How to Propagate Jasminum

Propagation by Cutting

• 1

  Harvest your cuttings in summer when the wood is semi-soft and young. Wipe your pruners with alcohol to sterilize them. Cut a 6-inch section off the tip of the plant and strip off 1 to 2 inches of leaves at the cut end.

• 2

  Fill a seed tray with half peat moss and half sand. This soil-less mix will prevent rot, drains well and will have few organic pathogens already living in the media. Dip the cut end of the stem into rooting hormone to promote the formation of root cells.

• 3

  Moisten the planting medium completely and insert 1 to 2 inches of the cutting into the tray. Press the medium around it to hold it upright and place the lid on the tray. Put the tray in a room that is at least 60 degrees F in low light.

• 4

  Keep the cutting moist by misting daily. In approximately four weeks roots will begin to form. You can then move the plant to a sunny location. Continue misting for four more weeks and then plant the cutting out.

Propagation by Air Layering

• 5

  Wound a stem on the Jasminum in spring. Choose a one-year-old stem and trim off leaves and flowers on 1 foot of the growth. Cut a angled slice that is 1 inch long at a bud node. Don't remove the section of wood. It should be a long notch in the plant material that is still attached.

• 6

  Dab rooting hormone in the wound. Moisten a small amount of sphagnum moss and tuck it into the notch. Wrap the wound with black plastic to seal out light and keep the area moist. Secure it with twine.

• 7

  Put 3 to 4 inches of sphagnum moss around the plastic and secure with plastic wrap. Check the cutting every week to make sure it is still moist and to check for roots. Rooting will likely take several months.

• 8

  Remove the packing when you see roots pushing out. Sever the wood from the parent plant 1 to 2 inches below the new roots. Plant the new growth in soil-less medium and grow on until root formation is strong.