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How To Create Cuttings

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

When Lynn Barber gets a cutting or a starter plant, she has just the place for it: a spot on her porch where she nurses new plants.

That way, they won't get forgotten.

She keeps her new plants in pots made of plastic, which retains moisture better than clay.

And when she starts a new plant, she uses her own potting mix. She combines equal parts of inexpensive potting soil; perlite or vermiculite; finished compost; and Canadian peat moss, mixing the ingredients in a big dishpan in her garage.

She checks on her starter plants at last once a week, sticking her index finger into the soil. If it's moist, she leaves it alone; if it's dry, she gives it a drink.

Lots of plants are easy to grow from cuttings, she says. Here are a few she recommends:

Sanchezia - Cut above the node. Clip off the bottom leaves so you'll have a bare stalk to put into the dirt. Put it into a moist mixture of potting soil. Place it in a shady spot for about six weeks.

Pentas - Cut above the node. Remove the leaves on the stem going into the dirt. Cut off the flowers, too; they take too much energy from the rest of the plant. Put it into moist potting soil and in a shady area for four to six weeks. When planting, choose a sunny spot.

Jewel orchid - Insert a cutting into moist potting soil. This needs an extreme amount of shade. It is a slow grower but will eventually become huge. Water it once every two weeks. It will do fine in regular potting mix as opposed to the bark and charcoal mix that many orchids prefer.

Begonia - All you need is one leaf. Stick it into the potting soil, and keep it moist. You can use a couple of toothpicks through the leaf to make sure it stays in the dirt. Keep this in the shade. The leaf will die, but you will get a new plant.

Greek oregano - Snip off a stalk and strip the leaves at the bottom of the stalk, then insert into potting mixture. Put the pot in a shady place and wait about six weeks, watering as needed. When planting, choose a place that gets some sun and some shade.

Firespike - Put it into moist dirt. Keep it in a shady location to keep it from baking in the sun. Leave it for a month or two, then relocate for planting.

Coleus - Put the coleus in water and let it root. (Barber usually puts hers in a water bottle, with the top of the cutting and the leaves out of the bottle.) Roots will form in four to six weeks. Then plant it in a shady area.

Blue ginger - Take a cutting several inches long that includes a node. Put it into moist dirt in a shady spot, where you will want it to remain..

Shrimp plant - Insert a cutting into moist dirt in a shady area. Leave it for about a month. Yellow shrimp plants like partial shade to shade; the red shrimp plants like sun to partial shade.

B.C. Manion

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