Taking chrysanthemum cu ings
Those taken now will need about three weeks to root Chrysanthemums
John Peace (earlies)
This is the ideal time to start rooting your chrysanthemum plants. I’ll be rooting early disbuds first, including incurves and intermediates (incurving types), and my reflexes about two to three weeks later.
I’ll be taking cuttings from my over-wintered stools (last year’s plants). Using a sharp knife, cut off any green material as close to the bottom as you can. It doesn’t really matter if you have to take it off the stem – it only means it may flower a little bit earlier, that’s all. When you take the cuttings off the stools, try to take them at least 5-7.5cm (23in) in height. If your stools haven’t over-wintered
well and you don’t have any cutting material, don’t worry, as you can get an order from one of the many chrysanthemum suppliers online.
I find a peat mix is the best option for rooting cuttings, although I’ve also had good results with coir compost. I do believe in the next few years peat will be hard to get.
You can use rooting powder if you wish, but I don’t bother with it and I never have any trouble. Put your cuttings into a standard seed tray, then water them in and place then onto a propagator or a heated bench, at a temperature of 15C (59F). On hot, sunny days your plants will benefit from being covered with a sheet of fleece or newspaper to stop them from wilting in the sun. Just keep an eye on them, they probably won’t need watering again for at least another week or two.
It will take approximately 21 days for them to root, and then you’ll need to remove them from the heated bench and keep them in a frost-free greenhouse.