MARCOTTING
What is marcotting?
Marcotting also known as air layering is a type
of plant propagation that involves
rooting of part of a stem while it is still attached to the parent plant. It is
a type of vegetative plant propagation.
Why marcotting
Most trees especially fruit trees are seasonal
fruits (they fruit seasonally) and so are sometimes hard to propagate when they
are not in season. Air layering reduces
the how long trees last before they can fruit (i.e with air layering, the trees
take shorter time to fruit).
Materials needed
11. Sawdust
2. Tape
3 3. Meter
rule
4 4. Twine
5 5. Transparent
water proof
How to carry out air layering.
1. Choose
a fully matured tree
2. Select
the stems suitable for it(younger stems are the best).
3. Choose
the part of the stem (5 cm to the tip).
4. Cut
a ring of the bark (about 10 cm).
5. Scrape
the bark very neatly.
6. Add
the saw dust. Note: it must be moist. (i.e it must have been soaked for at
least seven days.
7. Cover
it with the transparent water proof and tie tightly with the twine.
8. Allow for a few weeks. It should look like
this.
Advantages of air layering.
1. They
reduce the gestation period of fruit trees.
2. They
help in propagating plants without cutting off the branch.
