[Missie]

Hello,I would like some advice please if possible,I seem to have reasonable results with my vegetables,flowers,seeding them for the year after but I have a very low success rate with taking cuttings from shrubs.

I took 20 Laurel,two have taken,none of my conifer have taken,others sometimes look as if they are going to take then shrivel into nothingness.I have many shrubs that I would dearly love to take cuttings from,like red robin,no luck with this at all,a spotted laurel which only one took.
Is it luck? or what on earth am I doing wrong?!,I have tried  organic and a hormone rooting powder with barely any success.

Any advice would be so appreciated

[mumofstig]

Have you followed on-line advice about when to take them? Some take best at different seasons and some from hardwood and some from soft wood. Some are just notorious for being nigh-on impossible!

Good luck and keep trying

[monsta]

according to the tree and shrub expert book cuttings should be done in summer timer and put in a cold frame.

[Spana]

Missie, what are you rooting into, try mixing sand into the compost.  I go with about 50 50.  The grittyness of the sand against the stems helps to encourage roots.   Keep them shaded and not too wet.
But it sounds to me as if you are doing ok with most, you are not doing the easiest things to root so just keep at it.
I used to struggle with clematis cuttings then all of a sudden i got the hang of it and didn't know what to do with them all.  Finding a place for 300 clematis is hard even in a large garden

[Bram]

philadelphus (mock orange)  take cuttings just after flowering,  red robin semi ripe cuttings in the green house july -aug 

[Missie]

Hi Spana,
Thank you very much,I have had sand in some and these are the ones which have taken,some had very little sand and did not but I shall keep working with this.Thanks again!

Missie, what are you rooting into, try mixing sand into the compost.  I go with about 50 50.  The grittyness of the sand against the stems helps to encourage roots.   Keep them shaded and not too wet.
But it sounds to me as if you are doing ok with most, you are not doing the easiest things to root so just keep at it.
I used to struggle with clematis cuttings then all of a sudden i got the hang of it and didn't know what to do with them all.  Finding a place for 300 clematis is hard even in a large garden

[Missie]

Oh, thank you very much! I would love a hedge of the red robin but buying them in quantity is somewhat horrendous!

philadelphus (mock orange)  take cuttings just after flowering,  red robin semi ripe cuttings in the green house july -aug