Cuttings in water

[french frank]

Anyone familiar with rooting cuttings in water before planting out? I'm trying it with a salvia (I think a garden escape which I found on the Common). My cutting has developed three roots and the advice was that it shouldn't be planted out in compost/soil too quickly as it would be a shock to its system. I've put some compost in a pot and stood it in a container with about 3" of water so that the compost is very watery and the cutting is now in a mixture of compost and water.

I tried several cuttings of ordinary garden sage in compost with rooting powder (I don't usually bother with that) and they all perished although I have succeeded in the past by just sticking a piece in the ground.

What are the chances for my salvia (I think it's a salvia microphylla, with very dark purple flowers)? I'd be very pleased if it escaped into my garden.

[Dave2002]

Anyone familiar with rooting cuttings in water before planting out?
...
What are the chances for my salvia (I think it's a salvia microphylla, with very dark purple flowers)? I'd be very pleased if it escaped into my garden.

I'd be interested to hear about experiences with this.

I think there's quite an element of luck. I recently planted out a few cuttings of mint - and the one with the biggest roots disappeared, but the smaller ones seem to have survived.

[gradus]

Wouldn't suggest wet/soggy compost as the roots are unlikely to cope but why not ordinary general purpose which should do the trick but with such young roots treat them with care.

[oddoneout]

Many years ago I read or was told that one of the potential problems with cuttings rooted in water being transferred to compost/soil is that the roots developed in water are not the same as 'normal' ones and make take a while to start functioning properly, so a sort of halfway house between a new and a fully rooted cutting. I agree with gradus that soggy compost isn't a good idea - poor drainage is one way to kill salvias!
I have a species salvia which I think is microphylla with small strongly scented leaves which I find roots very easily from bits just stuck in the ground, probably because my soil is on the dry and not very rich side. When I first got it at an open garden event about 25 years ago such plants were considered tender and the advice was to take cuttings in autumn and overwinter under cover. Apart from the first couple of winters I have just left the plants in the ground. They are such obliging plants flowering non-stop from about May until winter - some years I have had flowers to put in the Christmas Day posy. I have some more modern varieties with different colours (including the entertainingly variable Hot Lips, currently going through a mostly white phase), but they tend to shut down for winter.

[french frank]

It's going to have to take its chances. I've drained the soggy compost and a root which was then uncovered has now been covered with dry compost. If I speak to it soothingly maybe it won't get too stressed.

It looked like this - Salvia x Jamensis

[Cockney Sparrow]

We bought that Salvia at Heligan (Cornwall) last week....

[french frank]

We bought that Salvia at Heligan (Cornwall) last week....

It's very striking for its colour, isn't it? I just spotted a few spikes pushing through a fence and 'nipped off' one little side shoot!

[Serial_Apologist]

It's very striking for its colour, isn't it? I just spotted a few spikes pushing through a fence and 'nipped off' one little side shoot!

I guess such a practice is OK so long as the picked plant is not a wild variety, or does not damage the parent plant?

[oddoneout]

I guess such a practice is OK so long as the picked plant is not a wild variety, or does not damage the parent plant?

A well known hazard for those opening their gardens to the public. FF does say it was poking through a fence, so could just as easily have been broken off by other causes anyway. I got several cuttings of salvias a few years ago when the heavy hose being used to water the stock in my local nursery caught several plants on the edge of a stand and broke bits off - easy done they are brittle plants. I happened to be following behind (narrow access between the displays necessitates a one way system) so asked the staff member if I could have them. She seemed a bit surprised but laughed and said "of course". I think the fact I asked probably helped, but I do go there quite often and buy plants.

[french frank]

I guess such a practice is OK so long as the picked plant is not a wild variety, or does not damage the parent plant?

There are certainly things which are forbidden, like digging up certain wild flowers (like bluebells) - unless you happen to own the land. Picking bunches of flowers would also be frowned on (not sure if it's illegal unless you are on someone else's land) because the hope is the flowers will go to seed and and propagate themselves. Cuttings may be problematic, though if the plant is large and the cutting is small there is little harm done. I actually wanted to examine it under a lens which I didn't have with me. I kept it in water and noticed after a few days that roots were forming. When it grows big, I'll take cuttings and plant them back on the common! Actually, I believe the common is owned by the council for my (and others') benefit.

[eighthobstruction]

....my dyslexic mind read you as - saliva....and to be honest while I was a little shocked at the idea of you putting the plants in your mouth or spitting in a cup - I could see sense in it....until I finally read you correctly, but not until the end of the third para'........

[french frank]

....my dyslexic mind read you as - saliva....and to be honest while I was a little shocked at the idea of you putting the plants in your mouth or spitting in a cup - I could see sense in it....until I finally read you correctly, but not until the end of the third para'........

You are not alone, eighth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia

[Constantbee]

Tricky plant, sage I recently lost a ten year old plant. No obvious reason. Two young plants planted in the same spot didn’t survive either Some of the best results I’ve had with similar softwood cuttings (lavender and rosemary) were from putting the fresh cuttings into growing modules. These are small blocks made out of a mixture of compost and coir dust reinforced with fertilizer, and then potting them on or planting them out when they rooted. Long time ago. I think it was an autumn job. Keep trying FF.

I've been trying to propagate willow cuttings by starting them off in moist compost. You would think that would give them a good start in life, wouldn't you. In fact, it's turning out to be harder than I thought.

[Serial_Apologist]

Tricky plant, sage I recently lost a ten year old plant. No obvious reason. Two young plants planted in the same spot didn’t survive either Some of the best results I’ve had with similar softwood cuttings (lavender and rosemary) were from putting the fresh cuttings into growing modules. These are small blocks made out of a mixture of compost and coir dust reinforced with fertilizer, and then potting them on or planting them out when they rooted. Long time ago. I think it was an autumn job. Keep trying FF.

I've been trying to propagate willow cuttings by starting them off in moist compost. You would think that would give them a good start in life, wouldn't you. In fact, it's turning out to be harder than I thought.

Indeed I would, CB. Not having tried it myself, but I've always been given to understand that all one needs to do is stick them into the ground, even just for fence posts, and they're off and away! Perhaps something more substantial than a twig is needed.

[oddoneout]

Tricky plant, sage I recently lost a ten year old plant. No obvious reason. Two young plants planted in the same spot didn’t survive either Some of the best results I’ve had with similar softwood cuttings (lavender and rosemary) were from putting the fresh cuttings into growing modules. These are small blocks made out of a mixture of compost and coir dust reinforced with fertilizer, and then potting them on or planting them out when they rooted. Long time ago. I think it was an autumn job. Keep trying FF.

I've been trying to propagate willow cuttings by starting them off in moist compost. You would think that would give them a good start in life, wouldn't you. In fact, it's turning out to be harder than I thought.

Ten years is a pretty good lifespan - they're not like proper shrubs that last for a long time, hence the advice to take cuttings and replace periodically with younger plants. Same with lavender, thyme etc. Sometimes called subshrubs.
Stick the willow in a bucket of water until they root and then plant them out (with care and keeping up the watering as noted previously). Sticking them directly in the ground usually works pretty well but I wouldn't do it during the summer.
I haven't watched this all through but there might be something of use in it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgdMu7Z3au0