Propagating plants - cuttings

What would it take to revegetate my acre? If I plant a plant every 4 feet on center I could end up with over 1,800 plants! At $1 to $25 per plant this could easily add up to many thousands of dollars. We cannot afford to “buy in” the plant material we need to create a truly robust and complex planting over any but the smallest areas. Plant propagation is a critical part of revegetation on the cheap.

Over my years in landscaping I noticed an ironic discrepency between people's confidence propagating plants, and easy dedication plants put into propagating themselves. Many folks don’t think they can grow their own plants, and meanwhile, plants are out there spreading their seed, flinging their roots wherever they can. Plant propagation books prescribe meticulous methodologies for growing plants, largely based on commercial practices, making people to think that growing plants from seed or cutting is difficult. Indeed, the retail plant industry depends on people not growing and sharing plants.

Developing a labor efficient plant propagation nursery is a big part of realizing our hopes for our land (Jan 2007) and for revegetation in general. That means working with seeds or cuttings. Taking hardwood cuttings is VERY EASY. Take a branch and stick it in the ground. Then keep the soil moist. That’s it. The rest is extra credit, and may have minimal benefit/cost for the home grower. I won't bother talking about physiology. Plants are powerful. Cut, stick, and water -- that’s all. Even rooting hormone doesn't even help in all cases.

This season I have stuck thimbleberry, Scouler’s willow, red-flowering currant, rosemary, thyme, Senecio greyii, three kinds of garden sage, salmonberry, red elderberry, oceanspray, snowberry, Sempervivums, Indian plum, lavender, Rubus calcynoides and some other things I am forgetting (the leaves will pop soon). Some are sure bets, others are mysteries.

In late summer I start looking for places to take cuttings. Natural areas, nice gardens, old clients, friends and associates. As soon as leaves drop I start carrying pruners and plastic grocery bags in my pocket. As a matter of integrity, I always ask permission to take privately owned cuttings -- its good way to meet strangers over plants. Here is an overview of the basic approach, a mixture of good science-based policy and superstition:

• Use healthy parent stock growing under sunny conditions (for the species in question), and select vigorous shoots.
  


• Use species that are likely to grow roots. Look at propagation books, or think about the life history of the species. Think about which plants benefit from easily throwing roots from their stems: plants that get buried in flood sediments, plants on unstable slopes, plants whose branches lean out, lay down and root. Research, but take risks. What do you have to loose? Fast growing deciduous plants adapted to life on floodplains are a great group to start with (Symphoricarpos, Cornus, Salix, Lonicera, Oemleria, Rubus, Ribes...). Dry land plants don't seem to do as well, except those species that are adapted to unstable slopes (Fragaria, Sempervivums..). With rhizomatous plants you might as well take a hunk of rhizome (Rubus, Gaultheria), and many low lying plants and vines root well from stems (Artostaphylos, Thymus, Senecio, Lavendula, Rosmary...). If one botanical family or genus roots well, try cuttings from related genera.


• Use young wood, typically 1-3 year old stems. Except in particularly precocious species, root primordia get old and fade away when stems get old.


• Take cuttings when leaves have fallen or are dormant (in winter.)


• Store cuttings buried in wet wood chips between cutting and sticking, or stick them right away.
  


• I generally try to get at least 3 buds below ground when I stick my cuttings.


• Stick cuttings in a garden bed, or in pots. Try sticking cuttings where you want them to grow -- but irrigating during establishment is easier in a garden bed.


• Use sharp shears to cut the basal end at an angle (so you remember what end goes down).Try to get at least 5 buds. My shrub cuttings are typically around a foot long, and sub-shrubs are 6 inches. Unceremoniously strip leaves off the part of the stem you stick underground.