I have a honeysuckle bush growing on an east facing tree line. its about 10 feet tall. I am wanting to propagate bush honey suckle the rest of the tree line. Does anyone know the best way to do cuttings from them? Is it too late in the year? It bloomed probably a month ago.
Bush honeysuckle cuttings
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Not too late, with some care. Find a spot outside that gets morning sun and shade the rest of the day. I use my front patio because my house faces East so we get the AM sun and shade as the sun moves up and over the roof.
Prep some pots with half compost and half sand mixed up. Native soil, as long as it's sandy, works well. If you have clay soil skip the native soil and look for potting soil at your local hardware store, add the compost to that. But really, sand is the best. Don't buy sand unless you're positive it hasn't been treated with any chemicals or cleaners.
Wet those pots of soil thouroughly before you plant.
Get rooting hormone. Easy to find at any hardware store; I've even seen it at Walmart and on Amazon.
With me so far? Cool, the easy part, go take some cuttings. Take 8-12 inches of this years growth, but skip the super green pliable stuff--it won't root. Look for the early growth from the beginning of spring. Put the rootings into a bucket or water to keep them from drying out while you work. Very important.
Remove the bottom few sets of leaves from your cuttings. Dip the bottoms in water first, then the rooting hormone, and gently stab them into your damp soil in your pots. You will only get rooting hormone on the bottom 1/2-1 inch of the stem because the bottles of rooting hormone are small. Totally fine. Just stab into the soil like that. Get them 2-3 leaf buds (where you took off the leaves) deep into the soil to help support the plant. Don't leave anymore than 2-3 leaves on the tops of your cuttings after they are in their pots.
Now wait. And water. Every morning. Don't let them bake and don't let the soil dry out. They should not be soggy which is why sand is helpful.
It will take 6-8 weeks for you to see new growth. Expect the old leaves to shrivel and die, to have just sticks in your dirt for a few weeks, and finally the new leaves will grow back. Don't give up! Be patient. When they have a few sets of new leaves you can transplant them which will be right around early Fall. Let them establish and next Spring they should take off.
Take 2x as many cuttings as you hope to get plants. Typically you expect to only get a 50% success rate. I usually have a darn near 100% success rate and I'm not sure who made up the 50% rule, but I always follow it. And I always have too many plants. And that's okay! It's basically free and pretty easy anyway
Prep some pots with half compost and half sand mixed up. Native soil, as long as it's sandy, works well. If you have clay soil skip the native soil and look for potting soil at your local hardware store, add the compost to that. But really, sand is the best. Don't buy sand unless you're positive it hasn't been treated with any chemicals or cleaners.
Wet those pots of soil thouroughly before you plant.
Get rooting hormone. Easy to find at any hardware store; I've even seen it at Walmart and on Amazon.
With me so far? Cool, the easy part, go take some cuttings. Take 8-12 inches of this years growth, but skip the super green pliable stuff--it won't root. Look for the early growth from the beginning of spring. Put the rootings into a bucket or water to keep them from drying out while you work. Very important.
Remove the bottom few sets of leaves from your cuttings. Dip the bottoms in water first, then the rooting hormone, and gently stab them into your damp soil in your pots. You will only get rooting hormone on the bottom 1/2-1 inch of the stem because the bottles of rooting hormone are small. Totally fine. Just stab into the soil like that. Get them 2-3 leaf buds (where you took off the leaves) deep into the soil to help support the plant. Don't leave anymore than 2-3 leaves on the tops of your cuttings after they are in their pots.
Now wait. And water. Every morning. Don't let them bake and don't let the soil dry out. They should not be soggy which is why sand is helpful.
It will take 6-8 weeks for you to see new growth. Expect the old leaves to shrivel and die, to have just sticks in your dirt for a few weeks, and finally the new leaves will grow back. Don't give up! Be patient. When they have a few sets of new leaves you can transplant them which will be right around early Fall. Let them establish and next Spring they should take off.
Take 2x as many cuttings as you hope to get plants. Typically you expect to only get a 50% success rate. I usually have a darn near 100% success rate and I'm not sure who made up the 50% rule, but I always follow it. And I always have too many plants. And that's okay! It's basically free and pretty easy anyway
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Sure thing!
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