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Cuttings
Q. I took various cuttings last autumn but sadly they all died a few weeks ago. As I haven't got a proper greenhouse the plants were in my house, which is generally cold most of the time. I was wondering how I should have taken the cuttings, what to plant them in and how to take care of them.
A. There are several types of cutting and you can sometimes use more than one for the same plant, depending on the time of year.
Soft-tip cuttings -
2-3in cuttings from soft, new growth usually (but not always) including the growing tip. Take these from late spring through the summer. The bottom cut should be underneath a leaf (as the greatest concentration of natural rooting hormones is found there) and the top cut (if there is one) just above a leaf. Short shoots can be carefully pulled from the plant with a heel of bark, but this needs trimming or the thinnest bit may rot.
Semi-ripe cuttings -
2-4in cuttings from new shoots that are beginning to 'ripen', i.e. the base is starting to turn woody and brown. You should aim for about 1/2 an inch of brown at the base of the cutting, or it may be too hard to root. Take these from mid summer to autumn.
Hardwood cuttings -
these can be anything up to 3ft long and are taken when the plant is dormant. Long cuttings of roses, for instance, can be laid in trenches so that as each bud shoots the following year, it grows up and forms an instant hedge.
Always choose healthy new shoots and use rooting powder for most things except pelargoniums. Tip a small amount of fresh powder into a saucer, knock the surplus off the cutting (too much causes rotting) and throw away what you haven't used (putting it back contaminates the rest).
The prepared cuttings should go into sterile, new Seed & Cutting or Multipurpose compost and should be kept warm, but not hot. Keep the compost moist, never wet.
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