There is a brand new invention for gardening to make their own plants directly off the stems of their existing garden plants. This new product is called the Cutting Globe and its elegance is in its simplicity. On first seeing the cutting globe you may not expect much but they are truly capable of wonderful things
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- The Cutting Globe
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- magnolia
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- Globe & Olearia
Within just 8 weeks of using these globes you can cut away and have a brand new plant for little effort or money. Not only that, the globes come in a range of sizes meaning that not only shrubs but also trees and perennials too can be propagated
The cutting globes consist of a hollow plastic sphere which can be locked in around the stems of any and many of your garden plants. It is in this sphere, that over the coming weeks new roots will form from the plant’s stems. Once sufficient roots have develop you can then cut away the stem and roots giving you a new plant
The process is very simple and all you will need is a small amount of compost – basically a handful per globe, some rooting power to speed up the process of root formation and a secateurs to cut away your new plants once roots have formed
This method of plant propagation is wonderful for its simplicity and its results. You can propagation stems to a thickness of approx. 1.5cm which can be up to 3 years old. This means that through this method of propagation you can make a new ‘3 year old plant’ in just 8 weeks!
To be more accurate this process is in fact a process of fragmentation and not propagation. Fragmentation is a process in plants where a part of piece of the parent plant breaks away and forms roots (or forms roots and breaks away) to grow as an entirely new plant (but with identical genes & characteristics as the parent plant)
Fragmentation only occurs naturally in a small selection of plants including strawberries, potatoes and weeds such as dandelions. The cutting globe and some basic gardening skills can initiate the process of fragmentation in almost every garden plant including:
- Roses
- Dogwood
- Pyracantha
- Wieglia
- PhiliadelphusMost of our native plants including Oaks & Birch
The list is so long it’s not worth writing. With the cutting globes we can makes trials and experiments with all our favourite garden plants. A few tips when using the cutting globes:
- Soak the compost before adding to the globe
- Put a good layer of rooting powder on the stem
- 1 to 2 year old stems are more responsive & produce better roots than older stems
- This method can be done most the year, but not during the frosty weather & freezing conditions