Third time lucky? I’m going to propagate this damn ceanothus if it kills me. It is fast becoming my propagation nemesis. The Joker to my Batman. The Khan to my Kirk. The Kryptonite to my Superman. You get the idea. I have tried hardwood cuttings, and softwood cuttings, both of which failed miserably. It is now a good time of year to try semi-ripe heel cuttings so here goes.
First I cleaned up my workspace, in particular the cutting surface, scissors, blade and dibber, and washed the pots out.
I then cut the sprigs from the shrub. There’s plenty of material in these few stems.
Semi-ripe is when the end of the stem is still soft but the base is firming up. Heel cuttings work well. To get a heel cutting, hold the side shoot near the base and gently pull it down and away from the main stem.
It should take a sliver of the main stem with it, the heel.
Heel cuttings are good because the area where the side shoot joins the main stem has a preponderance of cells that can morph into root cells. Taking a heel like this ensures that a bunch of these cells are taken with the cutting – more than would be taken if simply snipping it off. In fact the heel itself is surplus, it needs to be removed as it will rot off and jeopardize the cutting. I trimmed the heel close to the base of the side shoot using a sharp blade.
Next the majority of the stem needs to be stripped of leaves. If these are buried they will rot and likely kill off the cutting. The stem is fragile, I’ve read that it’s best to trim using a blade from base to tip rather than the other way round. This minimises the chances of stripping the stem. I was sorely tempted to just tear off the leaves with my hands but I resisted.
A nice clean stem is what I was after with a few leaves left at the top.
I repeated this process for each side shoot, popping the prepared stems into a damp Ziploc bag to keep them perky, as this took a while.
I took loads because I wanted to try a couple of compost mixes and a couple of environments. I filled two 7cm pots with my usual mix of two parts grit to one part vermiculite, and another two with two parts multipurpose compost to one part grit. I set up the cuttings around the edge of each pot, dipping each in water and then rooting hormone powder, just the tip. I used the dibber to poke a good hole in damp compost then popped in the stem and gently firmed in. There were eight stems per pot with two spare, so two pots had nine in.
I put each pot into its own Ziploc bag, added a little water, then stashed in the greenhouse. Two pots went in the heated bench, one of each compost mix, the other two went on unheated staging.
Now, only time will tell…
I’ll be back with an update in a few weeks, hopefully root-related!
UPDATE 19 Jan 2018. Neither of these groups amounted to anything much. I still have one or two stems of the unheated batch, but I am not hopeful. It turns out that ceanothus cuttings do not enjoy being cooped up in a bag, especially if heated. They just rot off. Shortly after setting these up, and based on some of the comments I got after this post, I did another batch in a terracotta pot that has just been left in the cold-frame, otherwise unprotected. Several months later, no visible roots, but they all still look very well. Read more here.
The Propagator 
I was told a long time ago by an expert horticulturalist that ceanothus cuttings could only be grown with a mist unit. A quarter of a century on, I discovered and purchased an aeroponic propagator – £100 including heater.
Now it may be beginner’s luck, but last year I used it for a selection of cuttings of various species, including Ceanothus ‘Gloire de Versailles’ which is deciduous, and achieved 100 per cent success with this cultivar. I’m still experimenting, but have just got Rosa banksiae cuttings to root, and some clematis are easy, others less so. Maybe something for the Christmas list?
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I have one! But I no longer have the ceanothus, it died.
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I can’t find reference anywhere on Google but seem to recall something from my time at Wakehurst about making a wound at the base of ceanothus cuttings by taking a thin slice off the side of the stem to expose more of the cambium layer. This is where the roots are initiated, and in ceanothus and holly the cambium is buried more deeply in the stem tissue……or am I remembering incorrectly? It is more than 25 years ago!!!
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You may well be right, not sure. I have had mixed results with this batch of cuttings. When I say mixed, I mean none. I’ll be posting an update on Tuesday next week. The set that have done best are the outside group, in a terracotta pot. They still look very perky.
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I managed to get some going from seed when we lived in London. Then, after a couple of years of clearing the copious detritus that falls from the flowers (completely covering the small garden) I’ve gone off it. Good luck with your cuttings.
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Yes it does drop a blue carpet. I figure that’s part of its charm. So far. Hadn’t thought of growing from seed. Hmmm….
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Oh, exciting! I wish you the best of luck! Ceanothus are such great plants. I think your variety might be either ‘Dark Star’ or ‘Vandenberg’ – their leaves are so tiny. If it doesn’t take, despite your care and efforts, have you ever considered layering?
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I haven’t, but this is a large shrub / small tree. The canopy is 6′ above the ground so no stems to layer, unfortunately. I suppose there’s air layering, though, that might work.
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Worth a shot, perhaps, but, for now, my fingers are crossed for this round. 🙂
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Thanks, very useful, I copied it and a lot of your other posts into my gardening reference journal, so I can access them when needed.
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Great, glad useful, although maybe you should wait to see if it works first!
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Commercially they’re done by softwood cuttings in March, enabling a saleable plant to be produced in one season. My ancient Nursery Stock Manual gives four options, under mist in March, under mist in July (which it says is the standard time to do them), in the low tunnel in June, in a cold frame in October. They say that the warm bench and plastic method is not suitable for ceanothus because they defoliate and it reduces rooting. It also says that the cuttings need to be potted promptly once rooted, or establishment will be poor.
By low tunnel they mean 500 gauge milky polythene supported on hoops over a three foot wide bed.
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In appropriate Scottish accent “we’re doomed!”. That’s very helpful Jim, if a little depressing, thanks!
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Although, October…. Perhaps if I put some more cuttings in a terracotta pot in a corner of the coldframe?
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I have a hunch that an open, porous rooting medium is important, moist but never wet. I would also try to keep the foliage dry, ie not touching the sides of the bags they’re in, and perhaps not completely sealed in. Are you losing them to the stem rotting from the base or from defoliation?
And try the coldframe method. I had two very good suppliers who propagated under low plastic tunnels, no bottom heat, no mist; excellent growers both.
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Brill thanks. The leaves went first I think, at least the more recent ones did.
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Jim, these cuttings are all goners. They didn’t like being warm or cooped up in the Ziplocs. The heated guys went first but the others soon followed. In contrast the ones in the cold frame, uncovered, still look A1. Fingers crossed.
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I referred to my book on propagation, and it says ceanothus are multiplied by semi ripe cuttings as you described, but between June and August so you may have missed the boat for this year. It also says they are “more difficult but reasonable chance of success.” Good luck.
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It depends on whether it’s a deciduous or evergreen variety. It is June/July for the deciduous types but evergreens can be propagated into autumn. I’ll be waiting eagerly to see how Mr P gets on with his heels.
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It is an evergreen variety. Not sure which. Fairly sure my book said autumn. Mind you my record of success with this plant is rubbish, so what do I know.
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I notice I spelt it wrong too. Have changed it now…
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