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The Secret of
Rooting Cuttings
by Michael J. McGroarty
The
secret of rooting cuttings can be summed up in two words.
“Timing and technique”.
When you do your
cuttings is every bit as important as how you do them. So if you do the
right thing, at the right time of the year, your efforts are sure to bring
success. Through this article you will learn both.
"Rooting Hardwood Cuttings of Deciduous
Plants"
Hardwood cuttings are
much more durable than softwood cuttings which is why hardwoods are the
best technique for the home gardener. A deciduous plant is a plant that
loses it’s leaves during the winter. All plants go dormant during the
winter, but evergreens keep their foliage. Many people don’t consider
Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and and Mountain Laurel evergreens, but they are.
They are known as broad leaf evergreens. Any plant that completely loses
it’s leaves is a deciduous plant.
There are three
different techniques for rooting cuttings of deciduous plants. Two methods
for hardwood cuttings, and one for softwood cuttings. In this
article we are only going to discuss rooting cuttings using the hardwood
methods. If you are interested in softwood cuttings, you'll find a
very informative article at http://www.freeplants.com
Of the two hardwood
techniques is one better than the other? It depends on exactly what you
are rooting, what the soil conditions are at your house, and what Mother
Nature has up her sleeve for the coming winter.
I have
experienced both success and failure using each method. Only
experimentation will determine what works best for you. Try some cuttings
using each method.
When doing hardwood
cuttings of deciduous plants, you should wait until the parent plants are
completely dormant. This does not happen until you’ve experienced a good
hard freeze where the temperature dips down below 32 degrees F. for a
period of several hours. Here in northeastern Ohio this usually occurs
around mid November.
Unlike softwood
cuttings of deciduous plants, where you only take tip cuttings from the
ends of the branches, that rule does not apply to hardwood cuttings of
deciduous plants. For instance, a plant such as Forsythia can grow as much
as four feet in one season. In that case, you can use all of the current
year's growth to make hardwood cuttings.
You might be able to
get six or eight cuttings from one branch. Grapes are extremely vigorous.
A grape vine can grow up to ten feet or more in one season. That entire
vine can be used for hardwood cuttings. Of course with grape vines, there
is considerable space between the buds, so the cuttings have to be much
longer than most other deciduous plants. The average length of a hardwood
grape vine cutting is about 12” and still only has 3 or 4 buds. The bud
spacing on most other deciduous plants is much closer, so the cuttings
only need to be about 6- 8” in length.
Making a deciduous
hardwood cutting is quite easy. Just collect some branches (known as
canes) from the parent plants. Clip these canes into cuttings about 6”
long. Of course these canes will not have any leaves on them because the
plant is dormant, but if you examine the canes closely you will see little
bumps along the cane. These bumps are bud unions. They are next year’s
leaf buds or nodes, as they are often called.
When making a
hardwood cutting of a deciduous plant it is best to make the cut at the
bottom, or the butt end of the cutting just below a node, and make the cut
at the top of the cutting about 3/4” above a node. This technique serves
two purposes. One, it makes it easier for you to distinguish the top of
the cutting from the bottom of the cutting as you handle them. It also
aids the cutting in two different ways. Any time you cut a plant above a
node, the section of stem left above that node will die back to the top
node. So if you were to leave 1/2” of stem below the bottom node, it would
just die back anyway. Having that section of dead wood underground is not
a good idea. It is only a place for insects and disease to
hide.
It is also helpful to
actually injure a plant slightly when trying to force it to develop roots.
When a plant is injured, it develops a callous over the wound as
protection. This callous build up is necessary before roots will develop.
Cutting just below a node on the bottom of a cutting causes the plant to
develop callous and eventually, roots.
Making the cut on the
top of the cutting 3/4” above the node is done so that the 3/4” section of
stem above the node will provide protection for the top node. This keeps
the buds from being damaged or knocked off during handling and planting.
You can press down on the cutting without harming the
buds.
When rooting cuttings
this way it helps to make the cut at the top of the cutting at an angle.
This sheds water away from the cut end of the cutting and helps to reduce
the chance of disease. Once you have all of your cuttings made, dip the
bottom of the cutting in a rooting compound. Make sure you have the right
strength rooting compound (available at most garden stores) for hardwood
cuttings. Line them up so the butt ends are even and tie them into
bundles.
Select a spot in your
garden that is in full sun. Dig a hole about 12” deep and large enough to
hold all of the bundles of cuttings. Place the bundles of cuttings in the
hole upside down. The butt ends of the cuttings should be up. The butt
ends of the cuttings should be about 6” below the surface. Cover the
cuttings completely with soil and mark the location with a stake, so you
can find them again in the spring.
I know this sounds
crazy, but rooting cuttings this way does work. To increase your
chances of success you can cover the butt ends of the cuttings with moist
peat moss before filling in the hole. Make sure you wet the peat moss
thoroughly, then just pack it on the butt ends of the cuttings.
Over the winter the
cuttings will develop callous and possibly some roots. Placing them in the
hole upside down puts the butt ends closest to the surface, so they can be
warmed by the sun, creating favorable conditions for root development.
Being upside down also discourages top growth. Leave them alone until
about mid spring after the danger of frost has passed.
Over
the winter the buds will begin to develop and will be quite tender when
you dig them up. Frost could do considerable damage if you dig them and
plant them out too early. That’s why it is best to leave them buried until
the danger of frost has passed.
Dig them up very
carefully, so as not to damage them. Cut open the bundles and examine the
butt ends. Hopefully, you will see some callous build up. Even if there is
no callous, plant them out anyway. You don’t need a bed of sand or
anything special when you plant the cuttings out. Just put them in a sunny
location in your garden. Of course the area you chose should be well
drained, with good rich topsoil.
To plant the
cuttings, just dig a very narrow trench, or using a spade, make a slice by
prying open the ground. Place the cuttings in the trench with the butt
ends down. Bury about one half of the cutting leaving a few buds above
ground. Back fill around the cuttings with loose soil making sure there
are no air pockets. Tamp them in lightly, then water thoroughly to
eliminate any air pockets.
Water them on a
regular basis, but don’t make the soil so wet that they rot. Within a few
weeks the cuttings will start to leaf out. Some will more than likely
collapse because there are not enough roots to support the plant. The
others will develop roots as they leaf out. By fall, the cuttings that
survived should be pretty well rooted. You can transplant them once they
are dormant, or you can wait until spring. If you wait until spring, make
sure you transplant them before they break dormancy.
There really is
no exact science when it comes to rooting cuttings, so now I am going to
present you with a variation of the above method. This method still applies to hardwood
cuttings of deciduous plants. With this variation you do everything
exactly the same as you do with the method you just learned, up to the
point where you bury them for the winter.
With method number
two you don’t bury them at all. Instead, you plant the cuttings out as
soon as you make them in the late fall, or anytime during the winter when
the ground is not frozen. In other words, you just completely skip the
step where you bury the cuttings underground for the winter. Plant them
exactly the same way as described for method number one. As with all
cuttings, treating them with a rooting compound prior to planting will
help induce root growth.
Hardwood cuttings
work fairly well for most of the deciduous shrubs. However, they are not
likely to work for some of the more refined varieties of deciduous
ornamentals like Weeping Cherries or other ornamental trees. Rooting
cuttings of ornamental trees is possible, but only using softwood cutting
techniques.
Now let's discuss rooting cuttings of evergreens, using
hardwood techniques.
Hardwood cuttings of
evergreens are usually done after you have experienced two heavy frosts in
the late fall, around mid November or so. However, I have obtained good
results with some plants doing them as early as mid September, taking
advantage of the warmth of the fall sun. When doing them is early, they
need to be watered everyday.
Try some cuttings
early and if they do poorly, just do some more in November. Hardwood
cuttings of many evergreens can be done at home in a simple frame filled
with coarse sand.
To make such a frame, just make a square or
rectangular frame using 2” by 6” boards. Nail the four corners together as
if to make a large picture frame. This frame should sit on top of the
ground in an area that is well drained. An area of partial shade is
preferred.
Once you have the
frame constructed remove any weeds or grass inside the frame so this
vegetation does not grow up through your propagation bed. Fill this frame
with a very coarse grade of sand. The sand used in swimming pool
filters usually works. Mason's sand is a little too fine. If
you have a sand and gravel yard in your area visit the site and inspect
the sand piles. Find a grade that is a little more coarse than
masons sand. But keep in mind that most any sand will work, so just
pick one that you think is coarse enough. If water runs through it
easily, it's coarse enough.
Make sure you place
your frame in area where the water can drain through the sand, and out of
the frame. In other words, don't select a soggy area for your
cutting bed. Standing water is sure to seriously hamper your
results.
Making the evergreen
cuttings is easy. Just clip a cutting 4-5 inches in length from the parent
plant. Make tip cuttings only. (Only one cutting from each branch.) Strip
the needles or leaves from the bottom one half to two thirds of the
cutting. Wounding evergreen cuttings isn’t usually necessary because
removing the leaves or needles causes enough injury for callous build up
and root development.
Dip the butt ends of
the cuttings in a powder or liquid rooting compound and stick them in the
sand about 3/4” to 1” apart. Keep them watered throughout the fall until
cool temperatures set in. If you have some warm dry days over the winter,
make sure you water your cuttings. Keep in mind that sand in a
raised bed will dry out very quickly. Don't worry about snow.
Snow covering your cuttings is just fine, it will actually keep them
moist, and protect them from harsh winter winds.
Start watering again
in the spring and throughout the summer. They don’t need a lot of water,
but be careful not to let them dry out, and at the same time making sure
they are not soaking wet.
This method of
rooting cuttings of evergreens actually works very well, but it does take
some time. You should leave them in the frame for a period of twelve
months. You can leave them longer if you like. Leaving them until the
following spring would be just fine. They should develop more roots over
the winter.
Rooting cuttings of
the following plants is very easy using this method. variegated
Euonymus varieties, Taxus, Juniper, Arborvitae, Japanese Holly, Boxwood,
and English Holly. Rhododendrons and Azaleas prefer to have their bottoms
warmed before they root.
Michael J. McGroarty
is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website,
http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent
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Rooting
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