Taking Plant Cuttings
We intend to root those tender growing shoots of the plant.
We do not mean rooting established branches (like those that fell off your shrub or tree) or florists roses with their woody bark or any mature stem.
Here are the conditions for success in successful plant cuttings.
Warmth
Plant cuttings will root much faster and with more success if they are kept warm. I use a heating mat that maintains a constant and even temperature of 70F. When the pot or propagation unit sits on this mat, the soil in the container heats up to 70F and rooting is fairly quick and easy for softwood cuttings.
If you don’t heat your plant cuttings, rooting will be uneven and you’ll get a lot of death in those cuttings.
Moisture
There are two requirements for moisture for cuttings. The first is the soil is never allowed to dry out. I usually recommend watering with warm water as you don’t want to cool down the cutting. And you want to keep the soil uniformly moist – not letting it dry out.
The second – and equally important – need for moisture is around the leaves of the plants. You do not want the leaf to wilt, to lose moisture, or the stress level of being dry will stop the plant from rooting. We do this in one of two general ways.
Anti-Desiccant
We can spray with an anti-desiccant. This wax-like substance (sometimes sold as Christmas tree preservative) is sprayed onto the top and bottom of the leaf so the stomata (the leaf sweat glands) are not able to sweat or lose moisture. When the leaf can’t lose moisture, it can’t wilt and it more likely to produce roots.
Another system is to enclose the cutting with a clear container of some kind. There are lids that fit over top of propagation trays or some folks recommend cutting the bottoms off 2-liter pop bottles to act as mini-greenhouses. Some even construct mini-greenhouses from clothes hangers and clear plastic kitchen film. However you make your own small greenhouse, the objective is to reduce moisture loss from the plant.
Note that if you do this mini-greenhouse affair that excess moisture can build up on the inside of the container and you’ll have to open it up regularly to reduce the moisture levels that lead to cutting rot. If you see fog or condensation on the inside of the film, you have too much moisture in the air inside.
Softwood Plant Cuttings Themselves
When you talk about taking the softwood cuttings themselves, the objective is to take a cutting that is approximately 2-3 inches long. I have rooted one-half inch cuttings of rare plants and 5 inch cuttings of shrubs but the optimum length is two-three inches.
There is no way you can explain how to recognize the “feel” of a softwood cutting in order to know when it is “ripe” for rooting. Part of the problem is that different plants have different stages when they are ready for rooting. A rose will be ready when the thorns “pop” off when pushed sideways. Not when they bend or fight back. A geranium will be ready when the stem is light green and actively growing. Neither the rose with too-green thorns or the geranium with woody bark are likely to root easily (although it has happened – this is not a precise science at the amateur level).
Soft annual plants, soft perennials and soft shrubs will root from tender cuttings for the most part.
Rooting Hormone
I never use the stuff.
First – once you open the bottle, the hormone only works for several months and then you can toss it away. If you’ve been using the same bottle for several years – congratulations! It stopped working after the first few months and you’ve been rooting things successfully ever since without its assistance. You can now ignore that crutch. :-)
Second; There are some woody plants that do root much better with rooting hormone than without it. If you’re doing this, then you require more information than this beginner information is designed to give you.
Third; Rooting hormone will not act as a crutch if you have the basics of heat and watering wrong. In other words, if you don’t keep the cuttings warm enough at the right humidity levels, rooting hormone isn’t going to make you successful.
How Long to Root the Cutting?
This is a government answer. “It depends”. There are too many variables to answer this question. Certainly several weeks should get roots started on geraniums (about 10 days if you have the heat right).
**Several weeks for soft perennials.
**Longer for woody stemmed shrubs and roses.
**Months for stems with harder woody stems.
So it depends on heating, lighting, time of year, plant species. etc. etc. It really does depend on how you take the cutting, handle the cutting etc. Even how the mother plant is grown and where the cutting is taken from (top or side of plant) can influence the rooting speed of the cutting.
Can You Tell Me How Long XX Plant Should Take?
I’d like to but…. (see above) it depends on too many variables.
Your best bet is to simply do it. Take that cutting, make notes on the labels (you do label the cuttings don’t you) about the date of cutting and then see how long it does take you.
You Say I Won’t Likely Be Successful?
You’ve read the above notes and see that I don’t think rooting woody plants (like trees or evergreens or cut roses) is likely to succeed. And you’re right – they don’t normally succeed.
But….
Maybe they will for you. So just because some gardener-guy says “no” – why don’t you try it yourself. You might prove me wrong (seriously – I’ve been wrong before).
If it works for you – you win!
If it doesn’t work for you – you haven’t lost any money, you’ve had the fun of trying to prove me wrong. Next time, you just might do it.
The point here is that while there are general guidelines for taking plant cuttings, none of these are cast in stone. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn’t. Maybe you’ll be the lucky one. But don’t let me stop you. Simply write me and tell me of your success.
Do you have a question about Taking Plant Cuttings?
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