Cloning Plants !!

It is now possible to produce thousands of plants commercially without using seeds.

A leaf is divided into small pieces and placed in a test tube in a chemical medium containing nutrients and growth hormones. After about six to eight weeks shoots start to develop which are cut off and placed in another medium. Once the root has been formed, the plant is transferred to soil in an environment with high humidity, usually green house. When the leaves have been formed, the plants can usually survive in less humid environment.

Plants with certain desirable properties, e.g. color of flowers, size or taste of fruits etc, can be thus multiplied, since the cloned products produced, being genetically identical, will have the same characteristics as the parent.

The procedure works well in the manufacture of orchids, bananas and many other plants and is cost effective because of mass production of plants with desirable traits.