Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Propagation

Plant propagation is used to produce new plants from a desired parent plant. There are two categories of plant propagation: asexual and sexual.

Asexual propagation is used to maintain selections of known identity and quality and includes such techniques as division, cuttings, air-layering, and grafting. Asexual propagation creates plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant. Because fruit trees often have desirable traits, in order to maintain their characteristics, they are often propagated using asexual propagation. Fruit trees with specific characteristics are often distinct cultivars. Make sure to always label what you are propagating so as it begins to grow, you know what cultivar it is. Trees propagated asexually are ready to produce fruit as soon as they are large enough to bear the weight of the fruit.

Sexual propagation is a natural process resulting in a parent plant forming seeds that create offspring that are usually not genetically identical to the parent plant. This type of propagation is rarely done for fruit trees unless there are no known superior cultivars or you are growing rootstocks for grafting, or the seeds produce plants very similar to the parents. Growing a tropical fruit tree from seed will usually require many years before the tree is mature enough to produce fruit, with some exceptions like the papaya.