Making New Plants

This half term, we are learning about living things (including plants) and their habitats. Last week, we learned about how plants can be pollinated by wind or by insects; this week, we looked at how new plants can be made from one parent plant.

Here we are taking cuttings from some geranium plants. We learned that taking cuttings is an artificial method of asexual reproduction, which means that only one parent is needed to make another plant.

After we took our cuttings, we put them into beakers of water. We then put the beakers  on the windowsill so that the cuttings can get some sunlight. If our cuttings are successful, they will develop roots. We can then transfer them to pots with compost that can ultimately be transferred to our class allotment.

Did you know that if we succesfully create new plants from our cuttings, each plant that grows will be a clone of the parent plant? This means it will be genetically identical to the parent plant.