We all want something for nothing – or almost nothing. And taking stem cuttings of your plants is a great, and very satisfying, way of getting lots of new plants for very little outlay and sometimes for free.
You can either take cuttings from your own plants or, if you ask someone nicely, I’m sure they’ll give you a cutting or two. But always ask first.
There are different types of stem cuttings, and in spring and later in the year, we use the soft, new plant growth, which is why these are known as softwood stem cuttings. Not everything in gardening is complicated!
What to look for
Make sure the stems you choose as cuttings are pest and disease free. These will “propagate” more easily and produce healthier plants, saving you time, effort and heartache.
Choose stems that don’t have flowers or flower buds. The plant will put all its energy into these and the resulting seeds, reducing the likelihood of the stem rooting successfully. If every stem is flowering (such as with bedding plants in summer), cut back a couple of stems hard and use the fresh, young regrowth before it starts to produce flower buds.
If propagating plants with variegated leaves, choose stems with strong variegation; if it’s poor or weak, the resulting new plants will also have poor variegation.
Which plants
Taking softwood cuttings in spring is the perfect way to propagate all those tender perennial summer bedding plants we love to grow. In the garden centre these may be labelled as patio plants and sell at a premium, you could buy one plant now and propagate lots of cuttings to make more plants. You can also propagate these in late July/August.
Any new growth can be used, but this method of vegetative (or asexual) propagation is particularly useful for:
- Anthemis
- Argyranthemum
- Aubrieta
- Bidens
- Fuchsia
- Osteospermum
- Nemesia
- Pelargonium
- Penstemon
- Perennial petunias
- Verbena
As well as shrubs including:
- Buddleja
- Hydrangea
- Lavatera
- Perovskia
- Salvia
What you need
You don’t need many tools and accessories to take softwood cuttings, but getting prepared with the following will make everything easier.
- Stem cuttings of suitable plants
- Secateurs or plant snips
- Polythene bags
- Sharp blade, ideally a propagation or pruning knife
- 9-15cm pots, modules, cell trays or Rootrainers
- Seed & cuttings compost
- Labels
- Propagator
- Hormone rooting powder – this can be used for difficult rooters!
How to do it
- Fill your container with cuttings compost, lightly firm, add more compost and tap the pot to settle it.
- Take cuttings in the morning when they are full of water to avoid excessive wilting.
- Remove up to 10-15cm (4-6in) of shoot, cutting it off cleanly above a bud on the parent or mother plant you want to propagate. Place them in a clean plastic bag with a label. If you can’t prepare the cuttings immediately, store the bag in the fridge.
- Use a sharp blade to trim below a leaf joint/node to make a cutting between 5-10cm (2-4in) long.
- Remove the leaves from the bottom one-third to half of the cutting and pinch out the soft tip if necessary.
- Dip the bottom of the cutting in hormone rooting if necessary.
- Insert the cuttings into the container, so that the bottom leaves are in contact with the compost. Space them around the edge of the pot, so that preferably their leaves do not touch. If necessary, water well and allow to drain.
- Ideally, place the pot in a propagator with bottom heat of 18-24C (64-75F). Covering with a plastic bag, supported on small pieces of split bamboo canes and sealed around the pot with an elastic band and placing somewhere warm will suffice if no other equipment is available. Remove the bag to ventilate the cutting for 10 minutes at least twice a week.
- Cuttings should be placed in good light but out of direct, scorching sunlight; covering with horticultural fleece will help diffuse bright sunlight.
- Ensure the compost is kept moist until the cuttings are well rooted. Remove any dead, rotting, dying or diseased plants as soon as they appear.
- Once rooted, pot on the cuttings individually in small pots to grow on.
- Softwood cuttings tend to root very quickly, but need a carefully regulated environment to minimise water loss, drying out and rotting from being too wet, which is why a heated propagator is best.
Basal stem cuttings
These are similar to softwood cuttings, but are taken from the young shoots at the base of herbaceous plants.
Select sturdy shoots 7-10cm (3-4in) long with the leaves just unfolding. Use a sharp knife to remove them as close to the base as possible, including part of the woody basal tissue or root. Then treat as softwood cuttings.
This technique is suitable for lots of herbaceous perennials, especially:
- Asters
- Campanula
- Chrysanthemum
- Delphinium
- Lupins
- Phlox
- Salvia
More info
For more information on this and all other methods of plant propagation, I can thoroughly recommend the excellent book RHS Propagation Techniques – because I wrote it!
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