Cuttings may be soaked in cool/cold water from 24-48 hours directly before planting to improve survivability. On site, the cuttings should be stored away from direct sunlight, heeled into moist soil, or stored in water until planting.
Storage of cuttings
It is best to harvest cuttings in early spring and plant immediately but if this is not possible, cuttings can be stored safely for about 4 months. Store cuttings in a cool, dark, and moist place.
Loosely cover with an open plastic bag to increase the humidity around your cutting. Water often enough to keep the soil evenly moist, but not soggy. Plant rooted cuttings in a well-drained potting mix, move to a sunny window and care for them as you would your other houseplants.
These stored cuttings will generally root with greater vigor than fresh ones taken in the spring. If you do store cuttings, wrap them in a damp (not wet) paper towel inside of a plastic bag so that they don't dry out and make sure they don't freeze.
If daytime temperatures are above freezing during collection, cuttings should be refrigerated between 31°F to 40°F and 60 to 70 percent humidity. Frozen cuttings can be stored with a small amount of snow to help reduce drying.
Cuttings can be kept for up to 6 months if stored. properly in a fridge as close as possible to 1 degree C. and ensure they do not dry out.
It will slow transpiration while the necessary components are used at the root sites to build a new root structure. Keep the atmosphere around the cutting warm (not hot), keep the humidity relatively high (>90%), and keep the root zone temperature warm (at about 25°C).
1. Process the cutting immediately. If this is not possible, stand the cut end in water or place the cutting in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel and store out of direct sun. If the plant is frost-tolerant, store the bagged cutting in the refrigerator.
Propagating plants from cuttings is an easy and common way to create new houseplants, but it works for many garden plants. In cold-weather zones, you can take clippings of tender annuals and root them indoors to prepare a supply of new plants for garden planting in the spring.
Media is usually kept at 72-77° F while air temperature is maintained at 68-73° F. If bottom heat is not used, air temperature should be maintained between 77 and 80° F. Maintaining air temperatures lower than medium temperatures retards shoot growth while promoting root development. Excessive heat can damage cuttings.
You can propagate houseplants at any time of year. This being said, the best time to do it is during their growing season – which is typically spring-summer. They will grow more slowly during the dormant months of autumn-winter.
Light provides the energy for callus formation and the subsequent generation of adventitious roots. At the same time, light increases plant temperature and accelerates the drying of leaves, which can quickly dehydrate cuttings. (Under LEDs, this would be less of an issue.)
Cuttings need water for hydration, but also enough oxygen for roots to respire and grow. Using a substrate with adequate air porosity, and using the 1 to 5 moisture scale can help to prevent overwatering that leads to slow rooting and increased risk of disease.
Choose a warm spot near a window to set up your propagation station, such as a windowsill, side table, or countertop. You want to make sure your plant babies get lots of bright, indirect light while they're busy growing their new roots.
In general, Pilarchik notes, most cuttings should be about four inches long; two inches of the stem should be submerged in the water. Keep your cuttings indoors while they establish, as "the regulated temperature of a home will prevent stress and allow them to focus on rooting," adds Pilarchik.
Technically, you can transfer your cuttings to soil at any time. In fact, you can actually propagate directly into soil, however, it's much harder to do within your home. When you propagate in soil, you have to keep a good balance of soil moisture, air flow, and humidity.
It's also worth reducing water loss by removing the lowest pairs of leaves from each cutting, and snipping the leaves of larger-leaved plants in half. Another way to reduce water loss is to keep the cuttings in a humid atmosphere – place a clear plastic bag over individual pots or use a propagator with a lid.
Give cuttings bright light but not sun. Keep soil moist but not wet. The cuttings should root within three weeks. Admit air gradually to wean the cuttings from their humid environment, then pot singly before outdoor planting.
The sooner you can get your cuttings into a more normal environment with air flow and no dome, the better off they'll be. After about a week, remove the dome and monitor your cuttings to see if they begin to wilt. If they do, they're not ready to go dome-less, so try again in 1-2 days.
Carefully remove excess leaves to reduce transpiration, so cuttings do not wilt. However, some foliage should be retained to allow photosynthesis to occur. Keep cuttings moist, cool and shaded (collecting in a damp plastic bag is a good idea) until you are ready to put them in a propagation medium.
Ideally, the temperature of the medium should be maintained slightly higher (5°F-8°F) than the air so that callus and root growth occur faster than shoot growth. To accomplish this, bottom heat- ing is required. Desirable propaga- tion temperatures are 73°F-77°F for the medium and 68°F-73°F for the air.
All cuttings need to go directly to an environment with 100% humidity after being cut. If the cuttings dry out, they will not do well. Keep them dark, cool and moist. If you are working in large areas, use wet cheesecloth or burlap to wrap the cuttings as you go along.
And they tend to rot if you don't wait for the cutting to form a callus, a hard, dry “crust” at the base of the cutting. That can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, even a few months in extreme cases. In general, the thicker the stem, the longer it takes to seal itself off.