Softwood Cuttings
There are three types of cuttings to make from deciduous shrubs, some trees and many of your herbaceous perennials. (Hardwood cuttings are made of parts of deciduous shrubs and some trees when the subjects are dormant in late fall. Semi-hardwood or semi-ripe wood cuttings are taken from summer to fall with cuttings that are maturing and many evergreens.) Softwood cuttings are those made in spring from fresh green terminal growth. They are cut and prepared to go into a medium for rooting. I think that softwood cuttings are the most fun to take and most satisfying because they root fast — in three to six weeks.
For some shrubs and in some parts of the US, the time to take the cuttings begins now, in late April early May and continues until the new growth hardens and takes on the color of the mature growth around the beginning of June.
You can collect from one shrub and make a hedge, or gifts for friends. Or if you meet a new shrub in a friend’s garden, you may be able to get a cutting (with permission of course) and grow that plant at home.
For the most part, we are going to be using the softwood method for deciduous flowering shrubs. Some examples sure to succeed include catmint, Deutzia, hardy Hibiscus, Hydrangea, elderberry (Sambucus) and Weigela. Below is a list of some more shrubs to try as softwood cuttings beginning as soon as the new green growth is about three leaf-nodes long.
In general, there are three types of cuttings to make from deciduous shrubs described by the age and condition of the growth: softwood, semi-hardwood or ripe wood and hard wood. These are described by the age and condition of the part of the plant. Softwood cuttings are taken in spring from the young leafy growth at the tips of branches. This is the terminal growth, which is usually green.
These cuttings root fast, in three to six weeks. You can take one shrub and make many for a hedge, or as gifts for friends, or to acquire something unusual from another friend. Some examples of easy deciduous shrubs to try as softwood cuttings are Deutzia, Hibiscus, Weigela, elderberry, hydrangea and herbaceous perennials like Nepeta (catmint).
What we want is the new green growth above the older brown growth. Go out in the morning when the plants are filled with moisture. Take the cutting longer than you will eventually need and plan to trim it later.
Bring a bucket of water and place the cut ends in the water as you go.
To make the cutting, you will be trimming below the third or fourth leaf node.
The cutting is trimmed to just below what becomes the bottom node. Large leaves are removed or reduced in size by slicing them in half.
Plants about to flower or in flower will not make the best cuttings. Flowering plants want to make seeds for reproduction, not roots. Avoid them if possible, or at the least, pinch out the flower buds.
The trimmed cutting goes into a rooting medium, such as your sowing mix. Everything must be very clean. Do not reuse potting medium.
I use pure perlite for most of my work with cuttings.
In all cases, you need to maintain high humidity. That can be by having a greenhouse.
Professionals often use mist benches where fine water nozzles produce clouds of water vapor set on a timer or water meter. The mist keeps cutting hydrated and cool in the summer greenhouse.
However, we can use a low-tech method for raising and maintaining high humidity – a plastic bag.
Or it can be slipped into a bag, or like this example, slipped over the cutting with super-clean stakes to keep the bag from touching the cuttings and collecting water from condensation.
I moisten the perlite, tamp it down into an almost solid block with an immaculately clean brick or similar tool (I washed this brick and poured boiling water over it), and make a frame out of a hanger.
The finished “hoops” are made of bent wire supports plunged into the tamped perlite at both ends of the flat.
Then, I cover the frame with plastic film, like this plastic bag from the dry cleaner. I place the propagation set up out of direct sunlight, but with bright light and where it might be exposed to a gentle breeze. I think a bit of movement might make the cuttings stronger. I can add cuttings over the next weeks.
Then, I drill a hole for the cutting in the perlite with a pencil, or similar tool.
I slip the cutting including one or two nodes into the medium and firm the perlite against the cutting. I push the rooting medium firmly. Good contact helps the cuttings root.
You can tell when a cutting is rooted by prying the cutting up after three weeks or so with a tool like a butter knife and see if there are roots. If not, place it back in the medium and firm the perlite, again.
I like to remove the cuttings from the propagation flat when their roots are about an inch long and potting them up in a mixed medium of my choice.
Abelia
Buddleia
Callicarpa
Calycanthus
catmint (easy)
Ceanothus
Cistus
Deutzia
Diervilla
dogwood (shrub)
elderberry
Euonymus
Forsythia
Fothergilla
Fuchsia
Hibiscus
Hydrangea
Hypericum
Ilex (deciduous)
Itea
Kerria
Kolkwitzia
Lonicera
mock orange
Rose (a bit challenging)
Spiraea
Symphoricarpos
Viburnum
Vitex
Weigela
and others
