How to Grow Softwood Cuttings

Put broken parts of pot with the lowest part of the pot to aid in the free drainage of water. Alternately, place some gravel or garden stones on top of a fine covering of mesh. By doing this, compost is kept from getting flushed out.

Prepare Pot for Planting

The ideal time to take most herbaceous (softwood) cuttings of stems is early in the morning when the plant tissues are most moist, which is during the growing period of a plant, which is from spring through summer.

Select suitable cutting

To leave a stem that is bare, remove all of the leaves off the lower 1/3 to 1/2 of the cutting. This decreases the number of leaves where moisture can be lost while also enabling the lowest portion of the cutting to be placed into the propagation media.

Strip off lower leaves

On the cutting, trim the stem roughly six millimeters (1/4") below the bottom leaf node. Look for the nodes from which the leaves sprout in the area where you previously removed the leaves in order to locate the leaf nodes.

Cut stem below a leaf node

The likelihood of promoting root growth can be increased by treating cuts with rooting hormone. This is more important for plants that are harder to root. Tap the cuttings to eliminate any surplus if you plan to use root hormone powder.

Apply Rooting Hormone

Propagating medium should be poured into a pot and then watered to make it moist. Cuttings can be propagated in any media that provides physical support, oxygen and water in the proper proportions, is low in fertility, and is pathogen-free.

Plant Stem

It's best to incorporate a few cutting into the propagating media to boost the likelihood of success because cuttings don't always "strike". Despite plants that only strike at a 20% rate, to give you an idea. Only 2 of the 10 cuttings you plant will take root.

Plant More

When reproducing plants from seeds or cuttings, labelling is crucial. When you're preparing the plants, you might believe you know what they are, but if cuttings take a while to develop roots and you also prepare cuttings from other plants.

Label the cuttings

Place the cuttings away from sunlight in a pleasant, cosy area. Cuttings need to keep moisture within them in order to survive. This is because there are no roots to absorb additional water, causes the leaves to evaporate, lose moisture.

Cover the cuttings to retain moisture

Maintain wet, not soggy, soil. On the foliage, you are free to employ a plant mister as you see fit.  Keep the pot in a cozy, protected area. Give a lot of dampness. Some people make use of a misting system.  Species and mother plant vigour affect growth rate.

Care & Growth