GARDENING - Abaco Journal April 1998

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GARDENING
by Jack Hardy

Whatever else you may be doing in your garden this month, the prime job should be the taking of cuttings. The sap is rising fast and our long, hot, moist summer ahead will turn 10 inch sticks into bushy flowering shrubs by autumn.

There are several mistakes that gardeners often make that cause failure in what is a very simple process. Perhaps the biggest mistake of all is to choose young wood for the cuttings. Cuttings should be taken from growth that is at least one year old. The outside should be brown, not green.

When you have selected a suitable limb, cut it away from the parent plant then divide it into individual cuttings. Ten inches is the best length, four in the ground and six in the air. Look for notches towards the base of the limb and use your secateurs to make a 45 degree cut completely through which ends close to a notch. Make your next cut a square one ten inches higher. You now have a cutting which can be planted sharp end down. You should be able to get several cuttings from one limb.

Nip off all growth in the lower six inches and cut the remaining leaves in half. It may not look good but you should be worrying about what the plant will look like in a year's time, not now.

Where to plant? You can raise your cuttings in pots and transplant them later but I recommend planting them right where you want them to grow. Loosen a spadeful of soil around the growing spot and push the cutting in slowly until it is seated four inches deep. That's it. Don't even water it.

If you raise your cuttings in pots you'll have to keep your eye on the moisture level, and this is where pot-raised cuttings suffer. Cuttings prefer to be on the dry side rather than wet. Over-watering kills more cuttings than anything else. Don't grow your cuttings too close together in a large pot or you will damage roots at transplant time.

Just about any flowering shrub can be raised from cuttings: hibiscus, oleander, bougainvillea, chenille plant, allamanda and dozens of others. Fruit-bearing shrubs are best propagated by air layering.

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