How to Root Hops from Stem Cuttings

Photo by Michael Styne

A few years back, I was gifted some Humulus Lupulus 'Cascade' hop rhizomes to plant in an empty space in my yard for use in future beer brewing. 

We tended them so carefully and marked their spot in our yard so as not to mow over  any newly sprouting hop tendrils and then watched with excitement as they appeared, and grew, and grew some more until we had more growth than we ever expected. 

Hops grow fast and even are even considered invasive by some gardeners but it is not listed on the USDA Invasive Species List. (https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=12189) They are a perennial bine that grows easily from 10 to 20 feet high in full sun with plenty of water and in good soil. Yes, a reliable means of asexual propagation is by splitting off some of the rhizomes that grow outward from the central root mass, but there is another way...

Did you know you don't have to do any digging? You can root cuttings from actively growing hops. 

Hops

My procedure is pretty simple.

1.  I remove a section of the bine, usually when I am pruning the plant in the spring and early summer. 
2. Trim the section into smaller 6-8 inch pieces that each have three to four growing nodes. 
3. Trim extra leaves, leaving one leaf at the top to photosynthesize carbohydrates for the cutting.
4. Place the cutting into a prepared rooting mix of dampened coco coir and vermiculite mix so that the top growth node is sitting on the top of the mixture.
5. Keep the cutting moist but not wet  and in a shady but warm spot for the next two weeks or so or until you notice the new roots.
6. Transfer the cutting to a plant pot filled with regular potting soil  and keep moist until you are ready to plant it outside in a permanent location.

Freshly sprouted hop plant

Note: These plants are so easy to root that I have just stuck my pruned cuttings into a bucket of water and forgotten about them for a couple of weeks only to find they had rooted themselves, so don't be too intimidated by the details.

If you would like a more in depth article on this process, you can click here. 

I hope you give rooting a hop vine a try, as I think you will be happily rewarded for your efforts.

Just make sure you are not propagating a patented vine. You can just insert the variety of the hop name on the Google Patent Search page and find out quickly whether you can proceed legally.

Sometimes in the early spring, I sell Cascade Hop cuttings on my Etsy page, Wildflower Run.

Starting New Red Currant Bushes From Cuttings

Red Currants

One of my favorite plants to grow is red currants. I am not sure exactly why it is my favorite as I have struggled to get mine to grow in my current (:-) yard until this last year. There is something about the brown sticks pushing out their buds in the early spring and then the strings of green berries that slowly ripen into translucent balls of deep red beautifulness that just inspires me. On the other hand, I don't really enjoy picking them as they are small, somewhat hard to harvest and easily squished. But again, they are just beautiful!

A couple of years ago, I discovered the joy of propagating red currants from cuttings. Back then, my only experience was concord grapes and roses and so I tried using the same method. I would take a few hardwood cuttings in the fall when the plant was dormant and just lay them flat covered with about 6 inches of soil in a trench for the winter. Some springtime, I would unearth them and plant the ones with roots emerging. But that took a long time.

Strands of Ripe Currants

Now, I found through watching some gardeners in the UK that they simply chop off a few branches and place them  in a jar of water until they see white roots emerging. This method only takes a few weeks - not all winter.  

Here is my simple method that you can try at home if you or a friend has a currant bush (or gooseberry or jostaberry) and you want to increase your plant stock.

• Cut a branch off a healthy currant bush after a node, close to the base of the plant. 
• Cut the branch into 6-inch sections, each with at least two nodes, preferably three nodes. I cut flat at the top just after a node and angled at the bottom just before a node.
• Set the cuttings directly into water.*
• Place the container in a sunny but warm spot like a kitchen window or under a grow light for four to six weeks. Check the water periodically and refresh it if it becomes cloudy.
• Once the roots start to appear, transplant the rooted cutting into potting soil and keep moist until you see vigorous growth. 
• Plant outside in a permanent location in late fall or early spring.

*Alternatively, you can dip the end of the cutting in rooting hormone and then place it directly into damp potting soil. Firm the soil around the cutting and water it before setting it in a sunny warm space.

Currants seem to need fertile soil with plenty of organic matter and only 6 hours or so of sunlight. I had one year with almost no growth on my bushes and then found after I applied a thick mulch of mushroom soil that they sprang to life and doubled in size. 

Red currant bush ready for picking with fresh ripe berries 

I don't do much to my currants other than mulch in the spring and then cut out three year old branches at their base during the winter. They are a nice easy addition to our permaculture garden and the beautiful berries sparkle on top of desserts on our morning cereal.  When I have an abundance of berries to harvest, I always have to figure out if I am going to freeze them as is, or make beautiful ruby red jelly,  or currant jam or even a red currant liqueur. Such a nice dilemma!

I do sell some of my successfully rooted Red Currant cuttings on my Etsy page, Wildflower Run, if you don't have a source for them.