Help with cuttings

[sillyblob]

Hi all, am new here :P
I really need some advice with how to take cuttings. I'm very much a novice gardener and really really need all the help I can get (been failing yaa)

right
so I have this jasmine bush, and I have friends who really want it...so I promised them cuttings. I brought liquid rooting hormone (babybio), and following the instruction I cut off a budding stem, stuck it in the liquid for a short while and then just stuck it into mud. But it failed, and I've been failing every time i try...
so how do I do it?? I don 't have any fancy equipment, so please help me out in _really_ simple terms

thanks

[Tam]

"The plant flowers from April to September. Jasmine is propagated by cuttings of nearly ripe wood in summer. Cuttings are planted in 3-inch pots within 4 weeks, then to 6-inches when pot is becoming filled with roots. The soil should be kept moist but well drained for optimum growth. Frequent pruning is required to grow it as a shrub of desired size. Pruning also helps keep an abundance of flowers, since flowers are produced on new wood. It grows in full sun to partial shade. Fertilize monthly with a balanced fertilizer" - This is what the RHS advises.

[Two_Sheds]

Timing is vital - you can't just take cuttings at any old time. Have a look here: Royal Horticultural Society - Gardening Advice: Climber Propagation

[Tam]

Re-reading your original request see that this is something that you are new to. You are normally best looking for a non-flowering stem (if there are none available you can always remove any buds and flowers) a heel cutting is ideal . Certainly it doesn't want to be put in "mud", but into a damp, well drained, sandy compost. You can put several cuttings around the edge of a pot and cover with a plastic bag - having removed the lower leaves.
If you have a heated propagator you will find that most cuttings prefer the bottom heat and, of course, you wouldn't need to cover the pot in this case.

[BrideXIII]

can i just ask if this is a winter jasmine?

I have one that is quite capable of throwing runners that root themselves, if yours does this that is a quick easy way to take cuttings without any real hassle, find where a runner is rooted, carefully dig it up, cut away from the main bush, then pot in a good compost.

[sillyblob]

thank you everybody for your help
no it is not winter jasmine (judgjing from the fact that it no longer has flowers :P), not to mention I got it quite new- I bought and planted it in July. Its not quite a baby...I suppose its a teenager...

is it still too late to take a cutting? also, is it essential to have a gritty compost/sand? I took the right type of cutting but just planted it in regular compost which had been the instruction on the rooting compound. I definitely need to try again...but I have no idea where I'm supposed to get sand from

[BrideXIII]

b&q do sand, playpit and other types, you could just get some coarse sand from the beach if you are near one, bearing in mind this is full of salt, and will need boiling and rinsing a fair bit to get rid of the salt and rubbish, another source for sand or smallish grit is a local aquarium supplier, this will already have been cleaned, also petshops sell sand loose for budgies, its very fine, but might still work, again this is sterilised.

[Two_Sheds]

is it still too late to take a cutting? also, is it essential to have a gritty compost/sand? I took the right type of cutting but just planted it in regular compost which had been the instruction on the rooting compound. I definitely need to try again...but I have no idea where I'm supposed to get sand from

Some cuttings take, some fail. Even if you do everything right. So, take twice the quantity of cuttings that you think you need.

Also, don't take cuttings from a baby plant ... let it establish for a year first.

I never use sand in my mix, just regular multi-purpose compost. Just make sure you don't over-water it.

Try again next year x

[crazy_red]

Wilko's and some of the bigger Woolworth's shops often have mini bags of silver sand, sharp sand, perlite and vermiculite.

I think any of these would work for the 'sandy' part of your cutting compost.

Does the plant still have a label with the latin or common name (or both) on, because knowing what type it is would make it easier to find out what sort of cutting you need to take and when.



Red x.

[nick the grief]

Personally I wouldn't use silver sand in the mix but any of the others is fine. I usually use cornish grit (about 1/16 grist) and perlite in with the compost about 3 parts compost to 1 part grit but you have to be carefull if using a soilless compost as it can be a fiddle to get the watering right. If you are a complete beginer buy a bag of John Innes seed and cutting compost and it will be a bit more forgiving as it is soil based.

Also I wouldn't have thought that it really needed the hormone rooting powder/liquid on a semi hardwood cutting - I never use them on mine. But more important is to keep the pot cool so cover the cuttings with a plastic Bag and put them in a coldframe, they want good light but not direct sun otherwise they will shrivel before you can get them to root.

Hope this helps