PLANTING BUSH CUTTINGS

I was curious on what bushes I could propagate from cuttings because they are so expensive at the nuseries and local home improvement stores.



I decided to start with 6" to 8" cuttings from the following bushes: Dogwood, Rose of Sharon, Goldmound Spiraea, Boxwood and Euonymus. I have succeeded with all the plants except for Boxwood. Some started faster than others.


Dogwood and Euonymus cuttings were the fastest and easiest to generate roots about one to two weeks depend upon conditions of the soil. Rose of Sharon and Spiraea took about 3 weeks to generate roots. Boxwood cutting is temperament and it didn't do any rooting for me maybe because I didn't do it right. I heard other people have success with Boxwood cuttings.



The methods I used are my own modified steps and very simple. No green thumb required here. You don't have to follow to the "T" but just the basic steps.




First, cut a 6" to 8" new soft tip from the bush, if you go longer it doesn't really matter but I find shorter lengths work better. Only 4.5"-5"length is needed to be covered in dirt which is approximately 70%-80% of cutting. Remove any cutting's leaves or sprouts or buds leaving just the stem before planting it in the dirt because the focus here is producing roots not new growth.




Next, you will only need to find a moist shady spot in your yard about at least 65%(more is better) of day to planting your cutting. The key is to keep the dirt or ground damp most of the time, cover with plastic if required but poke holes for some ventilation. Planting cutting in a pot works but it is hard to keep right temperature range for the cutting to produce roots unless you are able put in contained environment. Ideally, temperature controlled room is the way to go but for majority of us like me it is not feasible.



In uncontrolled environment best time of year to do cutting planting is early Spring. I have sticked cuttings in the ground before ground freezes and the cuttings do just fine. It depends on the harshness of Winter. Sometimes, I do early planting because Winter could be bad in Kansas that the ground is frozen until April. Yes, Kansas Winter varies from year to year maybe not as harsh as Northern states and regions.




Finally, you wait and wait and wait...I didn't say this was a fast process. For good growth of roots give it as much time as possible maybe up to a month. When the cutting is producing new healthy sprouts, it is indication of good roots.



Some people use the root stimulation power and chemical but I found it works just as well without. I hate wasting money on chemicals that could be harmful to other things in the yard...sorry that is a different topic.



Happy planting!