The creation of tiny trees
It was a windy November afternoon when, armed with secateurs, we collected semi-ripe cuttings from a conifer named Lawson’s cypress ‘Ellwoodii’ Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Ellwoodii’. This pretty evergreen tree, with an upright habit and grey-green foliage, was the perfect subject as it can be used as hedging, is low maintenance and looks fantastic in a formal or informal setting. 
Fully hardy, this cultivar prefers full sun and thrives in exposed or sheltered positions and in gardens which point to any direction on the compass.
Our aim is to propagate exact copies of the mother plant and semi-ripe cutting propagation is one of the ways to produce new plants which will be clones of their mother.
Ideally the optimum period for propagation for this type of cutting is during August and September where it is possible to achieve 100% rooting, but we decided to take a chance and do it in November. Wish us luck!
Our target mother plant was a juvenile, free from pests and disease, and one which has not reached the point of reproduction. This will allow the clones to root better. We checked that the cultivar was true to type first before setting about cutting.
We gathered 15 cuttings, ensuring they were all of a similar size and placed them carefully into a plastic bag and tied the top to keep them from drying out and in optimum condition. We could have stored them in the fridge overnight but thought it better to get on with the job in hand – no time like the present!
We mixed peat-free compost with perlite 50/50 to aerate the little plants and to allow adequate drainage and pressed the mixture into a tray.
We lined them up and decided to wound some of the cuttings (drag a knife along the stem) as we are told it aids rooting and inserted each of them into a module after dipping them into water and hormone rooting powder.
Because our cuttings were taken in autumn we treated them to bottom heat by giving them the luxury accommodation of a heated propagator.
Sleep tight tiny trees – we can’t wait to see you when your roots have grown!
