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Plant Cuttings Made Simple

CERES plant propagation brings back some memories. I volunteered for a day when it was first launched. The CERES team was prepping the site for the first polytunnel and I spent the day potting on dozens of herbs with a handful of other volunteers.

Five years later and the propagation enterprise has grown steadily. They now have a dedicated propagation area, sheltered from the elements with benches at the perfect height so you’re not hunched over and messing up your back. They’ve built two more polytunnels and have a shade house to harden off the seedlings before planting out on the farm.

They rely on volunteers to help prepare the seedling trays, plant the seeds and pot on the seedlings but CERES propagation is never short on volunteers! Trading work hours to learn the ins and outs of plant propagation is a pretty good deal — I’d know, I spent six months volunteering there.

Meg Stewart, one of the propagation managers, showed us a simple plant cutting technique (video above) to help get your herb garden growing without breaking the bank.

Tools you’ll need

  • A sharp pair of secateurs or a knife
  • Some free-draining potting mix
  • A well established stock plant to take cuttings from
  • A sheltered spot out of direct sunlight to let your cuttings strike (form roots)

Three simple steps

You can boil taking herbaceous soft stem plant cuttings down to three simple steps:

  1. Remove most of the leaves from your cutting, leaving a few near the top
  2. Cut the stem just below a plant node
  3. Plant the cutting in moist free draining potting mix

That’s about as simple as it gets. Meg goes into detail in the short video, talking about plant nodes, stem and root cells and the reason why it helps to remove most of the leaves from the cutting.

Plants to start with

Some easy to strike herbs would include:

  • Mint (this one is easy peasy!)
  • Pineapple sage (featured in the video)
  • Vietnamese mint
  • Lemon balm

Remember to keep your cuttings in a nice dappled shady spot and the potting mix damp while your cuttings form roots. After 2-4 weeks give the cuttings a gentle tug. If there’s some resistance it’s a pretty good sign that your cuttings have formed roots. But don’t get too excited and pot them on just yet! Let them get established and really take hold for another week or so and then you can pot them on to their own individual pots.

Happy Growing!

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