Images: Maya Albert
Ivy makes useful evergreen ground cover in areas where little else will grow, and can be used to attractively clothe shaded walls, fences and wooden structures. It comes in many lovely forms, with architectural cut and curled leaves, plus a huge variety of colours and variegations.
Ivy is one of the easiest of plants to propagate from cuttings, so makes a good first choice for the novice gardener who hasn’t had success with previous attempts at propagation. Because ivy grows nearly all year round in mild areas (albeit more slowly in winter), cuttings can be taken at any time of year. If young growth is available, then softwood or semi-ripe cuttings can be taken. If no young growth is visible, then mature hardwood cuttings usually work just as well.
Selecting suitable cuttings material
Choose only healthy shoots, free of pests and diseases, and typical in their appearance and growth. Take the cuttings material in the morning, when it has its maximum water content, and is at less risk of wilting.
You can select for propagation either juvenile, climbing, ivy or mature, non-climbing ivy (at maturity, ivy becomes more like a shrub than a climber, with larger leaves and spreading growth, flowering every autumn). Juvenile ivy roots faster than mature ivy.
If you choose to propagate mature ivy, then find a shoot that isn’t flowering (preferably taking your cuttings outside of the flowering season). New plants produced as cuttings from mature plants should have a mature pattern of growth, similar to the parent.
Taking the cuttings material
Remove one or two long shoots from the current year’s growth - you can divide it into individual cuttings once you are indoors or in the potting shed.
Distinguishing soft and semi-ripe from hardwood material
Growth of all stages can usually be found in the current year’s growth of any ivy plant, at most times of year. The long shoots removed above have softer, younger growth near the tip, and woodier, older growth further back along the shoot.
You can distinguish young from more mature growth by its feel (i.e. the degree to which the stem bends between the fingers) and its appearance:
- Softwood material: soft, green and pliable
- Semi-ripe material: a bit woodier and more resistant, but still slightly pliable and green
- Hardwood material: hard, woody, darker in colour, not pliable, but no thicker than a pencil in girth, and from the current year’s growth.
Preparing the cuttings
The soft tips of new ivy growth can be prepared as softwood tip cuttings. Semi-ripe ivy material can be prepared as internodal leaf-bud cuttings, and hardwood ivy is prepared like other hardwood cuttings.
These are some prepared hardwood cuttings from a large-leaved (left) and a small-leaved (right) ivy.
The leaves of the large-leaved ivy have been cut to reduce their size. This reduces water loss from the leaf while the cutting is growing its roots, and also allows closer spacing of adjacent cuttings.
The lower leaves have been removed from each hardwood cutting, to create a clear stem that can be inserted into the compost or soil.
Each node (where there was previously a leaf) has the potential to develop roots when placed into a moist growing medium. The large-leaved ivy has more widely spaced nodes than the small-leaved ivy, so requires a deeper pot just to bury two nodes under the surface of the compost.
Always prepare hardwood cuttings so that the lower cut is just below a node, and the upper cut just above a node, slanting away from the leaf stalk. This prevents water from collecting on the leaf stalk, and reduces the likelihood of rots developing.
This photograph shows internodal leaf bud cuttings being prepared. Each cutting has a single leaf and a short length of stem, cut just above the next node down the shoot. This means that each cutting’s stem is the bit between the two nodes (hence internodal cuttings). Although most cuttings root best from their nodes, and are cut just below a node at the bottom (nodal cuttings), ivy roots so easily that it grows fine as from internodal cuttings, allowing every bit of the material to be used for cuttings without wastage.
If necessary, cuttings can be stored until you are ready to plant them. Simply place them inside a damp plastic bag and leave them in the fridge for up to a few days.
Striking the cuttings
This is the process of planting the cuttings. Ivy grows so easily that it will root even in open soil (light-medium, well-drained soils only). A special nursery bed can be used, or they can be struck in their final position in the garden. However, cuttings are easier to monitor in pots, and less likely to be trampled or damaged accidentally.
The hardwood and internodal leaf-bud cuttings prepared above have been struck into pots of compost; hardwood cuttings left and internodal leaf-bud cuttings right.
Holes were made in the compost for the cuttings to be inserted into (rather than ramming them directly into the compost). You can buy a dibber to do this, but a clean and suitably shaped household tool that is kept for this purpose is also fine.
Hormone rooting compound is not necessary for ivy, as it roots very easily on its own.
These cuttings have been struck into multipurpose compost. Ivy is not fussy about compost, and most types are fine for ivy cuttings, but specific cuttings compost makes the best choice, having the sharp drainage that is required to ensure that cuttings don’t rot off at the base before they have developed roots.
Watering in
The cuttings are watered in after striking, using a watering can without a rose, a jug, or a hose turned down to low pressure. Watering after striking settles the compost around the cuttings, so that they are in complete contact with the growing medium, without any air pockets getting in the way. The compost should be wet through and then left to drain.
Aftercare
Ivy cuttings can be placed in a cold frame or an unheated propagating case, or they can be kept indoors in a bright, cool room.
Cuttings taken in the winter will benefit from having the cold frame lid closed, for protection from winds and heavy rain, but those taken in the summer can be scorched by hot sunlight through the glass lid, so are best left uncovered.
Indoor cuttings will benefit from being on a sunny windowsill in the winter (when light levels are low), but should be moved away from direct sun in the summer, when leaf scorch and drought are real possibilities. Avoid strong draughts, direct sources of heat such as radiators and greenhouse fan heaters, and keep the compost just moist at a finger’s depth - do not overwater, but don't allow the surface of the compost to become bone dry.
Increase humidity levels around the cuttings by keeping them inside an unheated propagator case with the vents open, or covered with a clear plastic bag that has been stretched over a wire frame anchored in the compost, with holes pierced in it to allow for ventilation. Do not let the leaves touch the side of the plastic bag, as they could rot in the condensation that tends to collect there.
Remove any cuttings that show signs of disease, rot or pest problems.
Semi-ripe ivy cuttings should root in four to eight weeks, and hardwood cuttings in about eight weeks. A very light tug on the tip of the cutting should indicate whether rooting has occurred (rooted cuttings resist being pulled out, whereas un-rooted cuttings pull out easily). Pot them on individually to grow on into single pot plants, planting them out the following spring (hardwood cuttings) or autumn (semi-ripe cuttings). Make sure that greenhouse-grown plants have a period of hardening off before being planted out into the open garden.
Maya Albert