15/08/2014
Softwood Cuttings
Looking for a way to propagate new forsythia, lilac, potentila and viburnum bushes? These and many other types of woody plants can be propagated from softwood cuttings. Late spring is a good time to work with softwood cuttings.
Take 4-6 inch cuttings from vigorous shoots. The stem wood of each cutting should be partially matured, but not yet woody. Take more cuttings than you need to allow for some lack of rooting. The cuttings should be taken early in the morning, or a day or two after a rain, so the stem-tip portions are turgid and not wilted. Be sure to keep track of which end of the cutting is the top and which is the bottom. If you try to root an upside-down cutting it will not work!
Moisten the medium and place it in a 5-inch deep container that has drainage holes. Gently firm the medium before placing the cuttings in the container. You may want to dip the bottom end of the cutting into a rooting hormone to facilitate root formation. There are several rooting hormone products on the market and they can be found at your local nursery. Remove the leaves from the lower two-thirds of the cutting and place it in the container. Plant the cutting deep, leaving about 50% above the top of the media. Good rooting media to use include sand, perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss. No one medium or combination is ideal for all plants, but an equal mixture of peat and sand or perlite is useful in most situations.
Place the pot of cuttings in a shady area outdoors where you can check on them and where they will not be knocked over. You could also place a clear plastic bag over the top of each pot and secure it with a rubber ban around the pot's rim to hold humidity around the cuttings like a miniature greenhouse. The medium should be dampened when necessary, but not soggy or the cuttings will rot. Begin checking the cuttings in 3-4 weeks for rooting. Gently pull on 1 or 2 of each kind to check for resistance. When the cuttings have several, inch-long healthy roots, you can transplant them into separate pots to grow more roots; then place the plants in their permanent locations. Hardwood Cuttings
Winter is a great time to talk about hardwood cuttings- those taken of fully mature plant shoots, from the end of the growing season through February and early March. These cuttings are taken from dormant plants with no signs of active growth, have no leaves and do not bend easily. The general techniques for rooting hardwood cuttings of deciduous plants are as follows.
Begin by taking cuttings from thick, healthy shoots. The cuttings should be 8-12 inches long and taken from current season growth. Remove any leaves clinging to the shoot. Make an angled cut at the top of the shoot, just above the top bud and a horizontal cut immediately below the bottom bud. (Having the cuts at the top and bottom of the cutting at different slants will indentify which side should be placed down for rooting.) Dip the bottom of the cuttings in a rooting hormone, like Rootone® , Dip-N-Grow® , or Hormex® .
At this point the cuttings can be handled in several ways. Easy to root plants like willows are often placed directly into a trench in the ground. (The trench can be prepared in the fall when the weather is still warm.) If the cuttings are 8" long, the trench should be 7" deep. Place the upright cuttings in the trench, back fill with soil and water well. In spring, check the cuttings for rooting and either pot them into containers or move them to their final location.
For plants that are slower to root or where winter conditions are very harsh the cuttings can be rooted in a cold frame or containers that are kept in a cold basement, a frost free garage or root cellar. Use sand, vermicullite, peat or other types of media for rooting. Containers should be at least 3 1/2-4" deep with drainage holes at the bottom. Insert the cuttings into the rooting media up to two-thirds of their entire length. Keep the rooting media slightly moist.
Hardwood cuttings can take several months to root, but most will be ready for transplanting into the garden by midspring of the following year. Plants very widely by species as to the best, or easiest, methods of propagation; whether is it by seeds or cuttings, softwood, semi-hardwood or hardwood. Doing a little research on individual plants before experimenting with propagation will help ensure success.
