Last updated on April 18th, 2022
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If you have a climbing Hydrangea that you love, why not take the opportunity to grow more of them? One of the most rewarding aspects of successfully cultivating flowers and plants in your garden is that you can propagate additional plants from them and literally multiply what you have, plus you can have lots of fun doing it too. If you have a climbing Hydrangea you can take a cutting and create a totally new plant.
When should you take a Hydrangea cutting?
The best time to take a cutting from your climbing Hydrangea is between late June and early July.
Your main goal is to take a Hydrangea cutting (in the spring) when the leaves are green, lush and full of nutrients. This will give them the highest possible chance of successfully developing a new root structure and propagating.
Quick Tip! Do not take your cuttings until you are ready to propagate. You don’t want to take the cuttings and then leave them in your house for days (or weeks) whilst you get everything else ready.
How to take climbing Hydrangea cuttings
When you are ready to take your cuttings, make sure you sharpen the gardening pruners you are going to use. If it takes you more than one clean cut to get through the stems, you leave your climbing Hydrangea susceptible to disease or infection in the wounds you have created.
- First, sterilise any tools with a mixture of one part bleach for every 9 parts of water, or a gardening sterilisation mixture that you can purchase from your local nursery or garden centre, such as Jeyes Fluid. You want to do this every time you go to take a cutting so that you don’t accidentally transfer disease, fungi or bacteria from one plant to another. This will harm a new cutting, reducing the likelihood that it will propagate effectively and it can harm your original climbing Hydrangea too.
- After that, cut lengths that are approximately 15cm. You can take multiple cuttings from one branch as long as you don’t cut down too far into your host plant.
- Take each of the cuttings and snip away all the leaves until you only have one pair of leaves at the top of the cutting. All the others below these should be removed.
How to propagate once you have your Hydrangea cuttings
Now that you have the cuttings ready it’s time to prepare them and propagate your new climbing Hydrangea. You want to start by dipping the end of the cutting into a rooting hormone. This rooting hormone powder will help to discourage any root rot while they are propagating and expedite the growth of the roots so that you can move them outside much sooner.
- DOFF NATURAL ROOTING POWDER promotes strong healthy growth for new roots and cuttings
- NATURAL: Contains natural seaweed which dramatically increases propagation
- PERFECT ROOTING POWDER For use on soft, semi-hard and hardwood plants
- EASY TO USE Simply dip the cutting into the powder and plant
- ABOUT THE PRODUCT: Contains 75g Natural Rooting Powder
- Start with the pots or containers in which you’re going to propagate and fill them with your potting soil. Using a long stick or pencil, make a hole straight down into the middle of the soil.
- Once you have dipped the cutting into the hormone rooting powder place it into the hole and cover it with soil until it’s able to stand upright. You don’t want it to fall over as soon as you let go.
- Water it immediately from top to bottom to make sure that the water travels all the way through the soil and there aren’t any issues with drainage.
- Cover each of these cuttings for the first month. The goal here is to make a sort of greenhouse effect and there are many ways that you can do this. You can use a plastic bag, plastic wrap, or some type of plastic top to go over your cutting. Whatever material you choose you might want to create a tent over the top of the cutting, holding it up with something like chopsticks or skewers so that the plastic cover does not touch the cutting. You might need to change the tops for something with more height as your cutting gets bigger or more robust.
Top Tip!
If you plan to propagate from cuttings on a regular basis you can invest in propagators that have everything you need in one kit, including the trays, heating pad, a larger container to hold each of the trays, and adjustable plastic lids that have features on them that allow you to control the circulation and air and then easily water when necessary.
It should take about one month for your climbing Hydrangea cuttings to be ready for transplantation directly into a larger pot or into your garden. We personally recommend keeping them in pots for the first 12 months so they become well rooted.
Learn more about transplanting Hydrangeas in this guide here
Soon enough you’ll have even more climbing plants filling your garden, each with their own stunning flowers.
Last update on 2024-11-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
