propagating Butterfly Bush cuttings (buddleia davidii)

[hypnofrogstevie]

I been trying and trying. Somehow and in some way I can never get it to root. I even tried rootone. They day in under 2 weeks and I been keeping them in the shade away from direct sunlight. Any tips? I got 3 branches stuck down into the dirt from the mother plant and am going to do it the "lazy man" way LOL.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Aww shucks. Did not see the propagation forum. Can a mod or nifty please move this into that category

 

[sonjab314]

I have new bushes spring up all over the place in the springs. My big bush puts out seeds that I never collect and they fly in the wind to other areas of my yard and start to grow. I've never tried to collect a cutting and root it before.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I had 2 white butterfly bushes. One died from root rot so I cant get seeds. I have another post in the propagation forum that I got them to root without hormone. The root is barely half an inch long and its white. I just threw it in the ground to see how well it does with a small root. I never really liked the white color. I just bought a bunch of seeds off ebay as well. Hopefully they will germinate next year.

 

[patandchickens]

First, have you had good success starting OTHER shrubs from softwood cuttings? (I.e. is this a buddleia-specific problem, or a cuttings problem?)

Assuming you are reasonably adept at other softwood cuttings, my first guess is that you are probably just not in the right time of year. They don't really do well from really sappy greenwood or blooming wood -- you may need to wait a while longer in the season before it's mature enough to strike well.

Also people often try to root too long a piece of material -- something like 4" long is probably about right. Strip the leaves off 2/3 of it, so it looks very pathetic and buried-up-to-its neck

Oh, and many harder-to-root things do best when you take a bit of 'heel' with the cutting, so that might be worth a try too. (Meaning, select a very short, ~4" long branchlet of new growth, then snap it off with your fingers so that it peels a little short ways down its parent stem, and that little 'heel' of parent stem remains attached to your cutting)

I have had MUCH better luck with doing slow-growing cuttings indoors than outdoors-in-the-shade, too. But I don't know how much that is a universal rule vs how much it's just me

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I did research online and found my best bet was mid-summer cutting or winter cuttings. I too semi hardwood/ softwood cuttings (10 or so cuttings) and did 5 in rootone and 5 in just regular soil. I heard these plants were super easy to root. I used to do spring cuttings and have tried dormant cuttings with no luck. When do you think I should try more cuttings?

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Here is step by step instructions for butterfly bush cuttings. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/propa/msg0118450523103.html

Here is another one I followed... http://www.briansgarden.com/2001/03/butterfly-bush-propogation.html

 

[patandchickens]

Yes but those particular directions are obviously not *working* for you so you might want to try something slightly different, that *other* people have success with... So if it were me I would

a) wait another couple weeks

b) try more cuttings ('vote early and often'), the more you start the more likely some will strike and it's not like they take up much room, you can get several dozen into really quite a small container;

AND (i would suggest doing all 3 of these things, not just one or two)

c) start them indoors in a north-facing window, with a plastic bag or cloche or something like that for humidity. Rather than outdoors.

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Thanks Pat. Which cuttings should I take? I have tried many kinds. Do I cut at the end of august or the beginning of september?

 

[patandchickens]

Thanks Pat. Which cuttings should I take? I have tried many kinds. Do I cut at the end of august or the beginning of september?

My suggestion is still to wait another few weeks, choose heeled cuttings maybe 3-5" long (this means choosing very short nonflowering side branches), strip the bottom 2/3 and sink up to their neck in damp sand or whatever you're using, then treat as indoor cuttings til they strike.

You can get so many of them into so little space with so little work that I do not see a lot of point in getting real hung up on when to do it. Try some now if you want, try some in a couple weeks, try some a couple weeks after that, etc. I mean, even if you have limited north-facing windowsill space and have to use a *cup* as your containers, you can get probably 6-8 cuttings into a single normal sized drinking cup.

Start lots of 'em, it makes it more likely you'll get some successes

Also try reading up more in general on methods for doing cuttings, you may discover something you'd want to do differently.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat