Can you start a Clematis from a cutting? If so how would you go about doing it? Do you do it in the Spring or Fall of the year? At what age is the best time to do it?
Can You Start a Clematis From A Cutting ?
british clem society has published that cuttings started in july and aug have higher success rate. if this is all UK that may be a little different for USA. most important is using semi woody part of a vine , not tender green fleshy vine that would be more prone to rot vs root. or very woody material not as viable as mid stem, semi woody vine.
some are types are known to be hard to start from cuttings , some are easy. atragenes and herbaceous are easier than some.
standard instructions are followed. i have rooted herbaceous l and species like paul farges without rooting hormone even. i do not really propagate much, but i know some folks on the forum here are spending some time with it and getting some results.
good luck, if you have some learning from this, i am sure many would be interested.
Eagle:
I have started some cuttings, and some are doing really great for just a month old other no sign, but I'm still not giving up on them.
I even took some vines that had been cut for two weeks from the mother plant and planted them just to see if anything would come from it. Some are showing signs, so will see.
Most of the cuttings look dead, but I've learned with gardening that if you aren't patient then you miss a lot.
Janet
How are you trying to root them? Did you use rooting compound or just plant? Please give us details, as I am sure I am not the only one interested! Thanks!
Vine was cut away from mother plant, then cut below and about joints. End was filed to open up more area to take root. Soaked for several minutes (still don't know the right amount of time to soak) then dipped in root tone and planted in seed starting mix that also had fine grit added for good drainage.
I will try to take some pictures tomorrow but I want you to understand they don't look good. All I'm looking for is new growth, I don't care if the one partial leaf is doing well not...
Janet
edited to correct spelling
This message was edited Aug 13, 2009 2:16 PM
How does a Nursery get them to start and have enough to sell to the public? This must be a very long proses for them when they have a large number to sell.
I don't know, but since they have green houses and the time to take cuttings I would say they would be ready in a 2-3 years... They do grow fast. the number of cuttings you would get off one mature plant could be in the hundreds.... so it wouldn't take long to get enough plants to sell.
Janet
the plant industry is very segmented. most growers do not sell retail. most retailers do not do much growing.
many clems come from tissue culture, only a few places do this. so many of our clems come form centralized sources, it is about how old they are and how they are grown, warm greenhouse, cold greenhouse, fungicide or not etc.
i think ssv is unique in that they grow the plants out before selling and shipping.
i have a friend who has a plant business. he is a wholesaler of many many annuals and annual baskets. he does not grow the initial plug, but plants them by the thousands in the baskets and containers.those are wholesaled to retailers across the state, so he is growing for a short period but not the initial tiny plant.
i was surprised to understand this years ago when i met him. the businesses are very specialized.
with clems you have the tissue culture, cutting or seed original source of tiny root.
some businesses then buy and immediately sell those tiny roots as bare root.
some businesses buy the tiny roots and plant them in small containers and sell them wholesale as another step in the food chain.
some businesses buy the tiny roots and plant them in the small containers and sell them themselves as liners.
some businesses buy the liners already potted quickly and resell them.
some businesses buy the liners and pot them into gallons and sell them immediately.
some businesses grow them out for awhile and then resell them.
sometimes a business is involved in a couple of these food chain steps, but not all of them.
this is my understanding only not represented as a comprehensive view.
CG, if grown by tissue culture, how long (if you know this) does it take to get a clem the size of what we get from SSV?
Janet
this is a question i hesitate to answer as my estimates before on the age of some of the clems available in the marketplace was controversial.
let me see if i can find out a scientific, not gut/ experience answer and post it here.
I'm curious about that too. My guess is 4 years but I'd like to know for sure.
haven't looked for the science answer yet, but that is around my belief too jj
well, sorry to say it looks like most of the first cuttings have not made it. all of the new growth has browned and died, so I'm not holding much hope that there is some roots growing as I pulled one to check and it was the best one, and there are no roots....
Now the second group don't know if they will make it or not but they are ones that are easier to root from cuttings. The other day I forgot to move them under shelter (or I should say more shelter than what they already had) and we had a heavy rain that flooded them. I've not distributed them, just keeping fingers crossed.
Here is a picture right after they were flooded.
Janet
