Starting Seeds

"Plant propagation" simply means starting plants from seed or clones. Most indoor gardeners prefer to start their own seeds rather than buy seedlings from a nursery. They are usually able to get stronger, healthier plants because they can optimize conditions from the very beginning, plus eliminate the possibility of bringing in an insect or disease. Plus, you can buy exotic seed varieties from all over the country, or even other parts of the world. Gardening is a lot more fun when you aren't limited to the two kinds of boring tomato plants on sale at your local nursery! Hydroponic gardeners benefit the most from starting their own seeds because they can sow them in a soilless medium such as rockwool, which makes the transition to a hydroponic system much easier.

Cloning

The word "cloning" may sound complex and scientific, but the idea is as simple as taking a cutting from a houseplant and rooting it in order to produce another plant. The advantages of cloning are numerous: you can select your best specimen to be the mother plant, meaning that your clones will have the same good genes and growth characteristics; you can speed up your time to harvest because clones are ready for transplanting much faster than plants grown from seed; and clones tend to be more uniform in size and height than seedlings--a big advantage if you are gardening with artificial light.