Rhody cuttings and more!

A couple weeks ago, I went around and took cuttings of a few different rhododendrons from my neighbors' yards-- 12 of a hot pink type, and 12 of a beautiful red-magenta. I'm being a hypocrite here, but always ask for permission before you sneak into someone's yard for cuttings :)

 

Take the cuttings using pruning shears that have been sterilized (alcohol works well). Select the last year's growth, and only pick NON-FLOWERING stems from the side of the plant. A good length of cuttings is 6". Collect them in a sealed plastic bag and store in the fridge if you aren't dealing with them in an hour or less.

 

The next step is to mix  up the soil. The mix should be very airy, so two parts perlite for every part peat moss works well. Stay away from the pre-fertilized Miracle-Gro crap!

Seed flats have worked great for my cuttings. Fill the six-packs with moist cutting mix, and poke a hole in each cell.

 All but the top 4 to 5 leaves should be removed. This was a handy-dandy tip from my new propagation book, The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation by Michael Dirr and Charles Heuser. Great resource. 

Then, cut the remaining leaves in half with scissors so the plants don't have so much leaf area.

OK, here's the important part. About 3 inches down the stem, make an angular cut just below a node (a spot where leaves used to be or where there are tiny buds along the stem).

 Right away, dip the end in rooting hormone. Stronger is better for these, so look for the highest percent IBA (rooting agent). 

 Afterwards, scrape off the outer bark in two strips on either side of the stem to reveal the cambium (the green layer from which the callus/roots grow).

Insert the cutting into the pre-made hole and press the soil firmly around it. 

Now you're done! I act like I know what I'm doing, but I really don't. My batting average is 0. This is a new method and I'll keep you posted on how it works!

 So, the finished setup. The main idea with this is to keep light indirect but bright, keep the soil evenly moist, and to keep the air extremely humid. Warmth also helps. A good setup for winter cuttings is a seed tray with the plastic cover propped up with pencils or dowels, and then plastic wrap wrapped and taped over all the openings.

Here's some heath (Erica) cuttings that I took a week or two ago. They are in 2:1 sand:peat and are another evergreen that can be rooted in the fall. I think I took about 12 of these. 

I won't check for roots for at least another month, and I'll be sure to update. I'll probably also take some more Rhody cuttings soon and I plan on trying Cryptomeria, a beautiful evergreen tree. 

~~Weston

Hardwood cuttings!

So here goes my first every blog post! Since the nursery is going to be launching in June 2013 (if all goes as planned), I figured that taking cuttings in the spring of woody plants wouldn't get them big enough by the time summer rolls around, so here's the alternative-- hardwood cuttings taken in fall! 

The pics are from about a month ago but hw cuttings can be taken any time from leaf-drop to just before budbreak.  Here's a step-by-step of the process I've used to take cuttings of six different shrubs so far. Not sure they'll work, but I really hope so!!!!  

First step: basic supplies. The idea is for the cut surface of each stem to callus over, like a scab, over the winter. In the spring, it'll callus over and roots will sprout from that callus.

 
Start with a strong plastic tupperware bin, deeper than it is wide. Ours was about 1' by 2' from walmart.

You'll also need sand. The kind we purchased was very coarse silica with much larger grains than normal play sand. Go for the least dusty and coarsest kind. Ours was from the Home Despot and is called "High Desert Play Sand." Moisten the sand (barely) and fill the bin about halfway. 

Pruning shears and rooting hormone are the other things you need. Most of the higher concentrations of IBA (the active rooting ingredient) will be more effective on hw cuttings. Ours was Dyna-Grow "Root-Gel." 

When you have the supplies all in one place, find the shrub and take the cuttings. All the leaves should be gone from the plant. I use the most vigorous shoots of last year's growth and trim off all the terminal (top) buds at an angle. Prior to use, the shears should be sterilized with alcohol. Shown is a cutting of a mophead hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla).

Next, when the terminal bud is removed, make another cut about 6 to 8 inches down the stem, so that it falls just below a node (where a leaf used to be connected to the stem). This cut should be straight across. There should be one top node, one bottom node, and at least one in between. If any small side-branches or living vegetation is left, just prune it off.

 Here's a close-up of the end with rooting hormone applied.

 All the stems should then be tied in a bundle, making sure that the angle-cuts are all on one end, and the buds facing the same direction. You can see they don't all have to be the same length. 

The cuttings are then inserted UPSIDE-DOWN into the bin of moist sand..  That means the angle-cuts should all be pointing down, and the flat cuts should be pointing up. Bury them so that the bundle is completely covered in sand. 

It helps to mark with sharpie on the top of the bin so that you know which cuttings are of which plants in spring. Leave the moist bin of sand in a spot that stays about 40 degrees F overwinter, such as a garage. 

As of today, it's success! The Hydrangeas are forming a callus, which is stem material that grows out like a tumor from the wounded, cut surface. It really looks like that expandable foam stuff! Only green. 

Other plants I've taken from hw cuttings so far are sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), 3 colors of butterfly bushes (Buddleia davidii), a pink climbing rose, a red rambling rose and Forsythia. I plan on also trying old-fashioned weigela (Weigela florida) and some catalpa trees (Catalpa bignonioides).

I'll keep you posted on how it works! 

Are there any other shrubs you think would be very popular at a roadside plant nursery?

~~ Weston