Propagating Lamium by Stem Cuttings

PROPAGATING LAMIUM BY STEM CUTTINGS

Lamium maculata or Spotted Dead Nettle, is fast growing ground cover for moist, shady areas.  I find its foliage to be quite striking.  We retail them in 5" containers at the same price point as a Vinca vine.  They are treated as an annual plant in Zone 5 unless you bring them in during the winter.  This is my stock plant that I'll be using to take stem cuttings.  This was originally my father's plant and I'm not exactly sure where he got it from but I take several series of cuttings from it for each Spring season.  Today I hope to make 50 new plants that should be ready for retail by April.

 

I start by filling my 50 cell tray with our standard potting mix.  Then I get the soil fairly moist in preparation for the cuttings.  I usually don't poke holes in the soil but it certainly wouldn't hurt.  This particular Lamium plant has many long, trailing stems, so I trim about 3 to 4 inches off the end of one of them.  Then, from the same stem, I trim another 3 to 4 inches

I now have 2 pieces of Lamium stem in my fingers.  These 2 stems will be planted side by side in one of the cells, deep enough so that the leaf branches are just about touching the soil.  I do this because where the branch meets the stem is where the cutting will begin to make roots!

After taking 100 stem cuttings, I have now completely filled my 50 cell tray (remember 2 cuttings per cell).  Unlike the succulents I recently propagated, these will need to be placed on the heat table alongside my seedlings in order to help jump-start their root formation process.  Also, unlike succulents, which store water in their leaves and stems, Lamium does not have that advantage.  It's very important to not let the Lamium dry out by keeping the foliage wet.  I'll water these with a sprinkling can several times per day.

This is it!  The Lamium have been watered and they're on the heat table right next to the seedlings.  The Coreopsis is beginning to germinate but I'm still waiting to see some Penstemon pop out of the soil.  Perhaps by my next post.