Boxwood cuttings: [Concept, Season, Rooting and Sowing]

What does it mean to plant by cuttings?

Planting by cuttings is a technique by which a mother plant is sown and reproduced, using a fragment of it.

The cuttings for planting are obtained from the leaves, rhizomes, stems and roots of a plant that is in good phytosanitary condition and well developed.

The fragments or cuttings can be: tender, juvenile, semi-mature, woody, bud, foliar and root. Horticulturists recommend this planting technique as it is very useful for those plants that do not produce seeds or that produce a limited number of them.

With this planting method, a good number of plants can be multiplied from a single specimen: homogeneous and of good commercial quality. Currently, planting by cuttings is a method widely used by gardening enthusiasts because it is simple and easy to carry out.

Boxwood is a species that can be reproduced by planting woody and semi-woody cuttings. 

What is the best time to plant boxwood cuttings?

Although the boxwood plant tolerates direct sun very well, while the cuttings are in development, it is preferable to place them in a semi-shady place, with light but without sun.

How to get boxwood cuttings to root properly?

Boxwood cuttings from young plants, especially when they are in full growth, are more likely to root. 

To ensure that the boxwood plants root properly, the cuttings must be treated with growth regulators of the auxin type that accelerate their growth and increase the quality of the roots.

Boxwood cuttings, being a semi-woody plant difficult to root, should be treated with the most concentrated preparations of rooting hormones. For this, it is recommended to impregnate the boxwood cuttings with powdered hormones for woody plants.

How should we take the boxwood cuttings to plant them?

For the preparation of the boxwood cuttings it is necessary to cut a stem of 13 to 15 cm, which comes from a healthy and robust plant. 

Then the leaves are removed from the lower half of the branches and proceed to perform a treatment with water (1lt) and chlorine (10ml) to disinfect them.

The best boxwood cuttings are semi-woody stems, meaning branches that have grown in the same year but are at the end of the growing season.

Specialists recommend that gardening utensils be well disinfected to take boxwood cuttings to prevent them from becoming contaminated with fungi or bacteria.

How long should we leave boxwood cuttings in water?

The lower third of the cutting is introduced into the substrate and trapped with the hands to avoid any air remaining. Horticulturists recommend maintaining the polarity of the cutting, that is, driving the stake into the substrate from the lower end, not the upper end, for best results.

Is it convenient to use compost or compost?

The boxwood plant requires the use of a compost or compost for green plants or organic fertilizers such as guano , horse manure , worm humus , among others.

With the fertilizer it is guaranteed that the boxwood cuttings can obtain the necessary nutrients to reproduce a new robust and healthy plant .

It is also recommended to hydrate the substrate with a mixture of peat and vermiculite so that once the cuttings are rooted, transplantation can be facilitated.

The boxwood cuttings should be placed in a greenhouse with a temperature around 20 to 24 ° C, approximately and that do not receive direct sunlight or drafts. Watering the box should be done every three or four days, preferably by sprinkling .

The boxwood plant can be adapted to all types of soil, but the ideal should be to place the crop in a neutral soil or something calcareous . 

How long does it usually take for a boxwood cutting to come out?

The time it takes for a boxwood cutting to root depends on the species, the type of cutting, the age of the stem, the way it was prepared, and the humidity and temperature conditions. 

In the case of semi-woody cuttings such as boxwood, the roots begin to emerge in about 3 weeks and it can take up to five months to produce a new plant.

For the boxwood planting to be carried out successfully, it is recommended to transplant into individual pots (14 cm in diameter approx.) In the morning and leave watering for 15 minutes to avoid suffering from water stress. 

After a few days of acclimatization, the box will be able to receive sunlight and a little liquid fertilizer.