miguynmkoi ,
95% of all of my plant propagation is via rooted cuttings. Here's how:
Here is my method for softwood cuttings:
Supplies needed:
Sharp clippers.
Professional style potting/rooting mix (Home Depot, walmart, etc).
Clean pots (wash with clorox mix).
Chopsticks.
Well water or distilled water. (Not city chlorinated water).
Quart jar.
Rootone rooting hormone. (garden center, lowes, Home Depot)
Rooting location: The cuttings will need to be in a high humidity moist location with a lot of light but not direct sunlight. You can create such a location with the white plasic kitchen garbage bags and some coat hangers, making a miniature "greenhouse" in which to root your cuttings.
Make cuttings from softwood near the top of the bush. Make cuttings about 6 to 8 inches long.
As you make cuttings, immediately immerse the cut end into your jar, which should be filled with water.
Remove most of the lower leaves and cut the remaining leaves in half to slow loss of moisture through transpiration.
Remove any flowers or buds.
Make a fresh cut just below a "node", which is a fat place in the stem where a leaf or shoot has been removed.
Fill clean pot with rooting mix and make holes for the cuttings with a chopstick (Or pencil).
Dip the fresh cut end of the cutting in the rooting hormone, shake off the excess, (Too much will reduce the success rate) and insert into the hole made in the rooting mix.
Soak the pot with water and place in your rooting location. Do not allow to dry out. Check for roots by looking at bottom of pot periodically. Roots appear in several weeks.
In addition:
Rootone rooting hormone contains auxins (naphthaleneacetic acid) and anti fungal agents (Thiram [Tetramethylthiuram disulfide]) that aid in the formation of roots from cuttings. It really, really works, and I have used it for many years.
Hints that will make that $8 bottle last you for years:
1. Never insert a cutting into the bottle. This only contaminates the remaining powder.
2. Always put about a teaspoonful of powder in a small pill bottle and pour a little ata a time onto a small square of aluminum foil.
3. Dip the cut ends of your cuttings into CLEAN water (a good idea is to add a tabespoon of bleach to a quart of water and use this).
4. Shake off excess water and TOUCH the cutting to the powder.
5. Shake off excess powder. (Too much powder WILL result in a rotted cutting rather than a rooted cutting).
6. Use proper rooting media. The bag at wal-mart or Home Depot that is labelled "Professional Potting soil" will work fine for most cuttings.
7. Fill the pot with media, packing well. Insert a pencil to the bottom of the pot to provide a hole into which the cutting will go.
8. Insert the cutting and water well.
9. Place the cutting in a high light BUT NOT DIRECT SUNLIGHT place. Do not allow to dry out. but do not soak.
A word about cuttings: Take cuttings from near the top of the plant, never from side growth. Make cuttings about 6 inches in length, and immediately immerse cut end in water. Remove all but about 4 leaves from the cutting. Large leaves should be cut in half to reduce transpiration loss. Before dipping in hormone, make a fresh cut with a SHARP knife or clippers just below a "node". Natural auxins are strongest close to nodes.
