Can Gardenia Cuttings Be Rooted in Water? (What to Expect)

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Gardenias are incredibly popular due to how beautiful they are. They produce stunning flowers that are incredibly fragrant.

Planting shrubs such as this will always be a good idea when you’re looking to add some charm to your yard. If you already have a gardenia in your yard, then you already know how amazing it is.

You might be interested in trying to grow gardenias from cuttings. Is it actually possible to root gardenias in water, though?

Read on to learn all about rooting gardenia cuttings in water. You’ll learn whether it’s possible to successfully do this as well as how you should approach things to get the best results when propagating gardenias.

Yes, They Can

Before moving forward, you should know that you certainly can root gardenia cuttings in water. You just need to understand how to approach things so that you can get good results.

Below, you’re going to be able to learn about taking gardenia cuttings and how to get them to root in the water. Lots of people love doing this and it’s something that you’re going to enjoy as well.

Once you’ve read all of the information, you’re going to feel a lot more confident about doing this. You’ll have more gardenias to enjoy and it’ll be well worth the effort.

Take a Cutting

Taking a cutting from your gardenia bush is going to be the place to start. If you don’t get a good cutting, then getting the results that you’re hoping for will be tough.

To get a good cutting that will work for this purpose, it’s going to be necessary to ensure that you’re taking a cutting from a plant that is very healthy. You should never try to propagate plants that are diseased or appear to be weak in some way.

Diseases will be passed down to the cutting and it just won’t work out well. The next thing to know is how to take the cutting the right way.

You want to take the cutting at the tip of the branches. The best spot is where the branches have soft wood.

Try to take a cutting that is at least around five or six inches in length. This cutting should appear to be very healthy and it’ll be best if it has several leaves on it.

When you have the branch cutting that you want, it’s going to be time to remove the leaves that are located on the bottom half of the branch. This is because you don’t want these leaves to be in the water.

The top set of leaves will be able to stay intact. Next, you’re going to want to prepare the stem by cutting it at an angle on the bottom where you’ll be placing it in the water.

Cutting the stem at an angle this way allows it to absorb water easier. To get even better results, you can dip the end of the branch that you just cut in rooting hormone so that it can develop strong roots quickly.

It isn’t 100% necessary to use the rooting hormone to have success, but it is a recommended step. You can buy rooting hormone online or from a local nursery or garden center.

Setting up the Right Growing Conditions

You’re going to need to set up the right growing conditions for this to continue to go well. Picking out a good container to use will be very important.

You’re going to need some type of glass or plastic container that is tall enough to hold the stem. Ideally, you don’t want the container to be way too tall because it’d be hard to get the gardenia cutting to stay in place.

Bottles actually work really well when you’re trying to propagate gardenias like this. You could easily utilize an old water bottle or some type of beer bottle here.

Just ensure that you have a bottle, glass, vase, or container that is a good size for doing this. Once you’re ready to move forward, it’s going to be time to fill the container with room-temperature water.

You want there to be about one inch between the rim of the container and the top of the water. Don’t fill the container with any more water than that.

When this is done, it’s recommended to wrap a paper towel around your cutting. Then you’re supposed to lower the cutting into the container slowly.

The paper towel is meant to sort of secure the cutting and hold it up so the stem pokes through a hole in the paper towel and then remains at the top to kind of hold things into place.

You only want about two inches of the cutting to be submerged in the water. So do your best to lower the cutting into the container and secure it as best you can.

When all of that is done, you’re just going to need to find a window where you can place your cutting. A window that gets lots of sunshine in the morning and is shady during the afternoon would be ideal.

If you give the cutting too much bright sunlight then it could easily wither and die. Indirect sunlight will be much better for the cutting and you can find a spot for it based on that information.

How Long Will It Take for Roots to Form?

If all is going as planned, then it should take approximately one month for roots to form. You’re going to need to keep your eyes on the cutting to ensure that it’s doing well, though.

You can’t just leave the cutting alone once you’ve placed it in the water. It’s going to be necessary to give it more water from time to time.

Water will get used up and you’ll need to add more room temperature water to the container. You should never allow the water to get too low because the gardenia cutting needs that water to thrive and grow roots.

It’s also important to keep checking in on the sunlight situation. You need to make sure that the gardenia cutting is doing well enough in the spot that you decided on.

If the gardenia cutting is struggling, then you might need to consider whether it’s getting enough light. It’s also possible that you accidentally exposed it to too much sunlight, and you might need to try to make some changes.

So long as you monitor the gardenia cutting consistently, it should be possible to avoid big problems. You just have to stay on top of things.

Mist the Plant Regularly

You may or may not know that gardenias really like humid environments. This means that you don’t want the humidity levels to dip too much for the sake of the gardenia cutting.

If your humidity levels aren’t the best, then you can still get good results by misting the plant regularly. Try to get in the habit of checking your gardenia cutting and misting it so that it can grow a bit faster than normal.

There are other ways to raise the humidity levels in your home, of course. You could choose to use a small humidifier if you have one.

Some people go this route when they live in dry areas, but it’s unlikely that you would have a gardenia to make cuttings from if you live in a very dry climate. Regardless, you can remember that using a small humidifier to raise the humidity levels near the gardenia cutting is an option.

Another idea is to create a greenhouse effect by placing a plastic bag over the cutting. The bag needs to be resting on the flat surface of the bottle and not on the plant itself.

You’d need to use a fairly rigid type of plastic bag, such as the kind that seals up so that you can store sandwiches for lunch. People have also used cut aluminum cans to accomplish the same thing.

When to Pot the Gardenia Cutting

The gardenia cutting should be strong enough to be placed in a pot after about a month. If it looks like it’s doing well and you see that it has strong roots, then it’ll be ready to go in a pot without it being a big deal.

You want to start it out in a small pot that is filled with a nutrient-rich potting mix. You’ll need to water the gardenia once you’ve transferred it over to its new home.

It’s necessary to keep the soil moist without getting it soggy. You’ll have to be proactive about checking the soil and trying not to let it get too dry.

After several more months of careful care, it’s even going to be possible to plant your gardenia outside if you want to. Propagating gardenias won’t be all that difficult when you understand what to do and you can really get many beautiful plants for your yard this way.

Final Thoughts

You now know that it’s possible to make gardenia cuttings grow roots in water. All of the information above will give you the tools that you need to get great results.

Just remember to try to keep checking on the gardenia cutting so that you don’t overlook certain problems. You’ll have to keep giving it new water from time to time, but your efforts will be worth it in the end.

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