No Rush This Year To Take Cuttings

Clean mist unit

Washed pots and clean, sterilised cutting knives

18th September, First day of cutting

The long range forecast for Oxford shows no signs of low overnight temperatures with the dreaded first frost so there has been no rush this year to take cuttings from the plants needed to create next year's container and border displays. The mist unit has been cleaned and a new layer of silver sand has been added to the base for the pots to stand on above the heated cable. The cutting knives have been cleaned and sterilised and the plastic pots washed in preparation for this day.
Out in the gardens this morning, healthy, non-flowering shoots were selected from some of the tender plants and placed in a shopping bag for safe transfer back to greenhouse for processing. Emptying the contents of the bag on to the recently cleaned work surface, each stem was cut beneath a leaf joint/node (nodal cut) leaving the cutting about 2-3 inches long. The leaves, just above the nodal cut, were cut off and the soft growing tip pinched off. When several cuttings had been prepared the base of each were dipped in to hormone rooting powder to cover the cuts, inserted around the inside of the rim of a small, shallow pot of seed compost, watered in and then placed in the mist unit. They will remain in the comfort of the mist unit until rooted.

The first cuttings in the mist unit

24th September, A full mist unit

Cuttings