Unit III: Propagation, Pruning & Plant Stewardship
HERBOLOGY GREENHOUSE · UNIT III OF V
This is where your hands learn the trade, my dears. A gardener who can only keep one plant alive has learned something precious. A gardener who can make two plants from one, and keep both thriving, has learned something more. In this unit we wake sleeping seeds, root cuttings, divide perennials, layer stems, and prune with understanding. We also learn the gardener's hardest discipline: to look before we act, whether the trouble is a pest, a disease, or a plant that has simply outgrown its pot.
Sharp blades appear in this unit, and every lesson that uses them carries its own safety guidance. Work slowly, sterilize between plants, and never be in a hurry with something that can cut.
Unit Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, scholars will be able to:
- Start seeds successfully: sowing depth, moisture, thinning, and preventing damping off.
- Break seed dormancy with scarification and cold stratification, matched to each seed's needs.
- Propagate plants vegetatively by stem cuttings, root division, and layering, choosing the right method for the plant.
- Prune with understanding: apical dominance, the three D's, proper cut placement, and knowing when to leave a plant alone.
- Identify common pests and diseases by their signs, and respond observation-first with the gentlest effective measures.
- Recognize a root-bound plant and repot it correctly, or rule repotting out with sound reasons.
In This Unit
Lesson 17: Seed Starting Basics
Give seeds their three needs, sow at the right depth, thin without harm, and defeat damping off.
Lesson 18: The Mechanics of Seed Scarification
Wake dormant seeds by nicking, sandpaper, or hot water, and stratify the ones that need winter first.
Lesson 19: Vegetative Propagation, Stem Cuttings
Cut just below the node with a sterilized blade, and root your cutting in water or medium under a humidity dome.
Lesson 20: Vegetative Propagation, Root Division
Learn which perennials welcome division and which refuse it, and divide safely from lifting to aftercare.
Lesson 21: Vegetative Propagation, Layering & Runners
Pin a stem to the earth and let it root while still joined to its parent: the most dependable propagation of all.
Lesson 22: Pruning Geometry, Apical Dominance
Understand how auxin shapes a plant, and pinch herbs into bushiness just above a leaf pair.
Lesson 23: Selective Pruning for Plant Health & Growth
Remove the dead, the damaged, and the diseased first, with clean cuts placed exactly right.
Lesson 24: Pests & Disease, the Garden Watch
Recognize aphids, spider mites, fungus gnats, mealybugs, mildew, and rot by their signs, and answer with airflow and observation before any product.
Lesson 25: Repotting & Root Bound Mechanics
Read the signs of a root-bound plant, choose a pot only slightly larger, and repot gently, or wisely wait.
Lesson 26: Unit III Stewardship Project
A propagation project or a full care session, planned in writing before you touch a single tool.
The Unit III Quiz closes this unit. You will find it, with its download, at the end of Lesson 26: Unit III Stewardship Project.
What Scholars Will Grow, Practice, and Make
Scholars sow and thin seedlings, scarify and stratify dormant seeds, root stem cuttings, divide a perennial, layer a stem, pinch herbs and record the branching response, prune their Familiar by the three D's, run a pest-and-disease watch, assess and possibly repot their plant, and complete a stewardship project with a written plan.
With new plants made and old plants thriving, we turn in Unit IV to the reward of it all: the harvest, and everything a gardener does to keep it.
From the Greenhouse Shelf
The printed companions to this unit, from Professor Fernfoot’s shelf in the shop.
Herbology — Familiar Journal Pages: Unit III Lesson Pages — Lessons 17–26 (27 Pages)
$4.99
View in the Shop