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To the average consumer, plant propagation might simply mean growing a new plant from a seed. Experienced gardeners and farmers, however, know that they are numerous ways to propagate, both sexual and asexual. The asexual methods usually create an exact genetic duplicate, or clone of the parent plant. This is usually highly desirable when a gardener finds a plant with superior genetic traits. Plant cloning is almost as old as agriculture itself, and some species of trees originated as plants that were cloned on a mass scale. For example, all Bartlett pear trees have their ancestors in a tree that was first cloned in 1770. Here are the most common methods gardeners use for cloning plants. Layering – Layering is a method of cloning plants where roots are encouraged to actually form on the stem before it is removed from the parent plant. Some phen375 plants actually use this technique to propagate themselves in nature. In simple layering, the gardener simply bends a low growing stem into the medium, keeping it in place with a stake if necessary. The stem should form roots and start growing as a new plant. In serpentine layering, a very long stem is buried into the medium at intervals. The buried sections will form roots and create several new plants. Grafting – Grafting is a method of plant cloning where one plant fuses with another plant. In agriculture, it is usually done with trees. In this technique, the bottom section with the plant roots is referred to as the stock, and the plant that is used for the stems and leaves is called the scion. Many farmers do this when they want to increase the odds of a plant’s survival by grafting its top section to another plant with stronger roots.