Cuttings when rooted

dirty_magic

I'm not an experienced gardener so sorry if this is a stupid question!

I took some cuttings from a hebe early last month and I think they have rooted as I can feel resistance when I try to pull them out of the pot. I have 4 cuttings in a 6" pot.

Is it ok to take off the polythene bag now that the have roots and when should I put them into individual pots? There's plenty of info online on how to take cuttings but not much on what do do when they're rooted!

Thanks

DaftyDuck

I'd certainly uncover them, let them grow on. As to 'are they rooted?'... any roots poking out of the bottom of the pot? You can bravely empty the pot upside down, try keeping the soil intact... can you see roots, and if not, try putting the whole lot back.

I have probably killed more cuttings by being impatient than I have rescued from being pot-bound, so I'd be inclined to wait until I could see some roots out of the bottom. Hebe aren't that fast-growing, and don't mind a bit of root-restriction, so you won't kill them by leaving them another month, whereas you might kill the blighters if you try repotting them too early.

demystified

Don't pull them out! It the no. 1 mistake newbies make. Wait until you see white roots appearing at the holes in the bottom of the pot. The other clue is you'll spot new growth appearing at the top.

You'll know when it's pot bound as it'll dry out very rapidly. Until then I wouldn't worry about it unless they're in some special rooting compost mix, and leave them be. But I'd certainly take the cover off once they've rooted.

dirty_magic

Thank you! I'll leave them in their pot for now and take the cover off. There are no roots poking out yet but I'm pretty sure they've rooted.