Diary entry 5) Taking Pelargonium Cuttings (softwood cuttings)

Pelargoniums are the genus which includes geraniums. They are ideal for taking softwood cuttings and have a good success rate.

Our tutor, David, bought in a massive load of bedding pelargoniums that he had lifted from a garden he works in. His client was happy he was using them as they would otherwise have been thrown out or composted. There were numerous plants, the ten of us had around five each. These 'parent' plants were now our stock plants from which the cutting material is taken. Each cutting is a 'clone' of the parent plant as you're using part of it to make a new plant without any external genes coming in. So a cutting from a specific red geranium will grow into a plant with the same characteristics.

How to take softwood cuttings

1. These cuttings can be done in the autumn or spring ( we will probably do both from the same stock plants)
2. Select healthy, shortish, fat shoots. Remove them from the parent plant by cutting with sharp secateurs immediately above a node (a type of swelling in the stem) or bud. Leave a few good stems on the parent plant.
3. Remove flower buds, lower leaves on the bottom half of the cutting and any leaves with brown flecks (these can be diseased). Cut the stem just below a node where there is the highest concentration of the plant's hormones.
4. Fill pots with seed compost, mixed with horticultural grit or perlite to aid drainage. Insert two or three cutting around the edge of the pot, angling the leaves outward so they don't interfere with each other. Water the compost and stand the pots in a light position indoors or in a green house. Don't cover the pots, they need air circulation to keep them disease free. The more humid the environment the better for pathogens, fungus and mildew.
   
5. In a few weeks,  the cut will have callused over and roots will begin to grow. A good root system should develop after six to eight weeks.
6. In the spring (March or April if the cuttings were done in the autumn)  knock the cuttings out of the pot and transplant into larger individual pots of multi-purpose compost. Keep them well watered. Plant out into beds or containers once risk of frost is gone.