If you like to propagate plants and take cuttings there are few months when you can’t keep busy. Different plants have to be treated in various ways and you can’t root every plant the same way. Some plants root best from cuttings of soft shoot tips in spring and summer and these can root in just a few weeks. But they are very prone to wilting and rotting so can be tricky for beginners. In contrast, now is the time to take hardwood cuttings which need minimal care and are easy to take and look after. They do take a year to root and make new plants but the time will just fly by! Why not give it a try!
The easiest plants to root from hardwood cuttings include blackcurrants, red currants, gooseberries and common ornamental shrubs including deciduous viburnums, flowering currants, deutzias, willows, cornus and forsythias but it is worth trying others such as weigelas, buddleias and others. It does not take long to prepare the cuttings so why not give it a go.
The important thing is that you need strong, young shoots that grew in the past year. It is not advisable to use old, twiggy shoots. You need straight, long, strong stems about 30cm long – the new growth that was produced this summer. They should ideally be quite thick.
Cut off these stems and then trim them at the base just below a node – where the leaves were attached.
Then trim the top, cutting off the thinner part that is not very woody. The complete cutting should be about 25cm long. At least half the cutting should be inserted below the compost level.
An added step, that can help rooting, is to ‘wound’ the cutting, scraping away some of the bark at the base of the cutting.
You may also want to remove the buds from the part of the cutting that is below the compost. This will prevent shoots later growing from below the soil and is standard practice with red currants and gooseberries which are grown in a single stem. But it is not essential.
You can root the cuttings in the garden in a patch of ground or in pots. Deep pots are needed because of the depth of the cutting below the soil. In the garden, choose a spot in shade and fork in some grit, especially if the soil is heavy. Then just push the cuttings into the soil so at least two thirds of the cutting is below the soil. Or fill pots with a mix of multipurpose compost and grit or perlite and push the cuttings into that.
You can then trim the tops back to one or two nodes above the compost surface.
The cuttings can be left outside in a shady spot. Shoots should appear in spring but it will be next autumn before the plants will be well rooted. Then they can be separated and planted out where they are to grow, whether rooted in the garden or in pots. By then they will have produced shoots and be nice plants to add to your garden. If rooted in pots they will need to be well watered all summer. If rooted in the garden they just need watering in dry weather but are otherwise easy to look after.
Hardwood cuttings so take a long time to root but they are very easy to take and need minimal care and attention. Just a few easy steps and you have lots of free plants.
Weekly Jobs
Sow sweet peas in the greenhouse for the strongest plants next year.
Prune autumn-fruiting raspberries
Rake up fallen leaves on the lawn
Put netting over brassicas including kale and cabbages to protect them from pigeons
Check apples in storage and remove any that are rotting
Cut back dead perennial stems in the border