How to Take a Cutting From a Snowball Bush
The lovely snowball bush (viburnum) is an asset to any sunny landscape with its lush foliage and beautifully white, round blossoms. When you successfully tend a snowball bush, you may naturally desire to propagate new bushes to spread this beauty around your landscape. Take a cutting from a snowball bush in the first half of the growing season and create new snowball bushes for your growing areas.
Prepare the rooting container by filling it with coarse sand or vermiculite. Saturate the rooting medium thoroughly by running water over it. Allow the container to drain completely.
Cut a stem from the snowball bush that is the current year’s growth. Current stems on the shrub are suitable for rooting when you bend a stem and it snaps into two pieces. Select a 6-inch stem with leaves and cut the stem just under a leaf node.
- The lovely snowball bush (viburnum) is an asset to any sunny landscape with its lush foliage and beautifully white, round blossoms.
- Take a cutting from a snowball bush in the first half of the growing season and create new snowball bushes for your growing areas.
Remove any blossoms from the end of the stem and remove the leaves from the bottom half of the stem. Insert the bottom 2 inches of the stem into the rooting hormone.
Insert your finger into the center of the sand or vermiculite and then insert the prepared cutting into the hole approximately 2 inches deep. Press the rooting medium firmly around the cutting so it stands upright in the container.
Water the sand or vermiculite enough to saturate it thoroughly. Place the plastic bag over the top of the container, tenting the bag over the cutting so the bag does not touch the cutting. Attach the bag with the rubber band to secure it to the top of the container.
- Remove any blossoms from the end of the stem and remove the leaves from the bottom half of the stem.
- Press the rooting medium firmly around the cutting so it stands upright in the container.
Place the container in a warm location with natural light but keep the cutting from direct sunlight.
Water the sand or vermiculite when it dries out, saturating the medium and allowing it to drain completely.
Watch the cutting for indications that roots are forming beneath the medium. When you see new growth on the cutting, roots are beginning to form. The cutting should root within four to six weeks.
Remove the plastic bag when the cutting roots and keep watering the sand or vermiculite to keep it evenly moist.
Transplant the cutting to a small container filled with potting soil approximately one week after removing the plastic bag. Continue to keep the soil evenly moist.
- Place the container in a warm location with natural light but keep the cutting from direct sunlight.
- Watch the cutting for indications that roots are forming beneath the medium.
Plant the new snowball bush outside approximately two to three weeks after transplanting the snowball bush to the potting soil.
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Writer Bio
Kathryn Hatter is a veteran home-school educator, as well as an accomplished gardener, quilter, crocheter, cook, decorator and digital graphics creator. As a regular contributor to Natural News, many of Hatter's Internet publications focus on natural health and parenting. Hatter has also had publication on home improvement websites such as Redbeacon.
