Plant Clones from Cuttings

Introduction:
Whether you are a commercial planter or just a backyard gardener, plant propagation through cuttings can serve as a great way to multiply your number of plants without breaking the bank. Since cutting propagation requires minimal supplies and maintenance, it may be possible to mass produce plants and sell them on eBay.

The goal for this project:

-Design, build, and implement a system to mass produce plants while maintaining a low upkeep cost. 

-Sell the plants online at a price that is affordable for shoppers, but also brings in a realistic profit.

Step One: Choosing the Plant
-The most important aspect of this entire project is to choose the plant that fits our ideal specifications. We want the plant to have a fast growth rate, root quickly, exhibit traits that prove desirable to potential customers, and require relatively low levels of light for proper growth.
-For this project, we chose to go with Brugmansia, more commonly known as Angel's Trumpet. This plant does well with moist soil, full sun to part shade, root at an extremely fast rate, and are famous for their long, downward pointing flowers.

Step Two: How to Gather Cuttings
-While the procedure varies from plant to plant, a proper cutting will almost always contain a length of branch several inches long, and at least one leaf node. The leaf nodes are the points on a plant where leaves attach, which contain the necessary cells to form new branches.

Step Three: Method of Cutting Propagation
-Before you can start rooting your cuttings, the method of propagation must be determined. Some growers use drip irrigation, and root their cuttings in segments of sponge, others use gravel and periodically 'flood' the cuttings with nutrient rich water. We will be going with a simple, low maintenance technique consisting of a large, watertight tray with a light source mounted above. The cuttings will be placed in small cups of dirt with pre-drilled holes on the bottom. To water our cuttings, we will simply pour water into the tray, allowing all of the dirt to absorb it through the cup bottoms. Since we are planning on mass producing a large number of plants, this watering method will save us a lot of time.

Step Four: Constructing the Tray/Propagator 
-We designed our propagator to hold 100 plant cups, so there will be a considerable amount of weight that it must support. For this reason, we chose to use Superstrut for the framework, and 1/4 PVC sheets for the bottom and sides. If you do not have access to PVC sheets, plywood will work just as well, just be sure to give it a heavy coat of paint and sealer.
-For the light source, we picked up a cheap 4ft fluorescent fixture and mounted it using angle iron and rebar.

Analysis of Project:
-After one week, the cuttings were very well rooted and beginning to grow branches from the leaf nodes. After two weeks they had a cluster of large leaves and were ready for sale on eBay.