Top Job for December – Take Hardwood Cuttings

• Sharp, clean secateurs

• Hand trowel

• Sharp sand or grit

• Hormone rooting powder (not essential)

The time to take hardwood cuttings is when the shrub is dormant between mid-autumn and late winter after leaves have dropped and before the new season’s leaves appear in early spring.

Firstly loosen soil to a depth of approximately 15cm and add some sharp sand or grit, or fill a pot with peat-free cuttings compost.

Use your secateurs to remove a stem pencil width thickness, cutting horizontally just above a leaf node or bud (little nodules sticking out either side of the stem).

Try to cut a fairly long length (at least 60cm and no less than 20cm). This ensures you can get more than one cutting from the stem.

Trim the cut end of the stem to just below a leaf node or bud, again with a horizontal cut, and then cut the stem into 20cm sections or thereabouts, with each cut section having a sloping cut at the top just above a bud or leaf node and a horizontal cut at the bottom, just below a bud or leaf node.

If you’re using a rooting compound pour a little of the powder into a separate small container or saucer (to avoid potentially contaminating the whole pot in case the stem has a disease) and dip the base of each cutting into the powder.

Insert your cuttings into the pre-prepared soil or compost-filled pot to a depth of about 15cm.  Place the pot in either a cold frame or a sheltered spot.

You should start to see shoots from the cuttings the following spring.  Leave cuttings for about 12 months to enable them to develop a good root system before lifting and relocating.

During that time keep cuttings well watered, especially during the summer months.

The shallow trench method is an easy, space-saving way of growing lots of cuttings if you want to create enough new plants for hedging.