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Propagation by Cuttings
Propagation by Cuttings Whatever plant you want to increase by taking cuttings is divided into 5 easy steps. 1 Prepare your pots or trays. All plants need the same treatment in steps 1 to 3 - steps 4 and 5 are where you need to separate the plants into tender and hardy. It is easy and cheap to grow plants from cuttings - a very efficient way of increasing your stock if you are interested in growing herbs for profit - or indeed growing plants for profit in general - link at the bottom for growing herbs for profit. Between July and September (northern hemisphere) hormones change and those that stimulate rooting are increased. You need a sharp knife and some soil. Some people like to use a hormone rooting solution or powder - I generally do just to be sure. You can use a greenhouse, cold frame, propagator or your windowsill. Methods differ for propagation by cuttings only slightly depending on the hardiness and where you're going to grow on. As a word of caution, remember that the 9 trays of 100 rooted cuttings will need potting on at some point - do you have space for hundreds of small plant pots? As an aside here, you can mix cuttings in the same tray as long as they are all of a similar hardiness and you are able to identify them either by labelling carefully or because you can reliably recognise the species by leaf. So Step 1 in propagation by cuttings - Prepare your pots or trays. Take 3 inch pots or larger trays and fill to within about half an inch of the top with potting compost and water well. Allow to drain so that the dirt/soil is not waterlogged - about 30 minutes should do.
Step 2 Take your plant cuttings. With a sharp knife cut a healthy non-flowering shoot about 3 inches long. Strip the bottom third of leaves and make sure you cut again where the lowest leaf was - you can see that by the scar left this is where the hormone is concentrated most strongly. Also, the section below the leaf may die off and that could spoil your cutting. Step 3 Put your cuttings in the pots or trays. It is at this point that you would dip your cuttings in rooting hormone powder or solution if you wish to do so. Place up to 5 cuttings in a 3 inch pot - if you're using trays, then leave about 1 to 2 inches between the cuttings. Make a hole in the compost with a dibber or the end of a pencil. Put the cutting gently into the hole made and firm the soil around it with the dibber. Once all the cuttings are in the pot, give it a gentle tap to level the soil and firm round with your fingers gently. Step 4 Leave them to root. Now - if it's a tender species then you need to keep these indoors. Either put a plastic bag secured with an elastic band over to maintain the humidity or use a covered propagator - you could use one with bottom heat which will help cuttings root better. You could also use a cut off plastic drinks bottle to make a cloche over the pot just cut a slit up the side so that you can make it fit inside the pot by overlapping the bottom cut end. Keep these plants on a well lit windowsill or similar and you should see growth within a few weeks when they need to be potted on individually. If it's a hardy species, then you can use a cold frame outdoors - a cold frame can be anything that gives a little bit of protection from the harshest of winters. You can put hardy cuttings directly into the soil - maybe pep it up with a bit of compost from your spent hanging baskets or something if you want to. Hardy propagation by cuttings should be rooted by the following spring ready to pot on. Even an upturned freezer basket or wire shopping basket covered with fleece, clear polythene or bubble wrap can be a cold frame - you don't have to invest in expensive apparatus to achieve propagation by cuttings. Step 5 Pot on. When your plants have rooted - you'll be able to tell that when you see new growth, then for your tender species, remove the cover and allow to establish for a few days. Use a 3 inch pot filled with potting compost as before. Put each rooted cutting into the compost using a dibber to make a hole big enough to hold the roots. Firm the soil and treat with tender loving care over the winter. When dealing with your outdoor propagation by cuttings, they should be left alone until the spring when a large proportion should have rooted - resist the tempatation to tug. You will see growth when they are growing or they will die in which case, you know you have failed in that particular propagation by cuttings. Pinch back any cuttings that seem to be growing too tall so that you encourage a bushy growth. They should be OK until mid spring when you can pot them on into 3 inch pots as above or if they're ready and you live in a temperate area, put them into the garden where you want them to grow.
This could be the start of your plant or herb nursery less than a year to establish stock to sell and you still have the stock plants which you took the cuttings off to start again. If you have to transport cuttings, then take some plastic bags and pieces of paper with you. Take the trimmings from the plants and write on the paper what the plant is then as soon as possible, deal with the plant cuttings as above. You should be OK for a couple of hours but take larger pieces so that you can trim down further probably 5 inches or so of plant to trim back down to 3 inches when youre able to deal with the cuttings. The person that has inspired me to dream about growing herbs for profit,is a man called Mike McGroaty. He writes a free newsletter full of free information and tips on what to grow - he has made a good living out of his Backyard Nursery and helps others develop their passion for plants into a profitable hobby and maybe a business. This isn't just devoted to herbs, but to all sorts of plants - shrubs and perennials, which of course herbs fall into those categories as well. His website is loaded with free advice about rooting cuttings and how to run a backyard nursery in a small area. If you sign up for his newsletter, he gives you a free gardening book, a report listing 21 plants that are easy to grow and sell like mad, potting bench plans, potting soil recipe, mini hoop house plan and lots more. I always look forward to opening his emails - he says he's a 'redneck', but his writing is fine and his knowledge is very sound.
Give his site a minute to load - don't click away, you'll not regret it.
Click Here to go to Mike's Site to learn about Growing Plants for Profit
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