Hi and welcome back to Garden Ninja this video guide is going to show you how you
can get more plants in your garden for free using softwood cuttings so if
you've got plants and shrubs that you'd like a few more of this guide is going to
show you how easy it is to take cuttings and then put on those cuttings for
success so come on let's get cracking!
Propagating plants through softwood cuttings is a really easy way to bulk up
your gardens without having to spend loads of hard-earned cash at the garden
center what you're going to need is a sharper secretaries or snips and some
plants with new growth this year that we can go and take cuttings from so come on
let's get snipping!
Now you can take softwood cuttings from a number of different plants fuchsias
hydrangeas, physocarpus, virbunum any of those deciduous shrubs will be
really easy to take softwood cuttings from and you're looking for this year's
new growth so come on let's give it a try now a really fast example to show
you supple cuttings is mint and actually found one here hiding amongst these
strawberries so I'm gonna take a cutting from that and show you it because I can
guarantee in under a week we're going to get some really juicy roots and that
will demonstrate the principle really well I'll also go take some cuttings
from a philadelphus around the corner to show you that for an established for the
time of year is late April which is ideal you don't want to be taking more
softwood cuttings on the plants in bloom you want it just before it starts to
flower.
Now when it comes to taking your cuttings you going to want to cut just
below a leaf node there and the reason for that is loads of hormones in each
one of these leaf nodes which allows things that leaves and flowers and to be
sent out if you cut in the middle it will still roots you've just got a
better chance of success the closer you are to that so don't get too caught up
or hung up about it but ideally if you cut just that just below and then what
you can do is your strip back these leaves and that little nub in there it's
going to have loads of go go juice for this plant to then root so the best hand to
take your cuttings is either early morning or early evening don't try and
do it in the middle of the day because you're going to be fighting against
waters and that's the really the main enemy of cuttings is that as soon as you
take your cutting the plant is are losing moisture and you've got to try
and get it rehydrated so that it can establish roots over time once you take
them in to make sure you put them in a plastic bag again that will just keep
that moisture locked inside and you can spritz water in the bag to make sure
that it's as damp and humid as possible
so now it's time for the really exciting part so using a clean surface take your
cutting out of the back so I've got this one here now we've made the cut there
it's been kept moist but we need to reduce the surface area of these leaves
because these leaves are basically going to be losing water far faster then the
young fresh stem can take it back off so the sharp knife we're gonna cut these in
half it may seem brutal believe me the plant
will be fine it'll actually thank you for them even though because what that
means is now we're going to be losing far less water we've still got enough
leaf so it can start to fill to synthesize and build those roots the
next step is to get this straight into water
now I find the easiest way to get your softwood cuttings to eat is to pop them
into a small jar or an ED cup like this full of water and once he prepared them
pop them in and then you leave them for a couple of weeks the reason why I
prefer this method is you can actually see when the roots start to emerge you
can of course pop them straight into compost put the plastic bag over the top
and then wait to see if they root but I just prefer this method I think it's a
little bit easier and if you're new to gardening it's really exciting seeing
the roots start to emerge from the sophomore cutting it's entirely up to
you so you've got to sue to a park full of compost I've just watered it and
using a dipper or you could use a pencil I'm going to use a small hole then I'm
gonna take this mint cutting you'll see just check out the roots on that then
absolutely gianormous and that's why it's a good example for this
demonstration but any of your cuttings that are fruity to go to take them
straight out into a suitable part will plop them in so you want to cover those
roots and the stem from which they come from actually use my fingers and that's
pretty much it keep that well watered pop it in a greenhouse or on a window
ledge and then as soon as you start to see more leaves grow then you know that
your cutting has been successful
so the alternative method of putting on your cuttings is to put them directly
into compost as soon as you cut them so I've got another example of this
Philadelphus or mock orange and i putted it straight into some wet compost what
you then do is you then take a plastic bag or equivalent and create a mini
greenhouse by covering that pot with the plastic bag now ideally you can tell you
lustick boned around the bottom but if you're a bit lazy like me you can simply
took that on there keep it in your greenhouse out of the direct burning Sun
and over time that will start to root
so there we have it my super easy way of taking subtle cuttings to help bulk up
your gardens without spending a small fortune
it was always worthwhile when you're taking cuttings to take five or six then
you're hedging your bets kalau some may take some may not so
don't just do one do a few and if you rent it with more pumps you can share
them with friends and neighbors if you've liked this video make sure you
subscribe to my youtube channel with a loads more garden design hints tips and
hacks. I've been Garden Ninja happy gardening