Can nasturtiums be grown from cuttings?
Nasturtiums are usually grown from seeds but can also be propagated from cuttings during the warm growing seasons, the best period being spring or late summer when weather is milder.
How to make a nasturtium cutting:
- Cut a piece around 10cm (4”) long, making the cut below a leaf. The reason we do this is because cuttings of all plants usually root at the leaf nodes, which are buds at the bases of the leaf stems.
- Strip off the leaves from the lower 2/3 of the cutting. If there are still to many leaves, cut each of the leaves in half to reduce water loss. The end or base of the cutting can be dipped in rooting hormone if desired, but this step is optional.
- Fill a plant pot with a potting mix, propagating medium, or coconut coir.
- Insert one-third to one-half of the length of the cutting into the propagating medium, and place the pot in a location that’s protected from wind and harsh sun.
In a few weeks, the cutting will grow new leaves, indicating the cutting has taken root.
For more information on propagating plants which don’t lose their leaves, see my article – Propagating Softwood Cuttings
These questions are submitted by readers. If you have any questions of your own, please add them to the comments below or email them to deep_green@optusnet.com.au if you would like them answered. Make sure to include pictures in your emails if they help explain a garden problem!
Thank you for your gardening blog, found very useful and informative.
Read your latest but wondering why on earth you would want to propagate nasturtiums when seeds are so cheap and easy to grow. I planted a few varieties some years ago and they became rampant – have only just managed to eliminate them after seasons – never again! Just a warning.
Thanks for asking, this is a new series of gardening questions from readers that I have started to post alongside my main articles, and though I’m not always aware of the reasons behind some of the question, I aim to provide helpful answers that are informative and educational. I would guess that a gardener might perhaps want to take a cutting of a nasturtium after seeing one with an amazing flower colour in a friend’s garden.
Good point, nasturtiums do grow easily from seed, and it’s usually possible to find a few seedlings growing around the parent plants. They sure can become rampant, which is why they work great as a living mulch under fruit trees to suppress weeds and reduce soil evaporation in summer.
To control rampant nasturtiums, I like to set them limits! I use some garden feature as a marker for how far I want to let my nasturtiums spread. Once they cross over that boundary, I prune them back with hedge clippers and add them to my compost, worm farms or mulch them and place them back where they were growing to return the soil nutrients. 🙂