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Perennial Gardening - How To Divide Perennial Plants

By Marie Iannotti, About.com

5 of 10

Using Pitch Forks to Divide Perennial Plants

Dividing Perennials with Forks

Dividing Perennial Plants with Pitch Forks

A very common method of dividing perennials is to use 2 pitch forks to pry and split the plant apart. Perennial plants with fleshy roots, such as the daylily shown here, are easily pried apart with forks.

Insert the forks into the center of the lifted plant so that the backs of the forks are touching each other and the tines are crossing.

Press down so that the forks go through the plant. You will probably hear some cracking at this point. Let's hope it's your plant and not the handle on your pitch fork. In all seriousness, some plants are so dense that this method will not work. Exercise caution, since garden tool handles can break and send you tumbling.

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