Cutting

A cutting is a severed vegetative stem segment — typically a 10–15 cm apical or subapical shoot bearing 2–3 fully expanded leaves — excised from a mother plant and induced to form adventitious roots, yielding a rooted clone (Caplan et al. 2018). Best-practice protocols call for a clean 45° cut below a node, immediate immersion in water or rooting gel to avoid embolism, and insertion into a moist substrate (rockwool, peat plug, or aeroponic collar) under high humidity (>90% RH) and moderate light. Caplan et al. (2018) reported that cuttings with three uncut leaves and treated with 0.2% indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) gel achieved roughly 2.1× the rooting success of untreated or willow-extract-treated controls; cutting position on the mother (apical vs. basal) had minimal effect. Etymology: Old English cyttan, "to cut." Synonyms/slang: clone (once rooted), slip, start, cut. → See also: Clone, Cloning, Mother plant.