Soil for Cuttings

I remember reading something about having the correct soil for cuttings--just as you need to for starting seed. I can't remember where the post was, nor can I remember what type of soil you are to use.


Could someone give me some guidance on soil type for cuttings?

I use a regular potting mix for my new cuttings. Same that you'd use for potting up your houseplants, or any container plants.

Thanks tlm1 for responding. I think I read somewhere on here to use a special soil other than potting mix. I thought potting mix soil was a little too heavy for the cuttings, and they would rot.
I have such terrible luck trying to get cuttings to root.

People use a great many different soils , coco coir , sphagnum moss , Irish moss , mosses go on and on ..
I have been trying different mixes of sand greensand , moss (any kind ) diatomaceous earth , potting soil .
Potting soil
DE
sand ,, Seems to be my most successful or lucky , good starter mix also ..

I seem to be cooking a lot of regular earth clean this year to mix in .. Something to do with texture for outdoor plants I guess .. anyway the plants seem better that way ,

This message was edited Oct 23, 2013 7:45 PM

I tried rooting a cutting in water. I let it sit for almost 3 weeks hoping to see some roots. Nothing! I decided to put it in a small pot with my regular potting mix, and it took off!
I have a neighbor that takes cuttings and puts them into the ground (sand, in my area) and they grow for her.
I also think a lot of it depends on exactly WHAT you are trying to root.

Again, thanks to all who commented.
Tim--I think you're right regarding "what" you're trying to root. I can get lots of plants from cuttings of begonias and probably Coleus. Although, I haven't rooted Coleus.

Of course there's plants like Lavender and Rosemary that are pretty challenging. Juhur, I believe they say to use sand for these plants.

I am attempting Heliotrope, Angelonia, Lantana, & Basil. I tried Salvia this summer: nada. I did Nepeta last fall and had fairly good success. Geraniums are hit and miss for me. Some people have really good success and seem t/b able to get anything to root.

I think I read somewhere the soil needs to be sterile.

I have some Lavender cuttings , time you take them also .. there in 1 third DE ,sand, and potting soil .
One of four is about all I get to root (i didn't say I was good at it ) lol That is usually one to a pot . Still I have better luck with the ones I have that way than growing them from seed .

Here's a recent Clematis , these aren't real easy either .
Practice is worth all isn't it ..?

I just use soil from my compost pile. I throw enough containers in at the end of the season that my compost pile has a large percentage of soil. I have good luck with coleus, begonia, basil, fushia is a little harder, I have about a 50% rate with those. Geraniums root pretty well, too. I just stick them in the dirt, try to get 2 nodes in the dirt, and keep moist, but not too wet.

Wow! Rooting a clematis! Impressive! I am encouraged (practice). I would love to root a couple of mine. What time of the year did you start the cutting?

Cindy, I would think putting cuttings in your compost would have pathogens, bacteria, fungus etc. and would rot the stem, or you would get little insects that break down compost on your cuttings. You obviously have the knack. Where do you "locate" your cutting after it is in the pot? Sun? I think success might be the way you hold your mouth when you are putting the cuttings in your soil medium! Just kidding!

I wish I were better at this.

I do have a small bag of Fertilome soil that says for seeds and cuttings. I assume it's sterile with little nutrients

Thanks to all who have posted.

It also depends on the Clematis as to best time of year , the photo pic is H.F Young . This one I used Clonex , left it attached to plant , scratched the stem open , beneath the leaf set ,two leaf joints , coated with root get , and covered with soil ,
Regular garden soil , through a hole in the bottom of the pot the vine was carefully manipulated .. I got two the common info way (cut from plant and cover) , I got five through the pot method this way , four of them look good , .
The one in the pic has five runners coming up ,besides the two branches you see ,and enough roots (large) to wrap twice around a mans hand , (it came super nice )
Some clematis are cold weather , some are warm weather , some before they bloom , some after . (yes crazy if you let it)
Half to practice or hope to find info about your particular cultivar ..(as to when to take(make) rooting attempt.
My pot method allows for error while learning how (about cultivar difference) (I still am )

ju: So very nice. Beautiful clematis. I "think" H F Young is what I picked up on the clearance rack this summer. I will have to pull the tag and look. It gave three or four blooms this year which surprised me.

I know there are three categories clematis come in depending on when they bloom.

Are you saying you have to root the clematis according to when they bloom or e.g. per category (1, 2, 3)?.

I assume you cut the "leaf set" off where you scratched the vine and put that part in a pot?

I am going to try this next year.

Thanks for sharing your picture and information.

I left the best ones I got attached to the plant .put them through the hole in the bottom of the pot ..

Some as they bloom , some not , some only dormancy ,all of this part of the info confuses me ...

"Put the "Vine?" through the bottom of the plant"?? That sounds like that might be a really good way to get it to root. Again, climate would need to be optimum.

H.F. Young likes the cold weather , into dormancy this time of year , and out of dormancy ,before bloom is the best time to root it . , Have not figured out the Niobe although I have got two cuttings to root , one nice , the other , well , you know , it is what we are talking about ..

They all take better than two months once they begin to root , and that is how long ?

I've rooted A LOT in water with good results, mostly experimenting for fun. Some successes are red verbena, chocolate mint, thai basil, sweet basil, dwarf cleome, vitex tree, diamond frost euphorbia, flowering quince, salvia sage, the ever so popular variegated spider plant, even raised an avocado in a vase of water for 3 years on my kitchen window.. it now lives happily outside in a pot with soil, waiting to overwinter in my home again. Have started Hawaiian pineapple tops in water as well, later transplanting to containers. Some things didn't do so well with the water method, white horehound, evergreen wisteria, butterfly milkweed, lantana, monarda, I'm sure a dozen others I can't recall at the moment..

Other cuttings I've tried in high humidity clear plastic dome with ventilation, but hardly have the room to do this regularly. All are in plastic drink cups unless I'm doing a lot, then it's a 20 cell flat, with half peat, half perlite, stem dipped in rooting hormone. The successes: echinacea, tomato suckers, rosemary, mums, I know I'm forgetting others but forgive me it's late! Hope to do more this way in spring, if space allows. This is definitely the way I'll be propagating coneflowers from now on, and other cuttings that are harder to acquire. The evergreen wisteria didn't respond to this treatment either, and I really don't think I have the nerve to try cuttings again with that one :(

Other outdoor plants I've pinched off and stuck cutting into a shallow hole in the ground are any and all portulaca, dichondra, mint, sedum and tomato suckers. The tomato suckers I treated with rooting hormone before planting into garden.

This is my first year attempting to root cuttings, and now that I've learned a little, it has become addictive and hubby kids that he can never find counter space anymore without having to move a baby outta the way! :)

In the spring I'd like to try cuttings from pitcher salvia, crepe myrtle, lantana, Turks cap, more echinacea varieties, lavender, alpine strawberry (is this even possible?) and kalanchoe.

I forgot to mention that the kalanchoe roots very easily by laying a leaf atop a wet napkin and will form many plantlets along the tips or "scallops". I turned a handful of rooted cuttings from a trade into four houseplants already!! I'm finding it more challenging to propagate the echeveria by leaf cutting. Nothing but failed attempts so far, anyone have a trick they'd like to share?

Nice to know about all of your successful cuttings.

I have a couple of white crepe myrtles if your would like to have them. Anyone?

StillPlaysWDirt My Summerlong Basils did not get time to make seeds , So I am trying them in water , we will see ..
Also , Lavender is a fall cutting here , took a few late .looks like two of four are rooting . August September is more like mid September to early October as they do their yearly late set of growth ..
Also again ' I am saving this thread ..


birder17 Okay , what are you looking for , if I have anything we might (trade)
Thing is Crepe Myrtle are barely hardy here ,, takes "practice" ,, oh that word again ...lol

This message was edited Oct 28, 2013 10:19 PM

Sure, I'm your huckleberry :) I am a big fan of white flowers. Right now all I have are a pale lavender and a vibrant pink crepe myrtle. Had a red one but it croaked! Is it legal to propagate those new black crepes?

Juhur - good to know about the lavender. Will keep that in mind next year when I hope to have my own seed grown lavender. Just started some seed...

I generally use a mix of perlite and vermiculite for rooting cuttings but will add a bit of peat moss if I'm rooting acid lovers. I either use tall clear plastic drink cups with a lid or clear plastic salad/vegetable containers (using another container as a lid with plenty of head space) - all recycled. I poke holes in tops and bottoms with a metal skewer. Takes up far less room than a flat.
Have done lavender with cuttings taken in late spring successfully and am getting ready to try rosemary just recently brought in for the winter, with lots of young growth. I'm told that lavender and rosemary should be about the same for propagation.

Thanks Cindy for the soil cutting ing. I may try that. I was unable to buy soil cutting soil.
I went to a herb gardening seminar. They said rosemary was easier to root than lavender. They said to scrape the sides of the rosemary if the stem was rather woody where the bottom leaves were. That way, the roots will have an easier time breaking out. So, I guess if you have rooted lavender, rosemary will be easy! Just thought I would pass on what was told to me.

Oh my, My Rosemary roots itself! Wherever it wants to! Wherever it 'lays' a branch down to the ground! So easy!

This message was edited Nov 8, 2013 9:42 PM

Wow. That's encouraging.

birder - thanks for that tip! I'll be using it tomorrow.
tlm - if my winters were mild enough to keep rosemary in the ground, your method sure sounds easy.

Cindy, just wanted to note that she said if the stem was woody to scrape the side. You mentioned "new growth".
I am sure it will be fine.

I was lucky enough to get the rosemary cuttings with just a small amount of this season's growth just starting to turn a little woody so scraping wasn't necessary. I was wondering if cutting too far into previous season's growth would inhibit regrowth, kind of like lavender but that's a different topic.

Cindy, are you referring to pruning your Rosemary?

I did leave all of the new growth on the rosemary when I brought it in for the winter, knowing I would want to do cuttings and have some for cooking. I'm harvesting as I need while keeping pruning in mind.

>> Cindy, I would think putting cuttings in your compost would have pathogens, bacteria, fungus etc. and would rot the stem, or you would get little insects that break down compost on your cuttings.

Or the compost heap has so many "beneficial" microbes that they keep the plant pathogens in check.

And MAYBE the microbes and insects that digest dead plant matter are different from those that infect living plants.

From what I read, the best way to prevent rot is getting the cutting to root as rapidly as possible. Don't give harmful microbes time to get the upper hand.

Every plant has a season or growth period when it is most inclined to root rapidly. Knowing the right season, and the right part of the plant to harvest, is key (according to what I read).

If you can encourage the parent plant to put out rapidly growing shoots or suckers at the time you plan to take cuttings, you have a big head start even before taking the cutting.

I don't use my compost for cuttings, etc because my compost doesn't get hot enough to kill off any bad "bugs" because it's at the back of the lot in the shade. I do get good leaf mold though.

Older gardening books (maybe that is older books from England) seem to use the word "compost" for any loose soil or soilless mix usable for seed starting or cuttings.

Not "well-rotted vegetation and paper" as we use the word 'compost' to mean now.

Never stopped to consider that the difference in the meanings. Because my compost doesn't get hot, I'm stumped in how to best use it without having to pull sprouting weeds. Whole 'nother topic, I know.

Cindy-what I would do would be to use some Preen along with the compost. Weed seeds will not sprout--but on the other hand, neither will your perennials or annuals.
If I really want something to re-seed-I grow it from seed in a pot-then plant it in the ground. I have too many gardens to run around pulling weeds all season long. I wouldn't get anything else done.
I also put Preen down when I mulch. Weed seeds come in the mulch also--especially nut sedge. I leave a couple of beds without Preen for my larkspur and annual poppies-but the rest, I put Preen on them.

Hadn't thought about using Preen but then I tend to let lots of stuff reseed for pass-along plants. Have been giving away johnny-jump-ups and snapdragons that loved the snow cover this past winter. Have hundreds of the former and they're blooming like crazy. The reseeders are really spread throughout the various beds. Good idea about keeping them corralled in one bed.

I had to decide which was more important to me: extra plants from seeds and pull weeds or no extra plants and no weeds.
If you are getting where you want to just "throw in the towel", I'd say you are about ready to Preen some of the flower beds!

I am trying a broken Lavender Stem , and three small clematis from the time of last years post on this thread have sprouted , two of them have tiny leaves that are hardly visible the third is a couple inches tall .
I broke one of early this years attempts yesterday cleaning around the front deck , One through the bottom of the pot . One of these through the bottom of the pot about a ft tall from last year , I gave to a family member early last month .
Practice and patience with these , their still difficult for me ..

Not quite ready to throw in the towel yet. :) Still have some new-to-me techniques to try yet.

Hi Cindy ; With the Lavender or the Clematis .

Here's the Lavender , A branch fell or broke during weeding around it , Little over a week since it got put in this tray .

I meant the Preen.
The lavender "cutting" looks happy. Getting ready to do some holly cuttings. Winter did a lot of damage so I have lots of pruning and shaping to do. It's coming back in some areas but not in others.