Arnold Schwarznegger certainly tore up a lot of tropical foliage while evading that weird space alien through the jungle in the movie ‘Predator’. If he had hired one of my arborist colleagues, that space alien would have been out-maneuvered and disgraced! A horticulturist would not have been so proficient in the trees, but might have cut more foliage for propagation of the exotic species, assuming that the arborist had already ‘dismissed’ the alien.
Many tropical species are easily propagated by ‘layering’. Some taller houseplants that can not be bent downwards into the soil may likewise be propagated by ‘air layering’, which involves bringing the rooting media to the area of the subject stem where adventitious roots are desired. This procedure may seem strange to those who are not familiar with it, but have you seen ‘Predator’?
For example, a friend landscaper of mine once gave me a large ugly rubber tree (Ficus elastica) that only had a few leaves on top of the otherwise bare, single trunk that was a few feet tall. It really was ugly, but what should I 
expect from a landscaper? I could have simply pruned the top away to promote more profuse foliar growth from adventitious buds that would emerge below. The tip of the part pruned away might have been rooted, but not as reliably as if the ‘entire’ top had been air-layered.
I instead gouged out approximately a quarter of the circumference of the cambium from a section of stem approximately half an inch long. This gouge was located where I wanted roots for the upper ‘plant’ to emerge, and approximately where I wanted adventitious growth to emerge for the lower ‘plant’. This gouge was then rubbed with rooting hormone and wrapped with rooting media that was then contained within thick plastic wrap, which I think was previously a bag that contained bagels.
The rooting media was actually sphagnum moss that was soaked and then drained so that it was still moist. Light potting soil is also effective, but difficult to handle and wrap. The plastic should be wrapped somewhat tightly so that the moss does not desiccate. The top and bottom may be tied or bound tightly with electrical tape. When complete, the bound media should be somewhat round and approximately as large as a softball.
If potting soil is preferred, it may alternately be contained within two ‘pots’ of identical plastic containers, such as margarine tubs, with holes in the bottom that fit snugly around the stem. Each may be sliced on one side between the rim and bottom hole so that it can be slipped onto the stem. Once on the stem, the upper pot can be nestled into the lower pot with the slices on opposite sides, so that the lower pot supports the sliced area of the upper pot. This improvised ‘pot’ can then be stabilized with electrical tape and filled. Because it is open to the air, it will require occasional watering.
When roots are visible through the plastic wrap or evident within improvised pots, the new upper ‘plant’ may be pruned away below where it was air layered. Remaining lower stems will then respond as if severely pruned by producing adventitious buds. Air-layering is as practical as layering, and it may be employed to restore scrawny houseplants that only have foliage that is above where it is desired.
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