How to take cuttings of your plants

Boost your green collection in a pocket-friendly way in autumn, and learn how to take cuttings of plants

Propagating plants from your own cuttings is a fantastic project, and a really satisfying skill to have. You can increase your plant count without breaking the bank, and can share your cuttings with gardening friends. But how do you do it? Luckily, it is easier than you might think!
Cultivating new crops from ‘stem tip’ or hardwood cuttings provides you with an insurance policy against the loss of a plant. Types that take a long time to grow from seed, such as fruit bushes, are good candidates, as allow you to skip this first time-consuming stage. ‘Stem tip’ cuttings are the most common type, and encourage roots to emerge from a short amount of the plant’s stem. This method can be used on softwood and hardwood varieties, so is a really useful skill to have in your arsenal!
Herbs are a useful choice for this technique, too, as you can keep them as kitchen windowsill crops during the winter, giving you fragrant additions to plentiful dishes. You will never need to rely on sad supermarket herb pots again! Those such as bay, lavender, marjoram, tarragon, sage, thyme, rosemary and lemon verbena are all softwood or semi-ripe types that can have cuttings taken.
Fruit bushes like grape, blueberry, blackcurrant and gooseberry are hardwood examples that can also be used, so it is a wonderful project for the edible gardener – though not limited to these crops! There are plenty of flowers you can take cuttings from, too

How to take cuttings of softwood or semi-ripe plants
Firstly, you will need to decide which plants you’d like to propagate. Softwood cuttings can be taken from early summer, while semi-ripe ones should be taken later in the season, so factor these timings in when making your selection.
Both types need to be prepared quickly after removing from the original plants as they can dry out and wilt easily, so get started on a day where you have a decent chunk of time to dedicate to the task.
Prepare a potting mix (50 per cent organic compost, 50 per cent drainage material such as horticultural grit or vermiculite). Fill a pot with this mix, and tap firmly to settle it.
Stand the container in shallow water until the compost surface becomes moist. Choose a vigorous shoot, and cut off a 5-15cm length above a leaf. Trim the stem to just below a bud or leaf.
Gently cut off any lower foliage, as they may rot and cause the whole plant to die. Push a small dibber (or pencil) 5cm deep into the compost, and place your cutting in the hole. You can add multiple cuttings to the same pot, but ensure that they do not touch.
Cover the pot with a plastic bag to provide humidity, and place them in a position with some light, free from direct sunlight.

How to take cuttings of hardwood plants
Again, step one is to decide which plants you would like to propagate. Hardwood types can be taken from autumn until early winter, and can stay in the open ground outdoors, or be stored in cold frames. This makes this the perfect project for these colder months when there is less activity on the plot than we have been used to over spring and summer.
Choose vigorous shoots grown in the current year, and remove the soft tip. Cut the shoot into 15-30cm sections above a bud at the top, slicing at a slanted angle to shed any water. At the base, cut below a bud and dip this lower end in a hormone rooting powder.
Prepare a trench outdoors in a sheltered site with well-drained soil, and dig compost in every square metre. Insert your cutting two-thirds into the ground, and add a layer of sand at the base. Roots will form along the stem, while buds remaining above the ground allow the plant to grow vigorously in spring time. Your cuttings should remain in the same place until the following autumn, but make sure that they do not dry out in the summer. You can also plant hardwood cuttings in pots, so small space growers needn’t feel left out.