CUTTINGS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 13

CUTTINGS

-Most gardeners at some time or other have a turn at making and planting cuttings. To the experienced hand there is nothing in cutting making, although even with experience it is difficult to get 100 per cent, take of many varieties. When cuttings are easily obtained and those varieties which will root without any trouble need no comment. Cuttings should always be cut clean across the base, leaving no rags of skin or bark. Most cuttings root at a leaf node best, but not all, some rooting best when cut between the nodes, but in all rases cut clean. When inserting cuttings see that the base is resting firmly on the soil and that there is no air space at the base. There is often a reference to the callousing of cuttings. When the cut is made the cuttings proceed at once to heal the wound and cover it with a sponge-like growth. In some cuttings this callous makes quite a large mass, in others it is scarcely visible, but it is present, otherwise the cutting will commence to decay. It is from this callous that the roots will proceed so that once this commences to form it can be assumed that the cutting will root.