How to Grow Lavender from Cuttings

Cutting-propagated lavender matures faster than seed-born plants.

The fragrance and color of lavender evokes imagery of the rolling, sun-drenched hills of Provence, where it is often cultivated for use in perfumery, cooking and herbal medicine. Numerous species and cultivars of lavender exist, but all possess to some degree the intense, herbaceous scent and delicate flowers the genus Lavandula is known for. Of the various propagation methods used to grow lavender, cuttings provide the most reliable and fastest results. Once potted, lavender cuttings rapidly put down roots and are ready to go in the ground in just a few weeks.

Things You'll Need

• 4-inch pots
• Sharp sand
• Perlite
• Compost
• 0.3-percent IBA (indole butyric acid) rooting hormone
• Plant mister

Instructions

1. Prepare rooting pots for the lavender cuttings before taking them from the ground. Fill 4-inch pots with rooting medium comprised of two parts sharp sand, one part perlite and one part compost. Dampen the rooting medium with 1/4 cup of water.

2. Collect a 3- to 4-inch-long cutting from a healthy lavender plant. Take a side shoot of one-year-old growth from a mature, two- to three-year-old branch. Grasp the base of the shoot. Bend it back against the direction of growth to pull off a small "heel" of mature wood from the main branch.

3. Remove the foliage from the bottom 1.5 inches of the lavender cutting. Apply a thin layer of 0.3-percent IBA rooting hormone to the bottom 1.5 inches of the cutting, paying special attention to the "heel" of mature wood at the base.

4. Poke a 1.5-inch-deep hole in the rooting medium. Slip the base of the lavender cutting into the rooting medium. Press the medium against the base of the cutting to hold it upright.

5. Place the lavender cuttings under warm, bright conditions during rooting. Mist the lavender cuttings at least once daily with a plant mister to keep the leaves healthy, or place the potted cuttings in a greenhouse under an intermittent misting system.

6. Check for roots in four to six weeks by gently tugging on the base of the cutting. Plant the lavender cuttings outdoors in a permanent bed one week after rooting.

References

• "American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques"; Alan Toogood; 1999
• New Mexico State University: Master Gardener Newsletter: Lavender
• Lavender Association of Western Colorado: Lavender Propagation

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish