# The longevity of plants made from cuttings **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389 "2002-09-14T03:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/1 "2002-09-14T03:23:27Z")
Let’s say I have a plant that typically lives 10 years. When it’s 8 years old I make a cutting from it and start a new plant. Should I expect the new plant to live two years or ten? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/2 "2002-09-14T03:46:52Z")
Ten. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/3 "2002-09-14T07:14:08Z")
But if it’s the plant I think it is, you might have some problems with mutations down the line nevertheless. Seven generations, whether cutting, cloning, or rooting, seems to be the street-talk limit for growers of certain flowering plants. Four if you want to keep it in the potency zone. Sofa King, orchid fan. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/4 "2002-09-14T07:28:50Z")
Good thing too. I like naval oranges. ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/5 "2002-09-14T12:30:30Z")
Righto. Every single seedless orange coems from a tree that came from a cutting from a cutting from a cutting… etc… from a single mutant orange tree. I forget when the mutant was found, or where. Obviously, the mutant cannot reproduce itself. But we like oranges without seeds, so we help it along. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/6 "2002-09-14T13:47:29Z")
Well, how does this work then? Isn’t the part of the plant that the cutting comes from as old as the rest of the plant? My arm is a 53 year old arm just like all my other body parts. How does cutting off a part of a plant suddenly make it a baby? Here’s a related question. Two identical twins get heart transplants, one from a 50 year old, the other from a 20 year old. Which would have the longer life expectancy? ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/7 "2002-09-14T14:59:46Z")
Leonard Hayflick made himself famous years ago showing that if you take cells from a human, the number of times they will divide in culture before they poop out depends on the age of the donor of the cells. Cells from embryos divide maybe 75 times whereas cells from a 70 year old might not go more than 10. So I’d have to expect that the 50 year old heart would not last as long as the 20 year old one. Until I read Sofa King’s post I didn’t think this applied to plants, such as orchids. I certainly don’t know how it could apply to Emeral Zoysia which, as far as I know, never produces seeds yet has continued to spread from cuttings in lawns and turf farms everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/8 "2002-09-14T19:55:31Z")
Culinary garlic has been (exclusively) reproducing vegetatively for thousands of years (in fact somewhere along the line it became sterile and this is now the _only_ way to propagate it). ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/9 "2002-09-14T22:51:56Z")
Be sure to use rooting hormone. That gets the things to root. Yep, ten years. You are taking the branch part right? not the root? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longevity-of-plants-made-from-cuttings/128389/10 "2002-09-15T03:30:18Z")
The tv chef? I _hope_ he doesn’t propogate!