Taking hardwood cuttings is a wonderfully straightforward and cost-effective method of growing more plants. Hardwood cuttings require minimal tools and expertise, making them a perfect entry point for those new to gardening. Imagine being able to clone your favourite plants or share them with friends and neighbours, all when everything else is asleep in the garden. Hardwood cuttings allow you to do just that while promoting sustainability and reducing the need for frequent plant purchases or spending a fortune trying to plant up your garden.
In this expert guide, I'll walk you through the steps to master the art of taking hardwood cuttings to propagate from plants you already have. This will ensure a beautiful garden come spring and take your skills to the next level, Ninjas!
Hardwood cuttings offer a cost-effective and versatile method for gardeners to propagate a variety of deciduous plants, including shrubs, trees, and fruit-bearing species. This technique harnesses the winter dormancy period, allowing gardeners to clone their favourite plants whilst preserving specific traits and characteristics of these garden shrubs.
Let's take a quick look at the other benefits of taking hardwood cuttings to bulk up your borders:
i) Cost-Effective Propagation - Hardwood cuttings offer an economical way to multiply plants without the need to purchase new ones.
ii) Varietal Cloning - Gardeners can 'clone' their favourite plants, preserving specific characteristics and traits through the propagation process. Like for like plant growing!
iii) Ideal for Deciduous Plants - Deciduous shrubs, trees, and certain fruit-bearing plants respond well to hardwood cuttings, making it a versatile method for many species.
iv) Utilizes Winter Dormancy - Winter is an opportune time for hardwood cuttings as plants are dormant, allowing energy to be directed towards root development.
v) Minimal Equipment Needed - Basic gardening tools, such as sharp pruners, are all you need!
vi) Encourages Strong Root Systems - the root systems on cuttings are super strong due to the concentrated hormones from the cutting. This means new plants are super rooted and ready to be planted out!
vii) Faster than growing from seed - Using cuttings can drastically reduce the growing time and success rate compared to growing from seed.
Selecting the Right Plants before embarking on the hardwood plantation is essential, and some plants lend themselves better to hardwood cuttings than growing from seed or softwood cuttings. As a rule of thumb, you can take a hardwood cutting from any deciduous shrub or climbing plant that has woody stems or branches. This is why the term hardwood is used in this plant propagation method.
Many deciduous shrubs, such as Roses, Hydrangeas, Blackcurrants, Cornus, and certain fruit-bearing varieties, make excellent hardwood cutting specimens. If you're struggling to spot a shrub from which you can take a hardwood cutting, the following list should help.
Another good tip is that any shrub that loses its leaves over winter and leaves behind woody stems can be used to create hardwood cuttings to propagate the plant. Simple!
Hardwood cuttings are super easy to take, but you need some key tools to ensure your plant cuttings succeed and start to root. When it comes to ensuring success from hardwood cuttings, there are a few tools needed:
Taking these cuttings can take around 30 mins to do, so it's super speedy. Make sure you give yourself enough time by getting all of the tools above ready so that once you have made your cuts, you can get them planted ASAP.
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The best time to make hardwood cuttings is when the deciduous plant is dormant in late Autumn (fall) or early winter. This is when the plant or shrub has shed its leaves and has slowed down its respiration (breathing and water uptake). This makes for the perfect time for hardwood cuttings as the plant is at its least demanding and under minimal stress once pruned.
By making cuttings in the winter, the new plant cuttings can use all of their energy on root development rather than flowers or keeping leaves alive. What makes winter hardwood cuttings so successful is that Mother Nature is on your side from the beginning.
Here’s a quick breakdown of why each aspect of this timing matters:
A) Lower Temperatures: The cool, stable winter temperatures in the UK help prevent the cuttings from drying out. Hardwood cuttings are slower to root than softwood cuttings taken in spring or summer, so the slower winter period allows roots to establish before new growth demands more resources.
B) Dormant State: Since the parent plants aren’t actively growing, they have a higher tolerance for removing parts of their stems, reducing the chance of harming the main plant.
C) Less Risk of Disease: With fewer active pests and pathogens in winter, there’s a reduced risk of infection for the cuttings, increasing their survival rate.
Once taken, place the cuttings in well-draining soil or sand in a sheltered spot outdoors, where they can slowly develop roots over the winter months, ready to thrive as spring arrives.
Another question I get asked often is what month of the year is best for hardwood cuttings. Here in the UK, I choose December before the first frost. However, other parts of the UK or the northern hemisphere may choose anywhere between November and February.
This period is ideal because plants are in their dormant phase, which reduces stress on the parent plant and increases the chances of successful rooting. During dormancy, woody plants have stopped active growth, allowing them to focus energy on root development rather than on sustaining foliage or flowers.
This simple step-by-step guide will help you take hardwood cuttings easily. Once you've mastered the process, you'll be making hardwood cuttings easily and even be able to show your friends how it is done!
Choose shrubs that will easily root from hardwood cuttings. In my example, I've chosen Cornus (Dogwood), as it is notoriously easy to root from hardwood cuttings. Blackcurrants, Roses, and Hydrangeas also do well from these cutting types.
Then, choose healthy, semi-flexible stems from one or two years old. Don't try to use old stiff wood as cuttings, as these often fail. Look for lengths up to a pencil's thickness and look healthy.
Identify the tip of the plant with healthy one-year-old growth and then work backwards between 15-30cm until you find a bud or leaf node (the part where leaves or side shoots emerge). Then, make a horizontal cut a few millimetres beneath this node or bud.
This will be the rooting end of your cutting, as this node contains vital hormones that can create roots. You can cut above it, but the concentration of hormones is far less, meaning you may need to use additional hormone-rooting powder to get the cutting to take.
This step is vitally important when making cuttings; many guides miss out on this step when making hardwood cuttings. You want to make a 45-degree angled cut to the very top of the cutting. This step stops any further apical growth from occurring (length growth).
It is vital because it stops the cutting from trying to put on leafy growth rather than roots. It stops the tip from growing, ensuring all the cutting's survival efforts are placed into the roots created at the bottom of the cutting.
We cut at a 45-degree angle so any moisture or rainfall runs off and down the cutting to the soil and doesn't sit, like it may do on a horizontal cut and cause the cutting to rot from the top down. To see an example of the perfect hardwood cutting, have a look below. You will see the horizontal cut at the base and an angled cut at 45 degrees at the top. The cutting is between 15cm and 30cm in length.
It's important to make sure that you don't mix the cuttings ends up. Trying to get the top (apical) part of the cutting to the root is almost impossible, and you'll fail. So, the bottom cut is always horizontal, and the top cut is angled to help you identify the cuttings.
I place the cuttings in a terracotta pot before I plant them out. It's essential to get the cuttings into growing media like compost ASAP. Spending time out in the open reduces the chances of success, so time is of the essence when taking any cutting. If you can't plant them straight away, store them in a damp plastic bag tied up in the meantime.
Hardwood cuttings need a free, draining, and lightweight growing medium. You can just use normal peat-free compost, but the cuttings can become waterlogged if you're not careful. I always use a 50:50 mix of peat-free compost and grit, which aids with drainage for the hardwood cuttings.
The other reason to add grit, perlite, or vermiculite is that it opens up the airflow in the cutting media. Air is really important for healthy roots, so a gritty compost mix is more beneficial for healthy root development.
You may have seen cuttings on TV shows or in magazines placed around the edge of a pot and wondered, why don't they use the middle for cuttings? The answer is simple, Ninjas. It's all about warmth and air flow.
We place hardwood cuttings and other types of cuttings around the edge as this part of the pot warms up fastest and has the best drainage compared to the middle of the pot, which can often be the wettest densest part of the cutting compost.
Plant your cuttings so that 1/3 of the cuttings base is in the compost, with the angled end upwards. Don't pack the cuttings into one pot. Place 5-7 cuttings per 2lt plant pot, then get another pot. Water them well once you have planted them.
The next step is to place the cuttings in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame. If you don't have these, somewhere sheltered and out of extreme frost or wind is best. For some plants, like roses, you can plant the cuttings directly in the ground in trenches. However, for most beginner gardeners, pots are best as you can check when they have rooted easily and they take up less space.
Depending on the hardwood plant species you have chosen, your cuttings will take 6 to 12 weeks to root.
The way to tell is twofold:
If so, then congratulations, your cutting has taken and started to root.
Leave your cuttings in their pot until they are all showing signs of growth, both leaves and roots. Then, it is a case of potting them up into individual pots for the next growing season. You don't want to plant them directly outside as they will still be juvenile plants that need a bit more TLC. You don't want rabbits or a really hot summer finishing them off until they're more established.
I keep my hardwood cuttings in individual pots over the spring and summer, where I can water and feed them if necessary. I then plant them out the following winter when the plants are dormant.
On average a hardwood cutting will take between 6-12 weeks to show roots and be putting on new growth. It depends on the plant species. Cornus and Willow are the fastest rooting within 6 weeks, whereas Roses and Holly can take the full 12 weeks. This is why it's better to take more cuttings than you need to account for any that simply don't root or take.
You've eagerly taken hardwood cuttings and have potted them on, but how do you know when your hardwood cuttings have been a success? This is the point at which most beginner gardeners start to panic, but fear not; there are a few ways to tell how successful your cuttings have been.
To check if your hardwood cuttings have rooted successfully, you can look for the following signs:
Remember, hardwood cuttings take time to root—anywhere from a few months to an entire growing season—so patience is key. Avoid disturbing the cuttings too often, as they need stable conditions to establish strong roots.
Taking hardwood cuttings in summer is generally discouraged because summer is an active growth period for most woody plants, and cuttings taken during this time are less likely to root successfully. There is a lot more 'life support' needed, watering and expert care required if you try nd take hardwood cuttings in summer.
Here are several reasons why summer is not ideal for hardwood cuttings:
Active Growth Phase: In summer, plants focus their energy on producing leaves, flowers, and new shoots rather than on root development. Hardwood cuttings taken during this phase may struggle to direct resources toward rooting, as the plant’s energy is focused on sustaining above-ground growth.
Higher Temperatures and Risk of Dehydration: Summer’s warmth can lead to faster drying out of cuttings, which are vulnerable without an established root system. Hardwood cuttings lack the ability to absorb water effectively until they form roots, so in summer heat, they are prone to dehydration and desiccation.
Higher Pest and Disease Activity: The summer months bring increased pest and fungal activity. Hardwood cuttings taken in this period are more susceptible to infections, rot, and pest damage due to their limited defenses. It's not uncommon for powdery mildew or other fungal plant diseases to take over.
Timing of Root Development: Hardwood cuttings taken in late autumn or winter have several months to establish roots while the plant is dormant. Summer cuttings do not have this dormancy phase, so they must contend with maintaining growth and hydration demands without the time needed for strong root establishment.
Alternative Methods for Summer Propagation: Softwood and semi-hardwood cuttings, which are younger and still flexible, are more appropriate for summer propagation. These cuttings root faster and can better handle the active growth conditions of summer.
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Taking hardwood cuttings in winter is a skilled technique that allows gardeners to multiply their favourite plants easily.
By selecting the right plants and using these simple cutting techniques, hardwood cuttings are easy to succeed in the garden. They take up minimal space and need very little care, making them an excellent beginner gardener propagation technique.
Embrace the art of hardwood cuttings and witness your garden thrive with new life each spring.
Are you a hardwood-cutting convert? Why not let me know by leaving a comment below or getting in touch with Garden Ninja on Social media Tweet, Facebook or Instagram me.
You can also follow me on YouTube where I’ve got plenty of garden guide vlogs to help you make your garden awesome! Happy Gardening.
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