Importance of Hardwood Cuttings in Gardening

Usually hard wood cuttings are processed during the month of November. The wood of the current year is used for these kinds of cuttings, because at this time of the year it is really very well-ripened and hard.

There are many shrubs which can be increased from hard-wood cuttings, some of them include Camus alba, stuloniferu, forsythia, garrya, laburnum, philadelphus, privet, ribes, sambucus, tamarix and willows. After I have taken the cuttings the next step involves removing the shoots with a heel of older wood attached.

Then this is further trimmed to get it nice and smooth. Thereafter I simply cut off the tip of the shoot, just above a bud to get a cutting of approximately about 9 to l0 inches in length. Some gardeners often prefer to cut the base of the shoot just below the joint of a leaf.

These cuttings should be avoided in the case of weak or spindly shoots. This should be strictly avoided. Inserting the Cuttings involves identifying the hard-wood cuttings that are rooted in the open ground.

You need to try and select a sheltered situation for them, which would be a better option. The easiest and the best possible way to insert them is to make a trench. For this, you need to keep one of the sides vertical. However, it has to be sufficiently deep or deep enough to allow the cuttings to be inserted to about two-thirds of their length. If the soil is very light and well drained out it is okay otherwise placing a layer of coarse sand all along the bottom of the trench would be the right thing to do. Before I insert the cuttings I dip the base of each one of them in a hormone rooting powder.

They are then placed along the trench, against the vertical side and approximately about 2 inches apart, with the base of each of them cutting in close contact with the sand. Then the soil is returned to the trench and the cuttings are firmed thoroughly. In case frost loosens the cuttings they should be re-rooted as soon as possible, otherwise there is every chance that they may not form roots.

Let them remain in the bed until the season of autumn of the following year. Then they can be lifted and planted out into a nursery bed, about l foot apart in rows 2 that are set feet apart.