How to Grow Jasmine from a Cutting

How to grow jasmine from a cutting ©1995 Photo copyright Nari Bhatia

Jasmine is known as one of the most perfumed flowers you can grow. Whether used for tea, perfume, garden or home decoration, it is a great plant to grow. A true 'Jasmine' is from the Jasminum family though the term is used as a common name for some other sweet-smelling, flowering plants. One common factor between most Jasmines, however, is that you can propagate most of them in a similar way. Here is some information on how to grow a Jasmine plant from a cutting.

Instructions

1. There are quite a few different kinds of jasmine plants you can grow in a garden or a pot. True Jasmines are tropical plants and will not handle frosts at all. Some of the other plants referred to as Jasmine can take some light frost, but none are good with temperatures much below 25' F.

2. Most Jasmines are vines or bushes like the Confederate Jasmine (Trachelospermum), Primrose Jasmine (Jasminum mesnyi), Carolina Jasmine (Gelsimium), Common Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), Royal Jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum), Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum), Madasgar Jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda), Jasmine Sambac or Arabian Jasmine (Jasminum sambac), among others.

   Although these are all loosely grouped into Jasmines, only the ones with the Jasminum latin names are true Jasmines. The others are also very beautiful garden or house plants and also have lovely scented flowers.

3. What all these Jasmines have in common is similar needs for propagation. You can grow most of them reasonably easily from cuttings.

4. Make sure you use a sanitized medium like sterilized potting soil, vermiculite, perlite, peat, sand or a combination of these. You can sterilize your soil in the microwave if in doubt.

5. Take cuttings that are two to three inches long with the base cut just below a leaf. Remove bottom leaves to leave nodes. Dip the ends in a rooting hormone powder and press them into moistened, sterilized soil. You may want to use a clear plastic dome to provide humidity, though if things are not sufficiently sterile you may get some fungus problems with a dome. Or you can simply mist the cuttings several times a day. Put them in a place with good light but no direct sun. Keep them warm at temperatures above 75' F if possible. A little bottom heat, like using a propagation warming mat, can help. I give the cuttings regular heavily diluted feedings, especially if the cuttings are rooting in a medium that has no compost or potting soil mixed in.

6. Different types of Jasmine can root at different rates. In my experience, the true Jasmines are slow and usually take at least a month to establish a beginning root system.

7. Once your cuttings have formed a small network of roots, gently move the plant to a larger container -- a 2" - 4" pot is ideal -- with normal potting soil. Keep your new plants well watered and warm until they are solidly rooted. Then you can move them to their final indoor pots, plant them up into one-gallon pots or plant them directly into the garden when the weather is warm.

8. For more information on Jasmine plants and how to grow jasmine from a cutting, please see the Resources below.

Resources

• About some jasmines
• Top Tropicals: all about Jasmine sambac
• True jasmines
• Jasmine plants
• Gates and Croft Landscape Design and plants
• Garden and flower blog