SELECT A CUTTING

Although any part of a plant can be used as a cutting, some parts will take longer to develop roots than others. The main head or arm tips have the highest concentration of growth hormones (auxins) and therefore more likely to root.

Cuttings should he made from softwood stems and not the older, harder stems. ‘Softwood’ is the term which refers to the younger, soft, green stems. These are the easiest to root. Once these stems mature and age they are then known as ‘semi-ripe” and when fully mature, ‘hardwood’.



Choose stems that are healthy arid have at least three sets of nodes - smaller cuttings will root but they can be more difficult and may take longer. With most plants the ideal length is around 5 — 8 cms.

Cuttings can be taken at any point in the vegetative stage of growth and in the first 3 or 4 weeks of the fruit/flowering period. After this it may he difficult to get the cutting to root.

NOTE: It is generally best to take more cuttings than required. You can then select the best ones or compensate for any that do not root.

Use a tool with a sharp blade to make the cut, a scalpel or razor blade for example. The blade should be sterilised to prevent contamination by bacteria etc, using a flame, alcohol or a bleach solution. Clean new blades to remove any grease etc.

Make a 450 diagonal cut below the nodes, leaving a good section of stem underneath.

Select as thick a stem as possible as thin cuttings can take longer to root.

If you are taking several cuttings at once, or if there will be a time delay between cutting and planting, take a larger cutting than is needed initially, and make the final cut later.

Cuttings should be left sitting upright in water so that air does not get to the roots.

Use a pair of scissors for the first cut, as the opposing blades will ‘seal’ the end. Make the final cut with a sharp blade, this leaves an open cut which allows roots to develop.

The larger, lower leaves should be removed, so the cutting does not have to expend energy maintaining them. They will probably die anyway. At least the top two sets of leaves must be left.

It is preferable (if possible) to remove leaves before making the cut, to avoid embolisms. An embolism occurs when a small bubble of air is sucked up into the stem, preventing the cutting from drawing up the water, nutrients etc that it needs.

This will also allow you to plant the cutting as soon as possible after it has been taken from the mother plant.

It is important that the cutting is dipped into rooting gel/powder as soon as possible after the cut has been made. It should then be put straight into the rooting medium, to avoid air getting to the open, cut end. Exposure to the air can cause an embolism, and is a common cause of cuttings failing to root.

Rooting gels and some powders help the cutting to establish by:

• Sealing the cut tissue.
• Promoting root cell initia lion.
• Protecting initial root tissues.
• Feeding young roots.
• Protecting against fungus etc.

Place the cutting (as quickly as possible) into a rooting medium — preferably a small Rockwool block. Plant until the nodes of the removed lower leaves are just submerged. These exposed nodes have a high concentration of potential root cells and this will create two more sites from which roots may develop.



Be careful when placing your cutting in the rooting medium. Make sure the pilot hole is large enough, so that the rooting gel/powder does not scrape off. Cuttings should always remain vertical so that the rooLing hormones can easily make their way down to the cut stem.

TRANSFER TO A PROPAGATOR

The cutting will now have to be transferred to a propagator for hardening-off.