Striking beauty

Horticulturist, educator and author, Jac Semmler shares how easy it is to fill your garden with more of your beloved plants.

There is a profound joy in propagating plants. Advocates of maximalist planting, like me, get very excited about propagation because, well, the more plants to tend and share, the better. The propagation of beauty shouldn’t start and stop with germinating seeds: soft- tip cuttings is a brilliant propagation technique to grow a huge number of plants on the cheap. Put simply, a section of the stem is cut off and used to propagate a new plant. Try: salvias, pelargoniums, sedums.

 

Technique for soft-tip cuttings:

• Prepare a free-draining cutting mix to grow the cuttings in. Either purchase or make your cutting mix with 50 per cent seed raising mix or fine sieved potting mix and 50 per cent clean washed propagation sand or perlite.

• Choose plant material that looks healthy and free of disease and pests. Avoid flowering shoots. Take cuttings in the morning, while the plants are full of water. Place them in a plastic bag while you collect more to keep them fresh (even with a bit of water to increase the humidity).
  
   

• Fill clean pots or containers with the cutting mix. Water the pot well until there is moisture coming out of the bottom of the pot.
  
   

• Create a cutting by cutting the stem below the node (leaf joint). Remove the set of lower leaves and trim the foliage down to about a third. Trimming excess foliage from the cutting can help reduce stress on the plant.

• Dip the node into a rooting hormone gel. This is not essential, but a quality rooting hormone gel can act as a kick starter, increasing the chances or speed of the cutting in forming a root system. Alternatively, honey can be used as an anti- bacterial or anti-fungal treatment as it can help prevent rot. Many plants will still grow a root system without using a hormone or honey. Experiment with what works for you.
  
   

• Make a hole in the mix and gently place the cutting in, nudging the mix around it. Repeat until the pot is full of cuttings. This is often referred to as a ‘community pot’. The numerous cuttings assist in creating a little microcosm for the cuttings to thrive. Safety in numbers, as they say.

• Do not water afterwards. Instead, use a spray bottle or mister to ‘water’ the foliage. Place in a warm location either in a greenhouse or create your own by placing half a clear plastic bottle over the cuttings or using a clear plastic bag to make a little DIY greenhouse.
  
   

• Spray leaves and stems with a mister or spray bottle two to three times each day, and water the mix every couple of days The cutting mix should be moist but not overly saturated to keep the cutting from rotting.