Segment: Growing Plants from Cuttings
Episode: 9
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
TX Date: 18th April 2020

If you want to add plants to your garden but are looking to save money, you could try growing new plants from cuttings.

• If there are plants in your garden that you love and want more of, you can try to grow them asexually.
• All you need to asexually reproduce your plants is to grab some pots, some potting mix and a spade.
• Plants such as the Sacred Lily of the Inca’s divide well – take a sharp spade, and lift and divide some mature plants. You can pot them back into the soil or into garden beds and let them settle before replanting them into your garden.
• This strategy applies to all clumping plants, including agapanthus, which are great for lining driveways or garden beds. Simply divide them and replant them into good oil, keep the moisture up and stand back.
• You can also grow plants from cuttings – this is how most nurseries grow their plants.
• Take up to 10 cuttings and plant them in a 130ml pot. You may want to record the variety on the side of the pot with a pen.
• Semi-hardwood cuttings are the best – if you’re going to use the soft ends of the plants, use some rooting powder to stimulate the roots.
• After planting, be sure to give your cuttings a water. You can use a professional propagation system such as the Aquamiser. It comes with a cover that you put over your pot – this will hold in the humidity.
• You can recreate this system easily at home – bend some coat hanger wire over the top of your pot like a frame, put a plastic bag over the top and attach it with an elastic band.
• Keeping the humidity in will encourage the cuttings to take root.
• The cuttings in the pot can sit in a tray of water, allowing moisture to rise through the soil through the capillaries. Alternately, you can water every third day.