The common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is an easy-to-grow plant that has a lovely scent and can be grown in pots or the ground. Jasmine will flourish from a cutting if you give it full sun to partial shade and medium amounts of water. Unless you live in one of the USDA’s seven through ten plant hardiness zones, you can bring a jasmine plant indoors for the winter.
When Should You Make a Cut?
To get the most out of jasmine’s spring and fall blooms, it needs a lot of pruning afterward. You can utilize some of the trimmings from pruning to start new plants. For semi-hardwood cuttings, such as jasmine, take cuttings right after blooming from the plant’s current season’s growth. Preparing your pot before taking a cutting ensures that the stem of your plant is exposed to the air for as little time as possible, allowing you to get your cuttings in sooner rather than later.
What Can Be Slashed
Follow these steps to make sure your cuttings are a success:
- To remove the tip of a stem, use sharp pruners or flower scissors. Make a small slash slightly beneath the point where a leaf joins the stem.
- Removing any dead or dying blooms or buds from the cutting’s tip is essential. Roots, not flowers, are where all the plant’s energy should be directed.
- The cutting should have no more than the top three leaves removed. You don’t want any leaves to come into contact with the soil, as this can lead to leaf rot.
Tip
Keep pests and diseases from spreading from one plant to the next by making it a practice to disinfect your pruning shears or scissors after each use with rubbing alcohol or alcohol wipes.
How to Grow a Plant
A commercial potting soil or well-draining garden soil would work nicely for jasmine plants. Here’s how to plant a cutting:
- Use a chopstick or the back of a trowel to make a depression in the soil. In order to avoid losing any rooting hormone powder when inserting the cutting into the hole, make the hole slightly larger than your stem.
- Rooting powder can be stored in a small plastic bag or medicine cup. You should be able to see about a half-inch-long section of the stem covered in the powder. Dip the stem in water and shake off any excess before dipping it into the powder if the powder doesn’t stick.
- Gently push the earth around the cutting after placing it in the soil about two to three inches deep.
- Only wet the soil around the cutting with water.
Warning
Pests and weather can destroy cuttings that are rooted in the ground outside. Plant the jasmine cuttings in pots and allow them to establish roots and grow for a few weeks before replanting them in their permanent location for the best results.
Make sure the cutting is done correctly
To ensure that the leaves of your jasmine cutting do not dry up before the roots of the plant development, it is essential that you maintain a sufficient humidity level around it. To avoid overheating, keep the container out of direct sunlight. Choose one of the following strategies to keep cuttings moist in a pot or other container:
- Seal the bag with a rubber band or twist tie, encasing as much air as possible before securing the bag shut.
- You can use a plastic container with the bottom cut off but the top cap still attached to cover your pot. Check the cutting every few days to see if the soil is still damp where the jar or jug rests on the soil or in the saucer beneath the pot.
Tip
Be patient while you await the germination of your jasmine cutting. It may take up to four to five weeks before it is ready to be planted permanently.
