A Plant Propagation Tip: Make a Mini Greenhouse

by

A couple weeks ago my wife stopped an bought us some croissants at the grocery store for dinner.  The croissants came in a clear plastic box container.  It was a little over a foot long and a little less than that wide, but the dimensions don’t really matter.  The plastic box was tall enough to work in an idea I had.  I brought the box out to the garden with my pruners and some rooting hormone.  You can probably see where this is going.

I went to the front garden where I have three ‘Otto Luyken’ laurels as foundation plantings and took 13-14 cuttings from them.  The cuttings ranged between 4 and 6 inches long. I stripped the cuttings of all leaves except for 1-2 at the top of each cutting.  Then I dipped the cuttings in the rooting hormone and stuck them right in the ground directly behind the laurels.

My laurels are resting on the north side of our house. This time of year these evergreen shrubs don’t get a whole lot of sun so the cuttings should be well protected from too much sun.  I covered the cuttings with my clear plastic box then set a brick on top to hold them down.  The open soil next to the mini-greenhouse will absorb and allow the water to visit the base of the cuttings and the humidity dome will keep the cuttings’ leaves from drying out. In about 6-8 weeks I should be able to transplant my new little laurels into pots to grow on into larger plants.

It always a good idea to see if you can reuse something! Have you re-purposed anything lately?

4 thoughts on “A Plant Propagation Tip: Make a Mini Greenhouse”

  1. Thank you so much for so many very informative posts! You are one of my "go to" blogs. I'm one of the Tipton Co. TN Master Gardeners and I'll be writing this month's newsletter. I will recommend your blog and include a link.

  3. is it too early to take cuttings of deciduous shrubs? I would really like to propagate a purple smoke bush and an oak leaf hydrangea i bought in memory of my mom. Thanks in advance dave

    • Danny,

      Try layering the oak leaf hydrangea. That is the easiest and most sure fire way to propagate one. I've rooted them a couple times but getting them strong enough to make it through the winter has been a challenge! Layered oak leaf hydrangeas haven't been an issue at all.

      Smoke bush should probably wait until late spring to get a semi-ripe cutting from. You could try layering it too if you have any low hanging branches.

      I hope that helps!

Comments are closed.