How to make free unlimited plants!

How to make free unlimited plants!

Making your own cuttings from plants you have in your garden (or your neighbour’s garden) has to be one of the most satisfying things you can do. (Apart from growing from seed, but more on that later.)

In May’s Sustainability Hub Permabee we talked about making cuttings. This is just one way to reproduce plants, but there are many. The following table touches on the various ways you can create free plants — as quickly as a few days to a few months.

Crop	Reproduction Method
Fruit Trees (apples, pears, citrus)	Grafting
Berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants) Natives (Banksias, Callistemon, Correa, Melaleuca, Prostanthera and Westringia and many more — select firm, current season’s growth)	Cuttings
Vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, radishes, beans, melons, pumpkins etc)	Seeds
Potatoes	Tubers/Eyes
Ginger, Iris	Rhizomes
Strawberries	Stolons/Runners
Bulb crops (onions, garlic)	Bulbs/Bulblets
Clematis (hybrids) Honeysuckle Wisteria Camellia Rhododendron Viburnum Star jasmine Magnolia Cotinus Flowering Cornus species Daphne Hydrangea Various climbers and shrubs	Layering (pin one branch down onto the ground, and wait for it to root) – best done in late winter, early spring

Exotics to grow, seasons and soil mediums

Let’s now look at what exotics we can make cuttings out of, and when we’d typically do this. This isn’t prescriptive, you can make cuttings in most seasons in a temperate environment (winter may be a bit slow), provided the weather isn’t too extreme and your cuttings are protected.

Plant	Season	Medium
Blueberries	Late spring (softwood) Midwinter (hardwood)	Low-pH potting mix1 (camelia mix works well)
Brambles (raspberries, blackberries)	Late summer	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Currants	Late winter	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Fruit Trees (e.g. apples, pears, citrus)	Spring	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Shallow-rooted vegetables (e.g. herbs)	Year-round	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Medium-rooted vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, peppers)	Spring	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Perennial herbs (woody)	Year-round	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)

Milkwood’s best-ever seed raising mix recipe:

I always recommend the Milkwood mix quite simply because it’s the one I almost always use. There are many others and it’s up to you what you use. Just keep in mind a couple of simple elements that make up a good seed raising mix:

• a teeny amount but not too much nutrient
• reasonable water holding capacity — but not too good, balance in all things!
• good airflow
• good structure, not too chunky for most plants.

1. Two parts sifted compost – preferably from home, or a good supplier (try to get one without any additives – no water-saving crystals or fertiliser)

2. Two parts coco peat – from the garden nursery – sourced from coconuts, try to ensure it’s the fine stuff, not chunky (chunky will not work)

3. One-part worm castings – from your worm farm, you can buy these now, but using your own is the best

4. One part sand – course river sand, not beach sand!

5. A sprinkle of aged animal manure, usually pelletised, like Dynamic Lifter or Rooster Booster

Mix the coco peat with water, until there’s no dry stuff left. You might have to use your hands. Mix until it’s all damp (not sopping wet).

Mix the coco together with all the other ingredients in a big tub until you can’t see any of the individual ingredients. At the end of this process you should have a beautiful fine seed/cuttings raising mix. Then, fill up your chosen pots taking care not to push the air out of the pots, just tamp them down, smooth the seed-raising mix out to the top of the pot, and get ready to plant. 

Read more here.

Alternatives: propagation mix from the nursery.

Succulents soil mix

Gardening Australia recommends: Ordinary potting mix, plus sand and gravel

This gives it much sharper drainage so they don’t become waterlogged. 

Australian native soil mixes

Mix 1

– 70-75% washed coarse sand
– 25-30% peat moss, fine coco peat, or perlite23
– The mix should be disease-free and well-draining

Mix 2

Half compost

Half sand

Mix 3

Regular seed raising mix

Mix 4

Coarse sand

See Australian Plants Society Methods in this illustrated PDF here: Propagation of native plants

Information from https://resources.austplants.com.au/stories/propagation-of-native-plants/

Rooting hormone, honey and willow water

Rooting hormone helps roots grow.

Honey water is a mixture of honey and water which creates a mild bleach. This helps prevent bacteria from invading the cut.

Willow water (crushed willow leaves soaked in water for a few days) contains a hormone that promotes root growth and a chemical that stimulates the plant’s defences. I haven’t tried it but I hear it works well.

Rooting plants in water

Rooting plants in water is often a matter of trial and patience. Doing it in spring is usually easier and faster than winter.

Here’s a guide to rooting indoor plants.

Here’s another one.

How to Make Cuttings: Process

Alternatives

You can cover your cuttings with a plastic bag but you must keep checking back to ensure they’re not rotting or succumbing to fungus or other pathogens.

You can also create a cold frame for your cuttings. This can be as simple as a styrofoam or wooden box or old windowframe with a clear plastic or glass lid, which you lift periodically for ventilation. Read more here.

When cuttings go wrong

Here are some mistakes to avoid:

• Letting your cuttings dry out
• Disturbing cuttings before they have good roots
• Keeping them in a place without light
• Keeping them in too hot or cold a place
• Using the wrong potting mix for the type of plant you’re growing

Read more here.

Very best of luck with your cuttings!