how do I take cuttings from honeysuckle.

[4390evans]

Found a honeysuckle along the back of mine and would like to take cuttings for my garden. How would I go about doing this and is there any particular compost I should use?

Thanks guys
Jen x

[Thelma Sanders]

You'll often find a shoot that has touched the soil and rooted - you can just dig them up and pot them on. Same with side shoots at soil level - you can usually find some with roots on already

[scarey55]

Beat me to it Thelma I'm not sure that cuttings are that successful, I think layering is the way forward. Just lay a shoot along the ground and pin it into the soil. Next year, it should have grown its own root system (a bit like strawberry runners but not so fast) and you should be able to cut it off the parent and plant it in the normal way.

[4390evans]

Its just hanging over the fence, well the branches is. Is there nothing I can do from cutting the branch

[scarey55]

You can air layer it but it depends where it is. Peel a bit back from the bark and put it in a plastic bag with a bit of compost in and tie it at the top. It would have to be left there for a while which is why I asked where it is. If it is in a public place it might look odd with a plastic bag tied to its stem

[teakdesk]

I too have only done it by layering.

However a quick goggle turns up

"You can propagate honeysuckles by taking softwood or semi-ripe cuttings 5cm-7.5cm (2-3in) long from late spring to summer. Evergreens varieties - such as the Lonicera standishii - also take well from hardwood cuttings, about 20-30cm (8-12in) long, from autumn to mid-winter. "

Full details on this site here.

HOW TO TAKE HONEYSUCKLE CUTTINGS |The Garden of Eaden

[4390evans]

its on a public path :/

[scarey55]

Ah, Then Teakdesk's idea would seem to be the best.

[teakdesk]

This is OT but my oldest honeysuckle (about 15 year's old I think) has suffered from what I assume is drought this year. It was very lush and verdant into June and then in July lost most of its leaves at the top of the bush leaving scraps of green at the ends of branches. Now we have had rain it is an absolute mass of lovely flowers but now ALL the leaves seem to have gone!

I have another bush, layered from the first, which I'm going to layer soon in case the old one doesn't recover next year. This one has a lot of young shoots so I may even try cuttings!

[PyreneesPlot]

I've taken cuttings from mine, which was a cutting from elsewhere.

I am no expert but I took slightly woody material (semi-ripe?) and pushed the stems straight down the sides of pots filled with a mix of our own ghastly top soil, a bit of bought in cheap compost and some gravel. I watered, popped a plastic bag over the top and put the pots in the shade. They took a few months to root and about 50% took. I then potted them on and finally wondered why I'd bothered, as I have nowhere to put any more at the moment. I've passed them on to other folks!

I think this would have been late spring, but it was more a case of not wanting to just chuck the prunings on the compost heap, rather than wanting to take cuttings.


The originals were taken in 30 degree heat in August, then driven for four hours in a hot car before being dumped and ignored until the next day. Again, about half took!

[Guest]

You could also raise from seed. Several times my uncle has given me a few berries from his two honeysuckles which I have left to go mankey, mouldy and slimey in a polythene bag, thrown on a tray of compost and left out to the elements over winter, then come spring I have pricked out hundreds most of which I have given away. They don't always come true but I like that fact.