Layering Technique Trial

Over the past few months I have been undertaking an Associate Degree in Environmental Horticulture and one of my subjects is Horticulture Practise. In this subject we learn the basics to gardening and other horticultural skills. On one of the first days of the course each of the students plotted out a veggie patch in the field and was able to plant certain veggies. We were told to take care and maintain our plots, whether this was general maintenance like weeding or, even replacement of crop failures with other species.

After a few weeks I noticed one of my Grosse lisse tomato plants looking a little 'under the weather'. After consulting my teacher about my findings I decided to remove the tomatoes that were growing on the plant. This would hopefully return growth to the rest of the plant instead of using all its nutrients and strength into forming two lifeless tomatoes. The tomato plant has two main stems and the one which had the tomatoes on it has begun to deteriorate in health. I decided to perform a layer technique to the other much healthier stem in order to bring back some life to the plant and hopefully generate some adventitious growth of roots from the stem of the plant. To do this I bent down the healthier stem until it touch the soil and then bent the tip of the plant and foliage back up vertically. By maintaining contact with soil and covering the stem with a bit of some sought of substrate it will hopefully allow this stem to take over as the main part of the plant.

Two weeks later I have observed my trial at layering and the stem has gained a lot more foliage and the other stem it’s almost completely dead. I believe that it is possible to bring a struggling plant back to good heath through various techniques, like in my case, via layering.