Post #64 Making New Plants from Seeds and Cuttings
Post Description: How to make new plants from seeds and cuttings.
It can be tempting to snag a plant (or two or three) every time you run into your local nursery for say, some soil or a new trowel, but it sure can get pricey if you dare add it up over time.
As you journey further down the gardening path, learning to propagate just begins to make sense. Especially in our climate, where plants well suited to zone 11a just want to grow so readily!
There are several ways to propagate plants. The most commonly known is to plant a seed, but not all plants grow easiest from seed. Some prefer to grow from cuttings, where a stem, root, leaf, or leaf bud is cut from the mother plant and used to create a new plant.
Other ways to propagate include layering and grafting, which we’ll cover in our next post.
So roll up your sleeves and prepare to get your hands muddy. Or better yet, grab a pair of trusty garden gloves to keep the dirt from settling under your nails.
How to Plant Seeds
Collect what you need before starting:
- Trays
- Soil mix
- Plant markers (popsicle sticks work fine)
- A pencil and pen
- Seed packets
- Your garden notebook
- Locate your water source.
Tips:
- This is a messy process, so your potting bench will be a better place to do it than the kitchen counter.
- Begin with seed-starting soil mix because its texture is just right and it is sterile. Soil-borne diseases like damping off are rampant here and will overcome your young plants before they can become strong enough to resist.
- Read the seed packet. Some large seeds such as beans and morning glories – usually large, hard seeds – benefit from soaking overnight, and some will germinate better if you also use a nail file to sand off a small spot of the hard coat, then soak, before planting.
Planting
- Fill your seed-starting trays with soil and compress it just a little with your fingers, not hard.
- Thoroughly water the soil from the top, then bottom water if you have a tray that allows for it. Wait for soil to become evenly moist before proceeding.
- Separate the seeds by whether they need light or darkness to germinate.
- Spread seeds that need light to germinate on top of the mix.
- Plant those that need darkness at the depth recommended on the packet.
- For larger seeds, make holes with the tip of the pencil, drop in the seed and cover it to the recommended depth.
- Plant a few seeds per cell, which you can later thin to the one strongest seedling in each cell.
- Keep your trays organized by planting varieties in rows and labeling them with popsicle sticks.
- Record everything you plant in your notebook. Note the date, what you planted, and when the various seeds should germinate according to the packet or other resources.
Tips:
- If the seeds in a tray need darkness, cover the tray with a black plastic garbage bag.
- If the seeds need light, use a clear bag, plastic wrap, or the clear tray cover that comes with purchased trays. This will retain moisture and help the seeds germinate.
Germination
- Check the seeds daily beginning a couple of days before they are expected to germinate.
- Once most of the seeds in a tray germinate, remove the cover and put cool season plants under lights for 8-12 hours a day. A shelf with one warm and one cool fluorescent tube works well. Grow lights are expensive and unnecessary.
- Warm season plants can be set out in the sun for progressively longer periods. If you can, protect them from birds and rodents with a cage of screen until they are at least 6” tall.
- Give your seedlings some worm casting tea once a week to encourage them to grow. You want them to get healthy and start to fill out their cells in the tray before planting them out in the garden.
Watering
- Bottom-watering is very helpful once your seeds are planted. Bottom water the trays when the top of the soil seems to be drying out – half an inch for large seeds, a quarter inch for tiny ones.
- If you do not have a sufficient tray for bottom watering, use a soft spray attachment on your hose or a watering can. Tiny seeds on the soil surface will be easily disturbed by surface watering, so be careful of this.
How to Propagate Stem and Root Cuttings
Simple method:
- Using a plastic tub with a lid, place Green Moss (bagged, not the same as Peat Moss) 4” thick in the bottom & water it well. Allow it to absorb the water for a few hours. Drain off extra water.
- Push the cuttings into the moss so at least one node is covered by the moss. Put the lid on. The key is to create an enclosure with high humidity.
- Place the tub in a shady spot and check it every few days to see if roots are forming. This works particularly well with tropicals that may otherwise be hard to root because they tend to dry out too fast.
- This method works particularly well with tropicals that may otherwise be hard to root because they tend to dry out too fast.
Sand method:
A variation for more woody stem cuttings is to use sand instead of moss.
- Water the sand well and drain.
- Lay the cuttings horizontally on top of the sand.
Another way is to drill holes in the bottom of a plastic bin and add several inches of sand. If you don’t have a bin, try a plastic dishpan with holes drilled.
- Water the sand well and drain.
- Dip your cuttings in rooting hormone mixed into water (see the label), then place them upright in the moist sand.
- Put the lid on and place in the shade.
- If the leaves stand higher than the top of the pan, poke pencils or similar into the sand to keep the cuttings being crushed.
- Water again and place in a kitchen garbage bag in the shade.
Rose Cuttings
Treat rose cuttings as woody stems. A mist house is best, but if you don’t have one, try the methods above. If they don’t work, use a soilless potting mix or a seedling mix. The easiest variety to root would be Louis-Phillippe – the heirloom one, not the newer David Austen variety.
*Note that many named roses, if they are not heirloom, are actually patented and you can be prosecuted for propagating them! This is true of some other plants as well, so if you intend to sell the plants you grow, look into that first.
How to Root Leaf and Leaf Bud Cuttings
- Begonia leaves can be placed on moist sand in a covered bin.
- For succulents like cacti, place a leaf on sand in the shade, but do not create high humidity for it because it may rot.
- Try looking up which method works best for the type of plant you are looking to multiply.
If you are thinking this sounds like a lot of work, you are not entirely wrong. Yet it is well worth the effort.
Yes, propagating plants does take some time and patience, but the end result is quite rewarding (and practically free!). If you really hit the ground running you may find yourself with an overabundance of propagated plants you can even sell them. Or better yet, give them away as gifts to your gardening friends, they will be delighted!
As always, we love to hear from you. Let us in on your latest gardening adventures! Have you planted any seeds lately?
Until next time, Happy Gardening!
Mary