This past Saturday I taught a workshop on propagating shrubs and tress from cuttings at Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center. It was part of a series in the Applied Permaculture workshops offered this year by the Boston Food Forest. It was a lot of fun and the students all walked away with a bunch of cuttings they will nurture into full grown plants. This method can be applied to lots of different kinds of plants. You can have lots of fun doing this with your houseplants in winter, or you could grow a whole orchard or start a nursery with this method. Though those last two examples would take quite some time! Here is the content of the handouts I created for the class. At he bottom of the page I’ve included a download link. Enjoy!
Types of cuttings based on maturity (hardness) of growth
Herbaceous cuttings are made from non-woody, herbaceous plants such as coleus and dahlia. A 3- to 5-inch piece of stem is cut from the parent plant. The leaves on the lower one-third to one-half of the stem are removed. A high percentage of the cuttings root, and they do so quickly.
Softwood cuttings are prepared from soft, succulent, new growth of woody plants, just as it begins to harden (mature). Shoots are suitable for making softwood cuttings when they can be snapped easily when bent and when they still have a gradation of leaf size (oldest leaves are mature while newest leaves are still small). The soft shoots are quite tender, and extra care must be taken to keep them from drying out. They root quickly.
Semi-hardwood cuttings are usually prepared from partially mature wood of the current season’s growth, just after a flush of growth. The wood is reasonably firm and the leaves of mature size. Many broadleaf evergreen shrubs and some conifers are propagated by this method.
Hardwood cuttings are taken from dormant, mature stems in late fall, winter, or early spring. Plants generally are fully dormant with no obvious signs of active growth. The wood is firm and does not bend easily. Hardwood cuttings are used most often for deciduous shrubs but can be used for many evergreens. Examples of plants propagated at the hardwood stage include fig and grape.
If you are taking cuttings of something that has leaves, remove most of the leaves or if the leaves are large cut them in half. Definitely remove any flowers. This is to reduce the stress of keeping those leaves healthy – redirecting the available energy to producing roots.
How to make Willow Tea for stimulating rooting – any Salix will do
Salicylic acid and Indolebutyric acid trigger natural defenses to help your cuttings fight off bacteria, fungi and infections and help speed up the rooting process.
Use the greenest newest little twigs. Cut them into little pieces, 1” long is fine.
Put in a jar and pour boiling water over them. About a handful is enough for a quart, but you can make it stronger or weaker.
Leave the jar in sunlight for a couple days to further extract the acids.
Keeps for 2 months in the fridge.
Water your cuttings or let them soak in the willow water for a few hours before potting. You can continue watering them with the willow water if you continue to make more, or save it and dilute it for continued waterings.
Directions on Propagating from Cuttings
Cut 6-8 inch sections of stem. It needs to have at least three nodes present.
Cut the bottom just below a node, not into the node!
If your cutting is from a middle part of the stem, leave some stem above your topmost node so you can tell for sure which is top.
Put in water immediately, don’t let dry out – that’s stressful.
You can keep them in the fridge with a damp wrap until you pot them
You can use saved plant pots with drainage holes or reuse plastic food containers… Plastics 1(PET/PETE), 2 (HDPE), 4, (LDPE) and 5 (PP) are safe to use for plants, NOT 3 (PVC), 6 (PS), and 7 (OTHER). -source- Linn Acres Farm. Just make sure to make drainage holes.
You can plant them as close as just a couple inches apart in your containers. Once rooted, you’ll transplant them to containers or the earth where they have room to grow.
For cuttings you’re going to start right away inside: Plant about 2” deep into a soil mix that is well aerated and opimally sterile, or a soiless mix such as pumice or sand. The aeration and sterility are to reduce exposure to pathogens (bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms that can cause disease). Tie plastic bag loosely around pot and cutting, allowing air exchange but increasing humidity (optional). Keep away from direct sunlight. Do not tug or dig up to see if it’s working for at least 4-6 weeks. 4 for something like coleus, but longer than 6 weeks for a hardwood cutting.
For cuttings you’ll keep outside and allow to wake up with the warmth of Spring: Plant about 2” (deeper for longer cuttings and for those with great distances between nodes like grapes) deep into soil, again ideally something less likely to transfer disease, but you can even stick them straight into the ground if it is thawed enough.
Keep moist but not dripping sogging wet.
Label what they are or keep a detailed record because you won’t remember even when you are sure that you will.
Ideally transplant to a larger container before putting in the ground so you can baby it more. Babying your plants includes restricting their exposure to stressful elements such as hot direct sun, high winds, downpours, pets, feet, well meaning over waterers.