Evergreens provide some much needed structure, interest and colour in the garden in the winter. Who wouldn’t want more of them, for free!?
I have a Ceanothus and so does my neighbour, different variety I think, so I’ve been cheeky and whipped off a couple of stems from hers as well. The branching habit of Ceanothus means there is plenty of cuttings material in just a few sprigs.
I have taken some nodal cuttings and also some lateral heel cuttings.
For the nodal cuttings I have snipped off the top of the sprig just below a leaf joint (a node, hence the name) and stripped off the lower leaves leaving a bare stem and a few leaves at the top. I have dunked the end in root hormone powder, shaken off the excess and used a suitable implement (screw-driver in my case) to pop it in the cuttings compost mix.
For the lateral shoots, I have tried to gently but firmly pull the side shoot away from the main stem so that it comes away with a “heel” – just a piece of the outer layer of the main stem.
This is desirable because that material is full of cells that are capable of producing roots once tucked up in cuttings compost. That said, the heel needs trimming a little so it doesn’t rot in the compost.
After that, it’s the same process as for the nodal cuttings – dunk, shake, dib and firm in.
As you can see from the photo, I have jammed in quite a number of cuttings into one 11cm pot.
If I had a 9cm pot I would have used that, I think. There is plenty of room, and keeping the cuttings close together like this has a few benefits
- they help physically support each other
- the closeness helps to retain moisture and a humid environment around the leaves
- economical with space, pots and cuttings compost.
- lots of cuttings allows for even a high failure rate and gives a decent chance of some new plants at the end of the process
A note on cuttings compost mix. I’ll probably do a full post on this at some point later in the year, possibly even a trial, but the advice I am following is to use horticultural grit or sharp sand, mixed with vermiculite or perlite in approximately 3:2 proportions, although half and half would be fine too.
Note the total lack of actual compost (brown stuff you buy in bags at the garden centre). That always confuses me, dunno why the pros insist on calling it cuttings compost. Anyhoo, the point is that this is a free-draining, open mix that will allow roots to form without working too hard and avoids them sitting in too much wet (or indeed too much dry) which is all too easy with a peat-based compost mix.
February is a good time to strike cuttings like these because the shrub is about to start putting on spring growth and is thus chock full of growth hormones. The main thing is it is no longer in a dormant or less active winter state. Once tucked away in the pot, these evergreen shrub cuttings can be treated like hardwood cuttings – ie watered and left to get on with it for a few months. The only real difference is that evergreens, by definition, still have leaves on the go so are a little more vulnerable than the bare sticks that are the material for deciduous hardwood cuttings. For this reason they need to be kept in a humid environment and kept moist. If only I had a heated propagation bench. Oh wait, I do!
Here they are, both varieties, in the muggy warmth.
I’ll be back with an update on these cuttings when I crack open these pots in a few months.
[update 11-Apr-17. Check out this link to find out what happened. If you are of a nervous disposition, fair warning, it doesn’t end well…]
The Propagator 
What is the growing media you are using here? I have never tried propagating before and need a bit more in depth help. Thank you for this post!
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I think I say that in the blog post actually. Mind you, I was never successful anyway with this particular shrub despite several attempts. Good luck!
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Excellent blog! I like this kind of stuff 🙂 I’ve been doing a load of cuttings this year after an initial test last year. I’m ignoring all advice and just cutting something and sticking in a pot. Last year it worked with 100% success rate so this year I’ve gone to town doing currants, elder and Butterfly Bush (not going to try and spell the real word). I’m just using compost. I’ll go through the rest of your blog during the week.
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I think we can afford to be pretty relaxed about hardwood cuttings, they certainly can just be jammed in a pot and left to it for a few months. There’s a post about that back in December. For anything else, tips, Softwood, roots etc, I’ve just had a series of poor results by doing exactly what you say, but it is a tricky business involving more luck than judgement it sometimes seems to me. This year I’ve decided to go with the pros and do it “properly”. What constitutes properly is a matter of debate, tribal knowledge, old wives tales, total nonsense, so it’s a bit of a job figuring out what advice to follow. Going on that journey is the main reason for this blog. Glad you find it interesting, let me know how you get on with your approach, which does sound temptingly straightforward…!
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Interesting post as usual, I have always used a mix of MP compost and perlite with varying degrees of success. I will have to give your mix a go. I was taught to place cuttings around the outside of terracotta pots due to the improved drainage which you don’t have with plastic yet you still here ‘experts’ recommend it.
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Thanks Brian – I’m experimenting myself really. I’ve always used mp and perlite but with rubbish results, generally. I’ll do a trial in the spring on cuttings mix, see if it makes any difference. I suspect bottom heat is the decisive factor. There is a lot of Chinese whispers in the received wisdom, old advice, folklore, tribal knowledge, much of which goes unchallenged. Inquiring minds need to know, certainly I do, which conflicting or stale advice is still relevant and which makes no odds. I am the definition of rank amateur at this but am having fun working it all out. Keeps me off the streets…
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Good luck with the Ceanothus cuttings; I’m usually quite successful with cuttings but have had no success at all with Ceanothus. Let us know how you get on. I noticed you used a seed tray; received wisdom says that it is better to use round pots and place the cuttings around the edge right against the edge of the pot..
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Hello. No it’s an 11cm (4in) square pot, not a seed flat – there are two close together in the last photo, perhaps it looks like a tray. I’ve also read/seen the edge of a pot thing, although nothing on round being better than square, I must say. The best explanation I’ve heard is that the roots work a little harder when they come in to contact with a solid surface. I’m not convinced it makes a great deal of difference. Perhaps I’ll do a trial later in the year and see. In any case, some of these cuttings are around the edge so I have it covered – maybe I’ll be able to tell when I de-pot them. Cheers!
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It may only truly apply to terra-cotta pots anyway, which I don’t use. I’m going to try putting some stems in water in spring.
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I had some fuschia tips in water in the kitchen last summer. One of them eventually put on some roots but they were a fairly weedy set of roots and I’m not convinced they survived the transplanting process. Good luck!
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