“Grafting, budding, and plant propagation can be done on many types of plants during the winter, not just hardwoods.” High humidity and moisture are important during the post-cut and post-grafting periods.
Once the weather gets colder and you have experienced at least one good hard freeze, the deciduous plants should be dormant and will have dropped their leaves, and you can now propagate them. Just make cuttings about 4” long, dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the bed of sand.
Numerous plant species are propagated by stem cuttings. Some can be taken at any time of the year, but stem cuttings of many woody plants must be taken in the fall or in the dormant season. Tip cuttings: Detach a 2 to 6-inch piece of stem, including the terminal bud. Make the cut just below a node.
September/October is the ideal time to take cuttings from your favourite strains of tender perennials to increase your stock for next spring or to make sure they live on if the parent plants do not survive the winter.
Root cuttings are best taken in mid-to-late autumn or early winter when plants are dormant.
“Grafting, budding, and plant propagation can be done on many types of plants during the winter, not just hardwoods.” High humidity and moisture are important during the post-cut and post-grafting periods.
Hardwood cuttings provide an easy and reliable method of propagating a range of deciduous climbers, trees and shrubs, and as bonus, they are taken from mid-autumn until late winter when more time is usually available to the gardener.
Plants to propagate in the fall
Three of the best plants to propagate in fall are lavender, geraniums, and verbena. Since most lavender varieties hate cold weather (especially container varieties), they're a great plant to take cuttings from at the end of the growing season before a frost hits.
When to take cuttings. The best time to take softwood cuttings is from mid-spring to early summer. Hardwood cuttings are taken later in the year, from mid-autumn to mid-winter.
Most deciduous shrubs are ideal for taking winter cuttings, such as dogwood, flowering currants, roses, honeysuckle, gooseberries and figs. You can also take cuttings from trees such as willow and poplar. You can take cuttings from a few evergreens, including holly and skimmia.
Plant patents
Translation: you cannot divide that overgrown perennial, root cuttings, or layer branches if the plant is protected by a plant patent. Basically, the only legal way to reproduce a plant with this type of patent is by seed.
Cuttings from many annual plants will keep over winter, sprout roots, and be ready for planting in spring. You may place them in pots or cups without drainage filled with moist perlite or vermiculite. Locate them at first in bright light, away from the sun.
Propagating plants in winter does take a bit longer than in the summer, two to four months for roots to develop, but it's a great way to get free plants from winter prunings. Providing bottom heat will speed things up a bit, but isn't necessary.
From early fall through most of November is one of the best times of year to plant spring-blooming bulbs, cool-season annuals and vegetables, as well as many trees, shrubs, and perennials. On this page: WHY PLANT IN FALL. SPRING-BLOOMING BULBS.
Most cuttings taken in spring will be flowering in their first summer. Those taken in late summer will be overwintering under glass and be ready to harden off during May. One of the keys to overwintering rooted cuttings under glass is to keep them on the dry side in bright frost-free conditions of around 7°C (45°F).
Warm growing medium temperatures accelerate cell division which leads to faster callusing, root initial development and subsequent root growth. It also speeds up the dry-down rate of the growing medium, which also helps encourage better rooting. The best way to warm the growing medium is through bottom heat.
A common rooting temperature target is 73 to 77° F. To accomplish this, propagators who grow on the floor use in-floor heating, which is usually installed when the greenhouse is built. This is usually an energy-efficient method to increase the root-zone temperature and second- arily, the air temperature.
September is the ideal time to take cuttings of many tender plants, including penstemon and pelargonium. Find out more in our practical guide. September is a good time to take cuttings of many plants.
Several cuttings may be placed together in one container. Be sure to add fresh water as needed until the cuttings are fully rooted. Rooting will generally occur in 3-4 weeks but some plants will take longer. When the roots are 1-2 inches long or longer the cutting is ready to be potted up.
Take the cuttings any time between mid autumn and late winter. Different parts of the UK have very different weather conditions, take the cuttings when the leaves on the rose bush are starting to fall or have fallen completely in your area.
The date that your ground actually freezes varies from year to year, of course, and some areas won't have frozen ground at all. If you're unsure, mid-November is a safe planting deadline for nearly everyone. - Get everything in the ground before the ground freezes.
As for timing, divide plants about four to six weeks before the ground freezes. Divide fall-blooming perennials in early to mid-spring. Plants in this category will have stored up energy in their roots over winter, which will facilitate their recovery from being divided.