Do yourself a huge favor and print this off and keep it near your potting bench. Heck, print off a few copies and hang them where you can see them.
January-Mid Winter
You can do hardwood cuttings of deciduous plants. Just wait for a day when the ground is not frozen so you can either plant them out, or bury them as described in the section on hardwood cuttings.
You can also do hardwood cuttings of evergreens, if you can provide them with some bottom heat. If you are going to do any grafting, now is the time to bring in your rootstock and let them warm up so they can begin to break dormancy.
February-Mid to Late Winter
You can still do hardwood cuttings as described for January. Start your grafting toward the middle or end of the month.
March-Late Winter, Early Spring
It’s a little late for hardwood cuttings of evergreens, but you can still do some hardwood cuttings of deciduous plants. As soon as the ground thaws and spring begins to peak around the corner you can start doing plants that can be propagated by division. You can also start to do some layering.
If you have landscape plants that need pruning, do it now before they begin to grow. Even if it means losing the flower buds, if the plant needs trimming it should be done in order to develop an attractive plant. Any transplanting that you intend to do should be done now before the plants break dormancy.
April-Early Spring
There are plenty of things to do in April. You can still do some division as long as the plants are not too far out of dormancy. You can do layering and serpentine layering. If you have seeds that you have been stratifying, you can plant them out as long as they have been in stratification for the proper length of time.
May-Mid Spring
You can continue all methods of layering. All seeds should now be ready to plant out. You can also collect seeds that ripen in the spring. By the end of the month you should be able to start some softwood cuttings, unless you are in a northern state.
June-Late Spring, Early Summer
By now you should be able to do softwood cuttings of just about all deciduous plants. If you are going to do softwood cuttings of Rhododendrons, try some early in June. If they don’t do well, try a few more later in the month. If you are using intermittent mist you can experiment with all kinds of different plants. June is a little early to be doing softwood cuttings of evergreens but you can test a few.
July-Mid Summer
Continue with softwood cuttings of deciduous plants. Now is the time to start some softwood cuttings of evergreens. By mid to late July you can start budding dogwoods, apples, crab apples, cherries, and anything else you would like to bud.
August-Mid to Late Summer
Continue with softwood cuttings of evergreens. By now the wood of most deciduous plants has hardened off. You can still make cuttings with this harder wood if you are using intermittent mist, but you should use a little stronger concentration of rooting compound. Budding can be done early in August.
September-Late Summer, Early Fall
Start watching for fall seeds to ripen and start collecting them. Evergreen cuttings can still be taken and rooted under intermittent mist. If you are not using mist you can stick them in a bed of sand and keep them watered.
October-Fall
Hardwood cuttings of evergreens can be stuck in a bed of sand. Or you can start sticking hardwood cuttings of evergreens using bottom heat. After a good hard frost you can start dividing perennials. Collect pines cones from Pines, Spruce, and Firs, as the cones open they release the seeds inside. Store the seeds in a cool dry place until spring for plantings. Seed pods from Rhododendrons and Deciduous Azaleas can also be collected.
November-Late Fall
Hardwood cuttings of evergreens can be stuck either in a bed of sand outdoors or indoors with bottom heat. Hardwood cuttings of deciduous plants can be done by either of the methods mentioned in the section on hardwood cuttings.
If you intend to do some grafting over the winter, now is the time to make sure your rootstock is potted up and placed in a protected, but cold area until January.
December-Early Winter
You can do hardwood cuttings of evergreens in a bed of sand or with bottom heat. You can also do hardwood cuttings of deciduous plants as long as the ground is not frozen.
Hi Mike,
I’ve had zero luck with soft wood cuttings, they just turn black. However, I’ve had my first success with hard wood cuttings of a bald cypress tree, hallelujah!
Most all your videos & materials talk about sticking cuttings outside over the winter. Is it possible to root my hardwood cuttings in my house over the winter since I’m starting with a small number, not hundreds? If I wait to collect the cuttings after a hard freeze, do the cuttings needs to be stratified or can they go directly into the sand/peat moss?
Thanks so much!
Joyce
Joyce,
Outside is far better. Just take the cuttings, treat them with rooting hormone and immediately stick outside. They’ll be fine. See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-winter-time-plant-propagation-can-home/ and this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2016/09/hardwood-cuttings-winter-of-20152016/
Softwood cuttings are even easier, see this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/
Hi Mike- I just wanted to clarify the question i asked… and that is… the tags you provide when selling the plants. Sorry if i was unclear.
Hi, Mike- I was wondering when you propogate plants, where do you get your tags on the plant’s info, etc.
I am just starting out doing this…. Hope all goes well.
Love this post, especially helpful when just starting out.
Thanks for everything you do!
Kim,
First of all, you only want to take cuttings from a plant that you have the original tag from. See my rant. Armed with the correct botanical name you can research the plant and make your own tags. See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2016/01/proper-nursery-plant-tagging/ And this; My rant; Are the cuttings that you have to stick “Rant Compliant”.
Honestly, this is the most important thing I can teach new members.
http://freeplants.com/rant.htm
Can you please show mankse a picture of rhododenren and azalea seed pods or seed. I even had a prof from UGA tell me collect in fall, Well I live in zone 8, NE Ga close to SC line, I have quite a few of these plants including wild flame azaleas bought years ago, In fall there is nothing there. I even check in Jully and August, what looks like the pod to me is empty. Maybe I am looking in the wrong time or place? I bought your plan years ago, haven’t been able to get going due to surgeries but I still like to dabble and root plants in my sand bed. Love your insight and knowledge and willingness to share. And of course your humor. Thanks
Judith,
The seed pods are the remains of the bloom. So you have to pay close attention to the flowers. As soon as they are done blooming they start making seeds inside of the pods. You have to get the pods off the plants before they open. If they open before you get to them the seeds simply blow away. Honestly, cuttings are a far better way to propagate both, then you get named varieties that are true to the parent plant.
Where would making hardwood cuttings of an American Holly fit into this schedule? It seems like it would be in the January-February time period, but they are evergreen and I wasn’t sure.
How long into the fall or winter do you stop watering or in the winter do water hardwood cuttings even when it’s freezing out. Thanks Terry Ross
Terry,
I water regular until end of October in Ohio, but if it’s warm and dry I also hand water over the winter as needed. It doesn’t hurt plants to freeze as long as they are not dry. They have to be plenty moist before the soil freezes.
Hi Mike. I’d like to propagate my honeysuckle bushes. We looked for builders sand everywhere but all we can find is Play sand for children’s sandboxes. Can we use this?
Denise,
Yes, play sand should work just fine. Be sure to visit this page. http://www.freeplants.com/homemade-plant-propagation.htm
Hi Mike. I can’t find anything about Cedar trees in particular. Just evergreens in general. I want to know if Cedar tree cuttings do very well? And the fir trees in general. I’ve saved every one of your e-mails since Feb. of 08. You’re a great teacher. Thanks for everything you teach us for free. Norrie
Norrie,
I can’t say for sure about cedar trees, most conifers are grown from seed and the truly desired varieties are grafted onto those seedlings. In most cases it’s best to buy seedlings from somebody who grows them by the tens of thousands because growing them out is such a slow process. Most growers buy a three old seedling that has been rooted pruned during those first three years.
I’ve been an avid gardener for many years but I still don’t know what some of the terms you use mean. Please enlighten me as to how these apply to gardening: budding, intermittent misting, hard and soft wood cuttings, bottom heat, layering, stratifying.
Thanks
Hi Linda, all of those terms can be found on http://www.freeplants.com