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Step 1
Start with a 6-inch cutting. Be sure it's pointing upward.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Step 2
Use a dibble to make room in the soil for the cutting.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Step 3
Dredge the bottom half-inch of the cutting in a rooting hormone such as Rootone. Tap off any excess.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Step 4
Nestle the cutting into the prepared hole. Only an inch or two of the 6-inch cutting should show.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Step 5
Leave about 2 inches between cuttings in the pot. Place the pot somewhere cool but not freezing, like an unheated garage, for the winter. Keep the soil moist but not saturated. Move the pot outside when a hard frost is no longer a danger.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Step 6
Once roots emerge from the drain holes, carefully dig out and separate the cuttings.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Step 7
Repot individually.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
Rooting cuttings is one of my favorite gardening feats. Sure, I understand the biology behind it, but I still find something magical in taking a small piece of stem from one plant and turning it into a brand-new plant.
Plus, it’s a cheap way to produce plants for yourself or to share with other gardeners. You have probably taken a cutting from a tender plant like a tomato, coleus or pothos and rooted it simply in water. But the prospect of rooting cuttings from woody plants may seem daunting. Fortunately, many common trees and shrubs—blueberry, crape myrtle and hydrangea, to name a few—can be rooted easily in the dormant season by using hardwood cuttings.
Hardwood cuttings should come from mature, dormant stems that do not bend easily. Crape myrtles, grapes and pomegranates all root with this technique.
The process can begin right after the leaves drop from these plants in the fall. Use sharp, clean pruners to take 6-inch-long, pencil-diameter cuttings from vigorous shoots on the plants you want to propagate. If it is a tree or shrub that produces suckers from the stems or roots, use those suckers for your cuttings. Their increased vigor means they usually root and grow more easily than cuttings from other areas of the plant.
Don’t forget to make note of which end is up—upside-down cuttings won’t root! It can sometimes be difficult to tell on a leafless cutting, but the leaf buds on the stem usually point upward.
Keep your cuttings moist and out of direct sunlight. If they dry out, they are much less likely to survive.
Hardwood cuttings may be stuck in beds of sand or even directly into garden soil. I prefer to stick them in containers with a 50-50 mix of pine bark fines and horticultural perlite, but any well-draining potting soil will work.
Fill a 3-gallon nursery pot two-thirds full with the soil mix and water to settle. Then stick the cuttings upright until only the upper 2 inches of the 6-inch cutting are exposed, spacing cuttings about 2 inches apart. Ten to 12 cuttings should fit easily.
The cuttings need to stay cool so they don’t sprout leaves too early, but don’t let them freeze. Keeping them in an unheated garage or shed through the winter is ideal. Check them periodically, making sure the soil doesn’t dry out, although soggy soil is equally problematic. Once the danger of a hard freeze has passed, move the containers outside into a dappled sun area—under a deciduous tree is perfect.
If everything goes well, at least 50 percent of your cuttings should produce new leaves in the spring. Resist the urge to tug on the cuttings, as their new roots will be tender and easily damaged. Wait until you see healthy roots emerging from the container’s drain holes, then carefully remove your rooted cuttings from the container, separate and repot them into their own containers.
By summer’s end, you’ll have healthy new plants, ready to be planted or shared with friends.
S. Cory Tanner is an area horticulture agent and Master Gardener coordinator for Clemson Extension based in Greenville County. Contact him here.