issn=0304-4238}}</ref> This involves cutting each plant and connecting the cuttings by mechanical means until they [[Inosculation|inosculate]] or fuse together. Grafting is done for many purposes. Firstly, the scion (portion of the plant above the graft site) can undergo artificial selection for specific desirable traits such as flavor while the rootstock can undergo selection for traits such as disease resistance or cold tolerance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldschmidt |first=Eliezer E. |date=2014 |title=Plant grafting: new mechanisms, evolutionary implications |journal=Frontiers in Plant Science |volume=5 |page=727 |doi=10.3389/fpls.2014.00727 |doi-access=free |pmid=25566298 |pmc=4269114 |issn=1664-462X}}</ref> This effectively allows for much more efficiency in the artificial selection process as certain traits such as fruit taste can be ignored altogether in the rootstock allowing for a focused selection with less [[backcrossing]] to a plant that had good tasting fruit. Secondly, grafting allows for plants that require cross-pollination for fruit generation, such as apples, to all grow together as one tree.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=W. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3UXixYFl5O4C&q=plant+multi+grafting&pg=PP6 |title=Grafting and Budding: A Practical Guide for Fruit and Nut Plants and Ornamentals |last2=Alexander |first2=DMcE |date=2008-08-11 |publisher=Landlinks Press |isbn=978-0-643-09899-2 |language=en}}</ref> Thirdly, this allows for quick reproduction where one [[mother plant]] can produce many semi-developed clones each year.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Angela R. |last2=Perkins-Veazie |first2=Penelope |last3=Hassell |first3=Richard |last4=Levi |first4=Amnon |last5=King |first5=Stephen R. |last6=Zhang |first6=Xingping |date=2008-10-01 |title=Grafting Effects on Vegetable Quality |url=https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/43/6/article-p1670.xml |journal=HortScience |language=en-US |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=1670–1672 |doi=10.21273/HORTSCI.43.6.1670 |issn=0018-5345|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Angela R. |last2=Perkins-Veazie |first2=Penelope |last3=Sakata |first3=Yoshiteru |last4=López-Galarza |first4=Salvador |last5=Maroto |first5=Jose Vicente |last6=Lee |first6=Sang-Gyu |last7=Huh |first7=Yun-Chan |last8=Sun |first8=Zhanyong |last9=Miguel |first9=Alfredo |last10=King |first10=Stephen R. |last11=Cohen |first11=Roni |last12=Lee |first12=Jung-Myung |date=2008-05-20 |title=Cucurbit Grafting |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07352680802053940 |journal=Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences |language=en |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=50–74 |doi=10.1080/07352680802053940 |bibcode=2008CRvPS..27...50D |issn=0735-2689}}</ref>