Please explain simply how I do cuttings with rooting powder

[Sickofthisheat]

Just that really. Can I do this anytime? Can I try all shrubs?

Any advice really appreciated especially if you explain to me like I'm 5!

Google ‘shrubs that are easy to grow from cuttings’
then make a list of what you can get hold of and google what they like to grow in - vermiculite/sand/soil (or just do vermiculite for them all)
dip them in rooting stuff
stick them in pots of whatever you chose above.

As @SheWoreYellow says.

Cut just below a leaf node, remove the leaves from the bottom of the cutting. Make a hole in your planting medium with a pencil or chopstick, dip the bottom of the cutting in the rooting powder, insert into the hole several cm, and firm the soil gently round it. Just pushing the cutting into the soil rubs the powder off.

Thank you both. Would I use vermiculite on its own or mix with compost?

Be aware that rooting powder looses its effectiveness quickly and should be replaced every year.

Or you could just not bother with it. This article gives a list of plants for which it is helpful and another for which it is not needed. That said, Fuchsia is on their “better with rooting powder” list, and I’ve always found that one of the easier cuttings to root.

I’ve seen people putting the cutting right next to the side of the pot, is that a thing ?

I am also here for advice - is it too late to do rose and honeysuckle? Having a horrible random wall demolished next week in our reno - there is a lovely old very vigorous tea rose/shrub rose and a gorgeous unusual honeysuckle. Any hints?

Propagation is not always as simple as putting a cutting in hormone rooting powder and leaving it. It is a professional job in horticulture. Different plants, you propagate with different parts of the plant, at different times of the year and need different water and humidity requirements.

Anyone can pull off a bit of mint and chuck it into a jar of water and have new mint a couple of weeks later, but that's because mint is a water plant and roots easily. The same thing won't work on a Bay for example.

So my top tip is to research the plant first, find out if it is propagated by new or old wood and when, and then research it's other needs and best ways to propagate that particular plant.

And I never use hormone rooting compound, ever. As it isn't organic. I mainly use sharp sand for my plants, in proper earthenware plant pots.

I’d put it in the centre if I were doing just one, but usually I do several and space them out around the sides

but that's because mint is a water plant and roots easily. Not sure what you’re getting at here. Mentha aquatica is a water edge plant, but I don’t think you can describe mints in general as water plants. However, they are predisposed to produce roots if their stems are in contact with soil, and I think it’s this that makes them so easy to root

The same thing won't work on a Bay for example. I’ll take your word that Bay doesn’t root in water but it’s relatively easy to root in soil.

And I never use hormone rooting compound, ever. As it isn't organic The article I linked to above talked about plant derived organic auxins which might be of interest

Do you find clay pots perform better than plastic? I prefer plastic as they don’t evaporate as much. Ecologically, it’s better for me to continue to use and re-use my plastic pots than to throw them away.

I think main advice to OP is to experiment and see what works for her!

Many plants you can get cuttings without rooting powder. I have taken cuttings from fushias, geraniums, pelgoniums, and just cut diagonal under a node, removed lower leaves and placed in jar of water. A week later cutting has routes. Plant out in compost. I use John Innes.

I’d like to try a hydrangea cutting. Is it water or soil to begin with ?

Soil is almost always best. Sometimes roots produced in water don’t take kindly to being transferred to soil, so best to start with soil in the first place

Ok, thanks.