How to take cuttings: softwood, semi-ripe and hardwood

A single lavender plant can give you twenty more for the price of a bag of compost, and a favourite shrub that is getting old can be replaced with its own offspring before it fails. Cuttings are how gardeners have always multiplied plants, and the technique splits neatly into three types — softwood, semi-ripe and hardwood — defined by when in the year you take them and how mature the stem is. Match the method to the month and the plant, and success rates climb steeply.

The three types at a glance

All three work the same way: a piece of stem, deprived of roots, is persuaded to grow new ones before it runs out of water and reserves. What changes is the maturity of the wood, which dictates how fast the cutting roots and how much protection it needs.

Softwood roots fastest but wilts fastest; hardwood is the slowest but almost impossible to kill through neglect. Semi-ripe sits usefully in between.

Softwood cuttings: May and June

Take these from the current season's soft new shoots, early in the morning while stems are full of water. They suit Fuchsia, Hydrangea, Pelargonium, Penstemon, Salvia, Argyranthemum and many tender perennials, plus deciduous shrubs such as Philadelphus and Forsythia.

1. Cut non-flowering shoot tips about 8–10cm long and drop them straight into a plastic bag to stop them wilting. Speed matters more with softwood than any other type.
2. On the bench, trim each cutting just below a leaf joint (node) with a sharp knife or secateurs — most root formation happens here.
3. Remove the lower leaves, leaving two to four at the top. Pinch out any flower buds; you want the cutting's energy in roots, not petals.
4. Insert around the edge of a pot of gritty compost so the base sits 2–3cm deep, leaves clear of the surface and not touching each other.
5. Water, then cover — a clear plastic bag over the pot, a propagator lid, or an upturned bottle. Softwood cuttings lose water through their leaves faster than the rootless stem can replace it, so humidity is not optional.
6. Stand in bright light out of direct sun. Check weekly, remove any fallen leaves, and ventilate for a few minutes to head off rot.

Rooting shows as fresh top growth, or roots at the drainage holes. Pot up individually once rooted and keep sheltered while they toughen up.

Semi-ripe cuttings: July to September

By midsummer, this year's shoots have firmed at the base while the tip stays soft. This is the workhorse method for evergreen and Mediterranean shrubs: lavender (Lavandula), rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), Ceanothus, Choisya, Escallonia, Hebe, Viburnum tinus and box (Buxus sempervirens), as well as many conifers and hollies.

1. Take cuttings 10–15cm long from healthy, non-flowering side shoots, again in the cool of the morning.
2. Trim below a node and strip the lower two-thirds of leaves. On large-leaved evergreens, cut the remaining leaves in half across the middle to reduce water loss — it looks brutal but works.
3. Many shrubs root better from a "heel" cutting: pull the side shoot away from the main stem with a small tail of older bark attached, then trim the heel neatly.
4. For harder subjects, wound the cutting — a shallow 2cm slice of bark removed from one side of the base — and dip the base in fresh hormone rooting powder or gel. Hormone is genuinely useful here, less so for easy softwood.
5. Insert into 50:50 peat-free compost and perlite (or sharp grit), water, and place in a cold frame, unheated greenhouse or bright windowsill. Semi-ripe cuttings need less humidity than softwood, but a loose cover still helps in the first weeks.

Cuttings taken in July may root by autumn; September cuttings often sit quietly through winter and root in spring. Either way, leave them undisturbed in their pot until you see clear new growth, then pot on in April or May.

Hardwood cuttings: November to February

The easiest and most forgiving method, done when deciduous shrubs are dormant and leafless. Ideal for Cornus (dogwoods), Salix (willows), Ribes (flowering and fruiting currants), gooseberries, Forsythia, Philadelphus, roses, Buddleja and hedging plants like privet. Fruit growers use it for figs, mulberries and vine cuttings too.

1. Choose pencil-thick stems of this year's growth. Cut sections about 20–25cm long: a flat cut just below a bud at the base, a sloping cut just above a bud at the top, so you never plant one upside down.
2. No leaves, no bag, no hurry — dormant wood does not wilt. Hormone powder on the base helps but is rarely essential.
3. Either line the cuttings out in a slit trench in a spare corner of the garden — push a spade in, rock it to open a slot, trickle sharp sand into the bottom on heavy soil — or push them into deep pots of gritty compost. Bury two-thirds of each cutting, leaving one-third and at least two buds above ground.
4. Firm, water once, and then largely forget them. Check after frost, which can lift cuttings loose, and refirm if needed.

Resist the temptation to tug at them in spring: buds often break before roots form. Leave hardwood cuttings in place until the following autumn, by which time successful ones will be small rooted plants ready to move.

Compost, humidity and heat: getting the environment right

Cuttings do not need fertile soil — they need air and moisture at the base of the stem. A mix of half peat-free multipurpose compost and half perlite, vermiculite or sharp grit drains freely while staying damp, which is exactly the balance roots form best in. Pure multipurpose compost holds too much water and rots soft stems.

Humidity keeps leafy cuttings alive while they are rootless; that is the whole job of the plastic bag or propagator lid. Bottom heat of around 18–20°C from a heated propagator speeds rooting of softwood and semi-ripe cuttings noticeably, but it is a luxury, not a requirement — a bright windowsill does perfectly well from May onwards. Hardwood cuttings want no heat at all.

Which shrubs suit which method

• Softwood: Fuchsia, Hydrangea, Penstemon, Salvia, Pelargonium, Philadelphus, Spiraea.
• Semi-ripe: lavender, rosemary, Hebe, Choisya, Ceanothus, Escallonia, box, Pittosporum, most evergreens.
• Hardwood: Cornus, willow, roses, currants, gooseberries, Forsythia, Buddleja, privet, figs, grape vines.

Plenty of shrubs will root from more than one type — Philadelphus and Forsythia from all three — so if one attempt fails, try again later in the year with riper wood. A few things are simply difficult from cuttings (Magnolia, Daphne, most Acer) and are better bought grafted or layered instead.

Why cuttings fail, and how to stop it

• Rot at the base — the most common killer. Causes: compost too wet, no drainage material, sealed cover never ventilated. Use a gritty mix, water sparingly after the first soak, and air the cover twice a week.
• Drying out — the softwood killer. A wilted cutting rarely recovers. Collect into a bag, work fast, cover immediately, and keep out of direct sun; a propagator on a south-facing windowsill in June will cook everything in it by lunchtime.
• Too much heat — above about 25°C, soft cuttings collapse and fungal problems race ahead. Shade the propagator or move it.
• Flowering shoots — stems carrying buds or flowers root poorly. Always choose vegetative shoots, or pinch flowers off.
• Blunt tools and old hormone powder — crushed stems rot, and rooting hormone loses potency; replace an opened pot after a season.
• Impatience — pulling cuttings up to check for roots breaks the fragile new ones. Judge progress by top growth and roots at the drainage holes.

Even experienced propagators lose a proportion of cuttings, which is why you take ten when you want three. The materials cost pennies; the failures compost down; and the successes are plants you grew yourself.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Horticultural Society — propagation techniques and plant-by-plant cutting advice
• Garden Organic — peat-free propagation and organic growing guidance
• Woodland Trust — native shrubs and trees, many of which grow readily from hardwood cuttings