Advice
RHS Help & Advice
Layering plants
Some shrubs, such as Cornus and Magnolia, can be tricky to propagate from cuttings but this can be overcome by encouraging roots to form while still attached to the parent plant. This is called layering and is a great way to obtain new plants from your garden favourites.
If only one or two new plants are required, simple layering is the best method with six steps to follow. Try Acer, Camellia, Chaenomeles, Cotinus, Daphne, Forsythia, Hamamelis, Jasminum, Magnolia, Rhododendron (including azalea), Syringa and Viburnum.
Step 1: Choose flexible young shoots on the outside of the plant near to ground level - or that can be bent to ground level. If none are available prune to encourage new shoots for the following year.
Step 2: In either autumn or spring (evergreens
are better in spring) make a 2.5-5cm (1-2in) incision through
a leaf node approximately 30cm (12in) from the shoot tip and
wedge open with a small piece of wood; wounding encourages
roots to form. Applying hormone rooting powder to the cut
may help.
Step 3: Make a shallow trench, 10-15cm (4-6in)
deep and peg the wounded section into the bottom, using metal
pins. Alternatively, sink a small pot containing John Innes
Seed Compost and peg into that.
Step 4: Secure the stem tip above ground by tying to a vertical cane.
Step 5: Back fill the trench with soil and firm. Water in.
Step 6: A decent root system should develop in 12 months. Lift, sever and transplant the layers to their final positions.
For climbers such as Clematis, Lonicera, Parthenocissus, Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris, Vitis coignetiae and Wisteria use serpentine layering. The steps are identical to simple layering but more nodes along the rest of the stem can also be wounded and pegged down, each giving a new plant. Allow unpegged sections of stem to ‘loop’ above soil level.
Some vigorous shrubs (e.g. Cotinus, Cornus, Prunus tenella) are suitable for the highly productive French layering. Prune back one-year-old stock plants to 5cm (2in) from the ground in spring. The following spring, peg all new shoots to the ground radiating outwards. As sideshoots grow, mound up with 5cm (2in) of soil. Lift and separate rooted sections in autumn.
Tip layering works for Rubus species,
including blackberry and loganberry. Simply bury the shoot
tip 7.5cm (3in) into the soil in late spring, and lift in
autumn.
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