Making new shrubs
16 • 2021
Photo by Andre Abrahami.
Y
ears ago, when my nephew was very young, he went on a nature walk with my parents. He collected a stick along the way, as young boys do, and when they got to my parents’ place, he stuck it in the ground. The stick was from a willow, and without any coaxing it turned into a tree. Willows will root very easily. Graeme didn’t know that and thought it was a magic tree. If only our hydrangeas and lilacs were magic trees. But they aren’t so difficult to propagate if you know what to do. In fact, you can increase your stock of many shrubs in reasonably short order. The trick is rooting hormone. Willows already have it in abundance, which is fine for rooting willows, what about other plants? Fortunately, you can buy it. To propagate most deciduous (no leaves in winter) shrubs: 1. Take a cutting. 2. Trim it down. 3. Dip the bottom in rooting hormone. 4. Plant in a pot. 5. Cover with a clear plastic bag, not touching the plant. 6. Take the bag off every couple of weeks to see if the plant has rooted. 7. When it’s rooted, take the bag off completely. Continue with the potted plant until it’s big enough to plant in the ground. This could be a few years. Sounds simple. Actually doing it, though, you’ll have questions, which are hopefully answered in the rest of this article. Take cuttings Cuttings should be made early in the day. Cut just behind the leaf node in the softwood of the shrub. Softwood is neither brand-new growth nor truly woody growth; it’s in between. The growth is too new if it just bends. It’s too old if it won’t bend at all. If it bends a little, that’s about right. (Check out the video through the QR code above.) Take a few cuttings. Even if you do everything right, don’t expect more than 70 per cent success. Some species of shrubs do better, some worse, others won’t be propagated from softwood cuttings at all.
By Shauna Dobbie
The steps to propagate rose cuttings with a plastic bottle greenhouse.
Scan me A video about softwood cuttings versus hardwood cuttings and when to collect them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPk2C3b2R5Q
Wrap the cut end in damp paper towel and keep the sun off of them. Trim them Make sure the cut is about one centimetre behind the leaf node; in other words, the leaf node is still on the stem. You can lightly peel off a couple of strips of bark from below the node with your secateurs, but you don’t have to. Strip off the leaves from the bottom node. Then go up to the next set of leaves and cut just beyond them. Remove all but one leaf. Dip in rooting hormone Put a bit of rooting hormone into a Issue 4
small bowl. If the plant turns out to be diseased, you don’t want the rooting hormone to pass it on to future plants, so don’t dip the cutting into your whole container of rooting hormone. Dip the bottom of the cutting into rooting hormone up to and including the bumps of the leaf node. Tap the cutting to release any excess. You don’t want too much and you don’t want too little; either will prevent development of roots. Plant in a pot Use a light mixture appropriate for starting seeds. You can plant the cuttings into cell packs, one per cell, or you can plant about three into a four-inch pot. Plant the cuttings so that the leaf is just above the soil. Then water the pot or pots. Cover Cover the pot with clear plastic but without touching the cuttings. Put the pot into a spot with indirect sunlight, in a place where you won’t need to move it often. localgardener.net
