We stick our softwood cuttings in June in a bed of sand outdoors. In a matter of weeks they are fully rooted Using this Plant Propagation System. We can pull them from the bed and pot them in the summer but I don’t unless I absolutely need them because summer potting can be stressful for freshly rooted cuttings. However, there are ways to minimize that stress.
When I pull them from the sand beit fall or summer I usually put them about 20 to 25 to a bunch like this
Then I put them into a pot like this with potting soil, not sand.
Once in the pot there are two different ways to handle them.
- Rooted Cuttings Pull in the Summer. When you pull rooted cuttings in the summer you have to be careful to damage as few roots as possible. When rooting in sand that is fairly easy because I just take a shovel and shove it under the rooted cuttings then kind of jack them up to loosen the sand, then one by one I can pull them out and shake off the sand. I put trim the tops as you see that I’ve done here. That does two things. One, it keeps them from wilting because it’s the soft new growth that is going to wilt. And two, it stops that upward growth and starts the cuttings filling out with multiple branches down low. Once that is done I place the pots next to the propagation bed where the spray nozzles are still working, this keep the freshly pulled cuttings moist and cool as they harden off. Once hardened off, usually about a week or two at most, they can be potted. But since it’s summer time, she should be shaded after potting until the summer sun starts to ease.
- Rooted cuttings pulled in the fall. I treat them the same way. But since it is fall and they are very close to going dormant I don’t have to put them next to the operating spray nozzles, I can just place them in an area where they get watered once a day. Then I pot them in early spring.
Right, wrong or otherwise I leave my bunches of rooted cuttings sitting out in the weather in these pots all winter long. Keep in mind, I’m in northern Ohio and it was just 2 degrees F. here two weeks ago and it can get colder than that.
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So Mike, is there any way I can buy any of your Lion’s Head cuttings? please reply, thanks
Roger,
Off course Lion’s head has to be grafted so you’d need root stock. But I really don’t have any for sale. We do have members, http://backyardgrowers.com/join
, that do sell scion wood at this time of year.
I was wondering about this and if super duper cold weather, like we’ve had this December, could freeze and kill the roots in the pots. I put my pot cuttings in the ground and piled soil around them hoping they survive. Isn’t there a danger of plants in pots having their roots killed in zero and below temps?
Joan,
As long as the plants are hardy in your area and the roots stay moist and not soggy they should be fine. It’s an amazing thing to watch, little tiny cuttings starting to make leaves after a really harsh winter.