How to Cut & Clone Herbs

Root Cuttings

• 1

  Take healthy tip cuttings, 4 to 6 inches long, in late spring or summer, which will root more quickly than fall cuttings. Use a sharp, clean knife to minimize damage to the parent plant.

• 2

  Strip all leaves off the bottom half of each cutting. Also remove any flowers or flower buds, so cuttings will use energy and stored carbohydrates only to develop roots and shoots. Place the cuttings in water.

• 3

  Fill the rooting pots with a 50-50 mixture of sphagnum moss and perlite. Thoroughly moisten the rooting medium and allow all excess moisture to drain. Make "rooting holes" several inches deep in each planting pot, using the pencil.

• 4

  Dust the bottom half of each stem with sterile rooting hormone. Stick each cutting into a rooting half. Firm the rooting mixture around each cutting. Water each pot well, and allow all excess moisture to drain.

• 5

  Stick bamboo stakes on opposite sides of each pot. Slide each pot sideways into a clear plastic bag, creating a high-humidity temporary greenhouse. The stakes will hold the plastic up and away from the cuttings.

• 6

  Place the "greenhouse pots" in warm room near a window with bright but indirect light. Roots should develop within two to four weeks, and at that point new plants can be potted up separately.

Layer Stems

• 7

  Choose a healthy and flexible stem that is long enough to easily bend down to the soil's surface. Hold the branch close to the ground and then bend the tip of the stem -- a section at least 6 to 12 inches long -- into a vertical position.

• 8

  Bury the "bend" 3 to 6 inches underground. Scrape or otherwise "wound" the underside of the bend if desired, to encourage rooting. Anchor the bent stem in the soil with a wire loop. Water thoroughly.

• 9

  Leave the rooting stem in place until the following spring. Cut the stem connected to the parent plant just beyond the new plant's roots. Lift the new plant and either pot it or plant in elsewhere in a permanent location.