8/5/2023 0 Comments Plant clippings in water'During the summer months, make sure you keep your cuttings moist, and by late summer into early fall, you can pot your cuttings on.’Ĭuttings need good light but not direct sun. ‘We find hardwood cuttings do best outside in a sheltered position,’ says Chick-Seward. Hardwood cuttings don't need much protection, although you should make sure the potting mix doesn’t dry out. If you have one, put them in a propagator with a bit of basal heat.’ ‘Pelargoniums are the exception of the tender perennials and don't need covering, but most things benefit from enclosure. ‘Cover the pot with a plastic bag supported on small canes to enclose the moisture,’ says Sarah Raven. How much protection your cuttings require will depend on how tender they are – softwood cuttings are much more delicate than hardwood cuttings. Water the compost again, as it’s vital that the cuttings aren’t allowed to dry out. ‘Each cutting needs to have at least one node underground and one above,’ says Clapp. Push your cuttings into the compost nice and deep. ‘We place 8-10 cuttings in a long pot – but a small trench in the ground will also do,’ adds Chick-Seward. However, if using long pots, you can plant the cuttings in a row. 'By placing them around the edge, you encourage quicker root formation as the new roots quickly hit the side of the pot, break, and then branch into more lateral rootlets.’ ‘Insert your plant cuttings, well spaced, around the edge of the pots, about 2 inches (4-5cm) apart,' says Sarah Raven. ‘Put a few cuttings in each pot, as success is not always guaranteed,’ she adds. However, this is not strictly necessary.Ĭlapp also suggests that honey is a natural alternative, due to its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. When researching how to take plant cuttings, you will often be advised to dip the cuttings into hormone rooting powder before planting them, to encourage growth. ‘Use a 50/50 mix of peat-free propagation compost and coarse grit,’ advises Chick-Seward.įill up your pots and then water your potting mix, prior to planting the cuttings. Plant your cuttings in free-draining compost. (Image credit: Mariia Boiko / Alamy Stock Photo) 4. ‘Make sure your top cut is on a slant to help avoid the top of the cutting rotting through the winter months,’ says Chick-Seward. ‘It’s at the top that the growth hormone concentrates, so by pinching it out, there’s nowhere for it to go but down, in order to encourage root formation,’ adds Raven.įor hardwood cuttings, make a diagonal cut at the top, above a node. This makes the cutting more likely to root than flop.’ ‘This seems brutal, but they will stay alive and continue to photosynthesize, and with half the surface area they won’t place as much demand on the stem to draw up water to support them. 'If the top pair of leaves is large, cut these in half across-ways,’ says Raven. To prepare your cuttings for planting, strip off all the leaves, leaving only the top pair. But you must plant them within a few hours. ![]() If you aren’t able to immediately plant your cuttings, then you can temporarily put them into a polythene bag to keep in the moisture. Just below a leaf node is where there is the highest concentration of natural rooting hormone.' ![]() ![]() ‘Trim to just below a leaf joint, so the cutting is 2 inches (5-6cm) long. ‘Using a very sharp knife, take a short piece of stem from the main plant,’ says Sarah Raven. Ideally take plant cuttings in the morning – ‘this is when the plant is turgid, or full of water,’ says Clapp.Īlways use clean tools, to minimize the risk of disease transference. ‘Ideally you are looking for material the thickness of a pencil,’ says Charlene Chick-Seward, propagator at the National Trust’s Nymans (opens in new tab), a well-known Grade II-listed garden in West Sussex, England. If you are taking cuttings from hardwood plants, then you are looking for growth produced this year that has had time to mature. ‘Try to select plant growth that has toughened up a little, so it is not too soft or bendy,’ says Clapp. With softwood and semi-ripe cuttings, examine the plant for the most vigorous growth. Always select healthy, straight growth – it should be a non-flowering stem, so check there are no buds present. The most important part of knowing how to take plant cuttings, is choosing the best possible growth.
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