This makes the cutting more likely to root than flop.’ ‘This seems brutal, but they will stay alive and continue to photosynthesize, and with half the surface area they won’t place as much demand on the stem to draw up water to support them. 'If the top pair of leaves is large, cut these in half across-ways,’ says Raven. To prepare your cuttings for planting, strip off all the leaves, leaving only the top pair. But you must plant them within a few hours. If you aren’t able to immediately plant your cuttings, then you can temporarily put them into a polythene bag to keep in the moisture. Just below a leaf node is where there is the highest concentration of natural rooting hormone.' ‘Trim to just below a leaf joint, so the cutting is 2 inches (5-6cm) long. ‘Using a very sharp knife, take a short piece of stem from the main plant,’ says Sarah Raven. Ideally take plant cuttings in the morning – ‘this is when the plant is turgid, or full of water,’ says Clapp.Īlways use clean tools, to minimize the risk of disease transference. ‘Ideally you are looking for material the thickness of a pencil,’ says Charlene Chick-Seward, propagator at the National Trust’s Nymans (opens in new tab), a well-known Grade II-listed garden in West Sussex, England. If you are taking cuttings from hardwood plants, then you are looking for growth produced this year that has had time to mature. ‘Try to select plant growth that has toughened up a little, so it is not too soft or bendy,’ says Clapp. With softwood and semi-ripe cuttings, examine the plant for the most vigorous growth. Always select healthy, straight growth – it should be a non-flowering stem, so check there are no buds present. The most important part of knowing how to take plant cuttings, is choosing the best possible growth.
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