A few weeks ago I took a few basal cuttings of some new lupins. I set the chunkiest sections up in pots of gritty compost and left them in the heated bench in the greenhouse. As I left them I made a mental note to fetch a polythene bag to put over them, to keep the humidity up. I totally forgot.

When I went back the next evening to have a look around I was annoyed to find that they had all wilted, several terminally so as it had been a warm sunny day. I removed the least affected from the pot, washed them off and put them in the hydropod instead. I was in such a flap that I forgot to take a photo. Take my word for it, it was not a pretty sight.

The two biggest cuttings recovered some poise after a couple of days but the smaller ones were hopeless.

Despite all that nonsense, I looked today and both the larger cuttings have put on a good set of roots.

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I’ve potted the up in John Innes #3 with some vermiculite added for drainage. I’ll leave them in the heated bench for a while then harden them off. Hopefully the basal section will throw out some new growth, powered by those nice new roots.

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This hasn’t worked out entirely how I planned, but I do have two new plants, assuming I can keep them alive. Mustn’t grumble.

The lesson of all this is to ensure some humidity to limit loss of moisture through transpiration, and the thicker basal cuttings are the better bet.

I’ll be back soon with more cuttings capers.