What method do you use to root cuttings of butterfly bush and salvia?
Butterfly bush cuttings
I just cut off a stem...strip the leaves...dip it in root powder and stick it in my flower beds where it will get some sun but also be shaded in the heat of the day and keep it damp. very few things have failed to root for me. If I have a bottom branch that is limber sometimes I just bury part of it in the dirt and wait for it to root and then replant it. one of these days...hopefully this fall...I will have a greenhouse and can root things in pots. I have also been known to just put the cuttings in pots of other things and then transfer them to my beds. I guess I am a lazy gardner, but it works for me
Here's how I root buddleia. It roots very readily, so I'm sure Lizzie's method works very well too. I'm usually doing mine for a RU and need them to be portable, so that's why I do it this way.
I use a tall clear plastic cup, preferably with a matching dome. Starbucks venti-size frapp cups are perfect. Punch only a couple of small holes in the bottom, and fill the cup about halfway full. Stick the cutting, water lightly, and put the lid on. Tape over the straw hole in the lid. Set in shade and leave it there. Water only if it dries out (no condensation drops on the cup). When you can see roots all through the soil (usually about two weeks), remove the lid and gradually harden off to the planting location.
For some reason, some salvias are trickier for me. Indigo spires roots very easily using the above method. Hot Lips, and probably any coccinea, and also bicolor, will root in an open cup. Black and blue always rots--I've never had a single successful cutting. Same for mystic spires. Don't know about mealy sage and its descendants because mine self-seed and I just dig them up. They're also easy to divide.
This message was edited May 30, 2011 9:23 PM
Thanks, pbtxlady. A couple of questions:
>> What type soil mix do you use for rooting cuttings?
>> What part do you take the cutting from? Every branch is flowering. Do you remove the flower head and leaves off?
Oh, well, frankly, I just use whatever I have on hand. The potting soil I LIKE is Miracle Gro Organic Choice, but I can't always find it. I've also mixed peat moss and perlite into topsoil, or even old potting soil, and that seems to work just fine.
Yes, you can root the blooming pieces if you deadhead the flower. Some of mine have grown around the snipped flower, put out new buds, and bloomed right in the cup. (LOL--they're so cute.) I don't remove all the leaves, just a few at the bottom so that at least two or three nodes are covered by the soil. The only thing that seems to matter is that it needs to be new (green) wood, and that you don't start with too much water. You shouldn't see any water at the bottom of the cup.