Propagation of Fruit and Flower Trees Has Been Started at Mukti Nursery

To create thousands of new plants, Mukti started propagating fruit and flower trees at the three Mukti nurseries  (Mukti library ground, SAM office and Du Bigha garden )of Mukti Gram under Mathurapur II Block. The work has started in July and is expected to be continuing till September.

Mukti has aimed to create 15 – 20 lacks seedlings of 118-120 varieties of fruit and flower plants through the Cutting and Air layering technique.

Cutting method: The most popular method of raising new plants is stem cutting. Stem cutting is a vegetative way of plant propagation. This quickest and simplest way of cloning a plant is the cheapest and the most convenient method. In the stem cutting method, new plants maintain the characters of the mother plant without showing any variations.

In stem cutting, a healthy vegetative (non-flowering) shoot of a mother plant is cut off, and it is encouraged to form roots. This can be done by putting the shoot in a rooting medium. Once the roots are established, the cutting can be treated as a separate plant and can grow in the desired place.

Salvia, Durenda, Cape periwinkle (Nayantara), Jungle geranium (Rongon), Garden croton (Patabahar) and Hibiscus (Joba) are some of the flower plants that Mukti has chosen to propagate by the Cutting process.

 

Air Layering Method: Layering is the method of inducing roots on the stem while it is still attached to a plant; & then cutting it once the roots are formed for further transplantation. The objective of layering is the same as that of stem cuttings i.e. for clone propagation of plants. The only difference is that root induction in layering is done before the branch is separated from the mother plant, which ensures a higher success rate.

There are different types of layering but the most commonly practiced method is air layering or “Gootee” layering. The process of making a layer on the high branches is known as air layering or “Gooteeing”.

Through air layering, the seedlings of Nerium (Karabi), Land Lotus (Sthal Padma), Sorno Jhau, Cape Jasmine (Gondhoraj), Spanish cherry (Bakul), Pinwheel flower (Tagor), Water apple (Jamrul) and Guava (Peyara) is being propagated.

In these three nurseries, 30 women are working under “Food for Work”.

These propagated plants will be used for roadside plantation, school ground beautification and to beautify the nearby villages of Mukti Gram.