Spread the bounty around with these low-tech methods for propagating your plants!
Cuttings
Cuttings are genetic clones taken from fresh new plant growth. For softwoods, such as lavender, sages and thymes, cuttings are best taken in late Spring (late May to early June) when growth is flexible but can be snapped when bent. For hardwoods like blueberries, fruit trees and willows, cuttings are best taken in late fall or winter when the woody stems have gone dormant.
Step 1: Cut off a section of stem with a sharp knife or shears. You want 3-6” of healthy growth on green stems, including the tips. Make a sharp, clean cut at a 45° angle about ¼” below the lowest leaf nodule.
Step 2: Remove the lower leaves so that only one or two leaves is left on the cutting.
Step 3: Dip the stem in rooting hormone (optional). If you do, dig the hole for your cutting with a pencil. This way the hormone will stay on your cutting rather than the surface of the soil.
Step 4: Pot your cutting in your chosen medium: potting mix, perlite, vermiculite, or sand.
Step 5: Give your plant time to root. This may take a few weeks. Carefully check below the soil level for root development from time to time.
Step 6: Re-pot your cutting in soil, and once it has established you can transplant in the garden.
Some Tips
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Potting mixes and mediums are better than soil, as they drain better and are less likely to host pathogens or bacteria that could harm your cuttings.
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Like with planting, early mornings are best.
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Keep your cuttings cool and moist until planting. Mist the stem and leaves.
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Keep in a bright, warm location out of the direct sun.
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Cut and propagate way more than you think you’ll need.
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You can make a rooting hormone with willow water – chop up willow twigs and place them in boiling water, then leave it to cool overnight. Stand your cuttings in the water for a few hours.
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Dip the ends of your cuttings in cinnamon, which has antibacterial, antifungal, and stimulating properties.
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You can root cuttings of certain plants by placing them in water, e.g. mint and thyme.
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Some plants can be propagated with leaf cuttings, including many succulents.
Divisions
Division is an easier method than cutting. Division is great for blueberries, raspberries, herbs, currants and more, and best for plants more than two years old. Divisions are best done in the dormant season when plants have large carbohydrate supplies. Early spring is ideal. You can also make divisions in fall, but do so four to six weeks before the first frost.
Step 1: Dig around the perimeter of the plant and pull the whole root ball up. If the plant is too big for this, you can cut the root ball through the middle with a shovel, just re-cover half with soil once you’ve removed your division.
Step 2: Divide the roots. Rhizomes can be divided with a sharp knife.
Step 3: Place roots in water immediately.
Step 4: Dig a hole at least as deep as the plant was originally in. Settle your segments into the hole, fill with soil or compost, water deeply and add mulch.
Grafting
Most of the fruit varieties we love to eat are not true to seed, because they are hybridized. For example, the seed of a grapefruit may well sprout into one of its parent varieties: a sweet orange or a pomelo. In order to replicate the variety that we want, we have to make a clone. Because fruit tree cuttings don’t take very well on their own, we can graft them. Grafting is the process of splicing the stem of one plant onto the root stock of another. Grafting is best done at the start of spring before buds break. Different species may require particular methods, but one common technique is the veneer graft:
Step 1: Use an appropriate root stock. You may have one already in your garden, or you can buy one from a local nursery. You can find lots of information about root stocks on the internet.
Step 2: Find a healthy stem on your fruit tree with at least one bud, ideally just thicker than the branch of root stock you want to graft it to.
Step 3: Cut the stem on a 45° angle with a sharp knife or razor blade just above a leaf node. This cutting is called a scion.
Step 4: Cut an equivalent 45° angle diagonal on the root stock just below a leaf node.
Step 5: Insert the scion to the cut on the rootstock and bind the union with garden tape or twine. You can remove the binding once your scion begins to put on growth.
A Few Tips:
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Watch out for suckers! If the root stock puts on new growth, be sure to prune it away as soon as possible. You want water and nutrients directed to your scion, not the root stock.
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You can graft multiple scions of different species and variety onto a single root stock. Imagine an almond root stock with nectarines, plums, and peaches all growing on it!
