Propagating Your Own Shrubs

[Pokeberry Mary]

Anyone else like to root cuttings of shrubs?

Its a fun hobby. Yesterday I filled up a new bed with rooted cuttings of gardenia, forsythia and something else. I like to buy just one shrub, a small one usually and on clearance and then try to multiply it. I hope to landscape my place using my own rooted cuttings or things I traded for. It will take a long time, but I'm not in a hurry.

My gardenia babies are about a foot tall taken from small cuttings last spring--so they really took off.

I started them in a clear plastic container in a shady spot in my garden. I filled it with perlite and vermiculite as a medium-- just deep enough to grow roots. I stuck small cuttings in a bit of rooting hormone then into the perlite/vemiculite mix--which was wet. Put the lid on and that was it. I never had to water it again and just sometimes peaked to see how things were going. Its been 5 or so months I guess and they are ready to plant out for growing on. I have a few dozen new shrubs now!

[TEX]

I have started a blue gillion roses from cuttings using almost that same method.

[Pokeberry Mary]

I've never done roses, but its on my mind for the future! :)

[Pokeberry Mary]

I have a DK book for plant propagating that has tons of info on every way to propagate almost any sort of plant. Includes grafting tips. Lots of colored photos too which is the best part.

There's nothing quite like the thrill of getting something for nothing like you get when you propagate your own plants. :)

[Chickie!]

I have had success with most bushes and shrubs, but I have been confounded by blueberries!! I have 6 blueberry bushes and have tried several different ways of propagating them without success. Any ideas? I am planning on moving sometime soon and I thought it would be nice to be able to take some of my "old" stuff with me.

[Pokeberry Mary]

My book says to do softwood cuttings of high bush blue berries in midsummer. 1/2 to 3/4 inch cutting, retain top 3-4 leaves. Root in free draining emedium at 64-68 degrees. (that would probably be like my setup -- I have my propagating boxes in the shade so that's about the temp in them. Used perlite mixed with vermiculite--which is free draining)

The book says they should then be potted up and grown on for a year in a pot.

Low bush varieties: cut rhyzomes into 4 in. pieces and root in perlite with 68' with bottom heat.

The book does say that it is difficult to root blueberries but can be done.

I've never tried it--but I just put a few blue berries in yesterday, maybe I'll root them next year.

Good Luck! :)

[NCLee]

Welcome Chickie!

Glad to have you join in our conversations.

Back when I ran a small home greenhouse, I used to enjoy the challenge of rooting a lot of different things. For xyz, I'd look up the method in one of my gardening/greenhouse books.

Since then, I've still done some of it, to a lesser extent. For example, my FIL had a beautiful azalea near his front door. Sadly, he's gone now and so is the azalea. Fortunately, I took some cuttings. Now there are about a 1/2 dozen of his azaleas planted in the backyard.

Growing up, my Mom's passion was almost anything that bloomed, either in a pot or out in the yard. She grew many of her plants from cuttings and saved seeds. Often remember when she and my aunts would swap cuttings. "Can I have a piece of that?" Oh, and there was one rule. Never say Thank You for a cutting. If you did, it wouldn't root. Love the way they worked around that rule in order to express appreciation. :)

Lee

[Pokeberry Mary]

Neat rule.

I've moved alot so I've had garden friends in different states. My newest garden buddy I met at work. I don't work there anymore but she and I still trade cuttings and divisions and little 'clearance priced plants' we find on our various outings.

I gave her a magnolia baby in a pot and a clump of pampas that I had divided into 6 pots back when I was renting and had gotten to thinking I'd NEVER own a home again. After we bought our place she immediately started telling me that I need cuttings from my magnolia and one of my pampas clumps back--at least one!

I actually got back some of my own. ;) And here they are in my very OWN place-- Love it!:man_in_love:

[Chickie!]

Thanks for the tips! Those are a couple of the methods I have tried, without success. I did only try a few at a time. I guess I will just have to be persistent and maybe try a dozen at a time or so. See if I can get one or two that will take off!

I too enjoy giving plant starts and bulb divisions away to friends and coworkers. I work primarily with "city" dwellers and younger people who are mystified by the "country" life. It's fun to give them a piece of it now and again.

I've never heard of the "rule", but I will have to start that tradition here! Thanks!

[Pokeberry Mary]

I usually try to start more cuttings that I think I'll need. Inevitably some of them will not make it for one reason or another--sometimes none of them. Usually though if I do a bit of research I can minimize the amount that doesn't make it.

Apparently gardenia and forsythia have a low fail rate as I think they all made it! Wow--I'm planning on having a walk lined with gardenia, smelling sweet in summer and maybe line my driveway with forsythia for yellow in early spring. :) Or maybe trade them for different stuff too!:man_in_love:

[NCLee]

Thanks for the tips! Those are a couple of the methods I have tried, without success. I did only try a few at a time. I guess I will just have to be persistent and maybe try a dozen at a time or so. See if I can get one or two that will take off!
------------- snip
I've never heard of the "rule", but I will have to start that tradition here! Thanks!

Couple of things....

Be sure to get some rooting hormone, especially for woody plants as it does improve the chance of getting a successful cutting.

Be sure to get cuttings from woody plants at the right time of year. For many, it's usually in the early summer when the new growth has begun to harden.

Agree to always, when possible, to try to root a number of cuttings of a plant. Some just won't root very well, regardless of what you do. Again, this is mainly with woody plants, such as shrubs. When you are successful with a bunch of them, they either make fine additons to the borders of your property, a surprise out in the woods of the back 40, or as thank you gifts to friends and neighbors.

The rule.... Mom used to say "It's bad luck to thank somebody for a cutting. It won't root."

Lee

[macgeoghagen]

I clone azaleas by pinning down one of the lower branches to some bare earth with a brick. if you cover the pinned down spot with dark dirt made from azalea leaf mulch it will grow roots. then in a year's time you can cut off the new plant from the old, dig it up, and transplant it at will. If left alone, the lower branches of azalea will impact the ground and grow roots on their own, but it will produce a giant monster plant if you don't cut off the new plant. Your mileage may vary. My azaleas are the regular wild NC ones that haven't been bred into fussy little dwarf things.

rosemary will grow little root nubs off the side of some of its branches. if you cut off the branch below the root and plant it you might get a new plant. I cut several and plant them all in the same spot. Often one or two will survive.

privet hedges will propagate on their own, but if you dig near a privet hedge and cut a root, leave the hole. A privet bush will grow where the root is exposed. you can come back later and dig up the bush to transplant.

[Pokeberry Mary]

I've used that method with rosemary and spirea before. There's other ways too...fun to learn.

We have a wild azalea on our land--at least one that I know of so far. Its like a tree. The flowers are beautiful!