Home > Projects >

How to take Hardwood Cuttings

You will need: Secateurs, Fork, Watering Can

If you want to increase your stock of shrubs for your own garden or to share, hardwood cuttings are easy to take and require no heat to root. They are ideal for many hardy shrubs.

Best time to do it:

Step 1

Using one year old wood of pencil thickness cut just above and below a bud or pair of buds to give a cutting of about 15cm long.

Step 2

In a sheltered part of the garden make a row of holes in the soil using a garden fork.

Step 3

Place the cuttings in the holes making sure not to bury them.

Step 4

Water well to settle the soil back into the holes around the cuttings. Leave them undisturbed for 12 months after which they should have rooted and can be lifted to move elsewhere.

Related FAQs

Ask a gardening question:

Latest Gardening News

How Rising Living Costs Are Impacting Britain's Green Spaces

Stiga's 'We Care That You Care' Campaign Continues!

Top 10 Plants Year round Fragrance

RHS Gardens Announce Summer Events with The Great Garden Adventure & Shaun the Sheep

Gardening Projects for July

---

How to make a Herb Planter

How to take softwood cuttings

How to: New orchids from old

How to protect plants from heat

Latest Gardening Videos

---

Effective Watering

Supporting Heavy Fruiting Branches

How to Grow Orchids

Growing Zinnias

Training Cucumbers

Dealing with lily beetles

All Videos

Explore Gardens from Around the World

Pamplemousses Botanical Garden
Pamplemousses, Mauritius

Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Sydney, Australia

Pukekura Park
New Plymouth, New Zealand

Powerscourt Gardens
Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Keukenhof
Lisse, Netherlands

Aswan Botanical Garden
Aswan, Egypt