Softwood Cuttings

Softwood cuttings are the easiest and quickest-rooting stem cuttings. They are taken from spring until early summer. Take them during the growing season from soft, succulent, flexible new growth. Taking cuttings is not an exact science. It's not uncommon to have a substantial number of your cuttings fail. Because of this, do more cuttings than you want plants. This should account for any loss you might experience.

Step One
Cut a soft, succulent stem from the plant you want to propagate. Cut the stem into pieces 3"-4" long. Trim the stem pieces so that there's a leaf at the top and the bottom of the cutting. Next, pinch off all but the top one to four leaves. You'll get better rooting if you scrape the bark off of the bottom 1" of stem in a narrow strip on one side. Be sure to just scrape off the green bark tissue. Leave the harder white core of the stem alone.

Step Two

Dip the cutting into a rooting hormone material such as Rootone. It's important that some of the rooting hormone dust adheres to the cutting. It helps if the cutting is slightly moist (not wet!).

Step Three

Stick the cutting into a small pot filled with a mixture of one half peat moss and one half perlite. Be sure that the mixture is well moistened before sticking the cutting in. Use a smaller sized pot no bigger than 2.5" across, or you can use empty bedding plant trays. It's best to use new pots, but if you want to use a pot that's been used before, wash it well with soap and water, and then sterilize it with bleach or alcohol and then rinse thoroughly before using.

It will usually take several weeks for roots to form on your cuttings. Keep the cuttings indoors, in a bright spot that gets no direct sunlight. During this time, a careful balance must be kept with the watering of the media in the pots. It needs to stay somewhat moist, but it can't stay too wet or the cuttings will rot. If green algae starts growing on the top of the media, you're watering too much! Increasing the humidity around the cuttings will help in their success. Clear plastic humidity domes work well for this. They fit over a standard 10" x 20" greenhouse flat. Prop the corners up with a pencil so that there can be a little air circulation.

As you're waiting for the cuttings to root, immediately discard any that shrivel up and die. When new growth forms on the cuttings, you can be fairly sure that they have rooted and can be transplanted. You can also check for roots coming out of the bottom drainage holes of the pots. Once your cuttings have rooted well, you can pot them into a larger container, or plant them out in the yard.

Hardwood Cuttings

Hardwood cuttings are taken from woody deciduous plants that have lost their leaves. We usually take hardwood cuttings in October or November. You want your cuttings to be a quarter to three-eighths inch in diameter (about the diameter of a pencil or slightly larger). Trim the cuttings to 6" to 12" long. Try to have a bud near each end of the cutting. Don't use the tip of any branches, cut off and discard the terminal bud. When it's time to plant the rooted cuttings in the spring, you'll need to know which end is up. Cuttings must be planted top side up. Cut the top end at a slant, the bottom end square to help you remember.

Dip the bottom of the cutting into a rooting hormone such as Rootone. The cuttings can be bundled together at this time for ease of handling. Bury the cuttings into coarse sand outdoors. It's best to dig a hole in the ground and then fill it with coarse sand to bury the cuttings in. The cuttings are often laid on their sides, but you can bury them upside down, with the bottoms of the cuttings sticking up, but still buried under two or three inches of sand. Doing it this way has the advantage of warming the bottoms of the cuttings up so they root faster while keeping the tops colder, preventing them from sprouting prematurely. You'll need to maintain moisture throughout the winter. Don't keep the sand soaking wet, just make sure it doesn't dry out.

Early in the spring, carefully brush away the sand. Depending on the weather, the cuttings should have started forming roots. They can be planted outdoors where you want them at this time. Sometimes, few, if any roots have formed. There should be a white scab-like mass of "callus tissue" at the end of the cutting. If this is the case, plant the cuttings back into the sand, right side up, just burying the bottom two inches or so of the cutting. Let them stay that way until they have formed roots (typically two to six weeks). They can then be transplanted where you want them.

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