When is the best time to take cuttings?

juneg

Hi,
Does anyone have tips on how to grow plants from cuttings?
When is the best time of year to do this and what if any equipment is needed?

I have lots of shrubs that I would like to take cuttings from and start new plants to give to family starting off their gardens.

Also I have euononymus and lavender and that would be nice to pop in window boxes next year.

Any tried and tested methods much appreciated. I know I could google all this but I'd like to hear from someone who actually gets cuttings to grow successfully.
Thanks

iainBB

juneg wrote: »

Hi,
Does anyone have tips on how to grow plants from cuttings?
When is the best time of year to do this and what if any equipment is needed?

I have lots of shrubs that I would like to take cuttings from and start new plants to give to family starting off their gardens.

Also I have euononymus and lavender and that would be nice to pop in window boxes next year.

Any tried and tested methods much appreciated. I know I could google all this but I'd like to hear from someone who actually gets cuttings to grow successfully.
Thanks

Each plant type requires different requirements different times of year .some are root cutting new growt,last year's growth. Splitting in two.

Lavender depending on variety is easy to propagate from new growth Just pull off a small section dip in rooting compound push into well draining compost and store in bags to keep in moisture. Out of direct sunlight. They should take 3 weeks or so till potting up.

Marhay70

juneg wrote: »

Hi,
Does anyone have tips on how to grow plants from cuttings?
When is the best time of year to do this and what if any equipment is needed?

I have lots of shrubs that I would like to take cuttings from and start new plants to give to family starting off their gardens.

Also I have euononymus and lavender and that would be nice to pop in window boxes next year.

Any tried and tested methods much appreciated. I know I could google all this but I'd like to hear from someone who actually gets cuttings to grow successfully.
Thanks

Pick up a copy of "The Tree and Shrub Expert" by D.G. Hessayon, it will give you the propagation method and best propagation time for most popular shrubs, together with a step by step tutorial.
You can pick them up second hand on Ebay for about €5.

TheCowboy

Google the plant you want cuttings of followed by the letters RHS and you will usually get the royal horticulture society page for the plant Example myplant RHS

juneg

I've taken and potted up a few cuttings this week so I'll learn by trial and error hopefully

gk5000

juneg wrote: »

I've taken and potted up a few cuttings this week so I'll learn by trial and error hopefully

Play the percentage game - If you want 1, plant 5 or 10.

This is comprehensive. http://www.amazon.com/RHS-Propagating-Plants-Alan-Toogood/dp/1405315253

But even so do plenty, and some may/will work.

Qualitymark

If you did a genome run-through on all the rosemary in Dublin and mapped it, it would go out from Stephen's Green and spread all across the city

juneg

Qualitymark wrote: »

If you did a genome run-through on all the rosemary in Dublin and mapped it, it would go out from Stephen's Green and spread all across the city

My rosemary is in flower at the moment its beautiful, I have a big shrub of it

missdock.1

I love this............ cut a stem at the point of new growth, strip off all its flowers and leave the top leaf on, only the top leaf, strip the rest, dip in root hormone powder and pop it into damn compost in a pot. Stick about 5 stem in to the one pot, sit back and pray, water daily if theirs no rain.......cheap shrub/hedge

looksee

Heel cuttings are the commonest and easiest - though not suitable for absolutely everything. If you want to try a random method though this would be the likeliest.

You find a bit of new growth that has 'hardened' - the bark of the shrub will be mature, not bright green, but still new growth. Pull off a twig with a downward motion and it will have a little knobby bit on the end from where it leaves the main stem. This is called a heel. As Missdoc says, remove flowers and some of the leaves, especially bigger ones, I would not quite reduce them to one, but certainly remove half of them. Hormone rooting powder/gel, pop 4 or 5 into a pot of (preferably) John Innes compost or a mix of soil and potting compost, put in a cold frame if you have one, or a sheltered spot, and hope or the best.

There are lots of different ways of propegating plants though and it is interesting to learn them. Some are quite surprising, half leafs for example. I find lilies entertaining to propegate - take a few scales off the bulb when you buy it, pop them half into a tray of gritty compost and watch a new lily plant grow at the base - its quite slow getting it to flowering bulb stage, but rather satisfying.

Qualitymark

Hm, my red-flowering hawthorn has a load of twigs growing out where I don't want them, and my neighbour and various friends are gumming for cuttings. Maybe I'll try taking some today.

missdock.1

I've been takin bits all summer, quite a few have takin root, trial and error