Gadenin日本語Get the appThree methods, and which to choose
This is one of the easiest plants to increase. Its natural habit is to root where a stem lies against damp ground, so every method here is really just a way of arranging that on purpose. Cuttings are quickest for numbers, layering is the surest, and division is the way to get a large plant immediately out of one that has become too big.
Take material in the growing season, from spring through to late summer. You can root cuttings at other times, but rooting is slow in cold conditions and the losses climb. The best material is the trimmings you take anyway when you shear the plant, so the two jobs pair naturally.
Anything you do not plant must go in the bin, not on a compost pile or over a garden wall. Discarded stems root where they land, and this plant is invasive in some mild regions.
Stem cuttings, step by step
Expect a high strike rate: eight or nine out of ten is normal, and the failures are almost always cuttings that dried out or ones buried with leaves below the surface. Rooting hormone helps a little but is not necessary on this plant.
Pot the rooted cuttings on individually once they have made an inch (2.5 cm) or two of new top growth, or leave the whole potful together to make one bushy plant, which is the faster route to something that looks like a specimen.
- Choose the right wood Take stems that are firm rather than soft and pale at the very tip. Four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) is a good length. Avoid anything that is already woody and brown all along, which roots poorly.
- Trim to a node Cut cleanly just below a point where leaves join the stem. Strip the leaves from the lower third so no foliage will sit under the compost, where it rots and takes the cutting with it.
- Put several in one small pot Use a three inch (8 cm) pot of gritty, free-draining compost and space five or six cuttings around the edge. They root faster in company, and a small pot is easier to keep evenly damp than a large one.
- Keep them damp and out of direct sun Bright indirect light, compost that never dries, and a loose clear cover if the room is dry. Cuttings with no roots yet cannot replace lost water, and this is the one stage where wire vine needs more humidity than usual.
- Test after three weeks Tug a cutting very gently. Resistance means roots. Most take two to four weeks in warm conditions and up to six in a cool room. Once rooted, remove any cover and treat them as small plants.
Layering is the method that almost never fails
Layering keeps the new plant attached to the parent while it roots, so it cannot dry out and die the way a cutting can. On a plant that roots as freely as this one it is close to a certainty, and it needs no cover, no propagator and no daily attention.
Stand a small pot of damp compost next to the parent, choose a long healthy stem, and press a section of it onto the surface of the new pot. Pin it down with a bent paperclip or a small stone so it stays in firm contact. Keep both pots damp. In three to five weeks, roots form where the stem meets the compost; wait a further two weeks, then cut the stem between the two pots.
| Method | Time to root | Success rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stem cuttings | 2 to 6 weeks | High | Making many plants from one trim |
| Layering | 3 to 5 weeks | Very high | One or two reliable plants with no fuss |
| Division | Immediate | High | Reducing an oversized plant into two good ones |
| Water rooting | 2 to 4 weeks | Moderate | Watching progress, though roots transplant poorly |
Division, when the plant has outgrown its place
A mature wire vine is a mass of stems rising from a spreading crown, and that crown can be cut apart. Do it in spring, at the same time you would repot. Turn the plant out, shake and wash enough compost off to see the structure, and look for natural separations where groups of stems have their own roots.
Cut through the crown with a clean knife rather than pulling it apart, which tears roots. Each division needs a decent share of roots and its own stems. Pot the pieces into containers only slightly larger than their root mass, shear the top growth back by about a third to balance what the reduced roots must support, and keep them evenly damp and out of hot sun for a fortnight.
Divisions need close watching for the first two weeks. Reduced roots and a full head of thread-fine stems is exactly the combination that crisps, so err on the damp side until new growth appears.
Growing the new plants on
Young plants grow fast. Do not feed until roots have filled the small pot and new growth is clearly running, then use a balanced liquid feed at half strength every two or three weeks through the growing season. Feeding an unrooted or barely rooted plant burns the new roots and gains nothing.
Pinch the growing tips once the shoots are three or four inches (8 to 10 cm) long. Each pinch produces two shoots where there was one, and three or four rounds of pinching in the first season is the difference between a dense plant and a few long stragglers.
Notes worth keeping
Record the date you take cuttings, the method, how many you set and how many rooted. Two seasons of that tells you which time of year works in your own conditions, which is usually a narrower window than the general advice suggests.
Note the date each batch was potted up and first pinched as well. Wire vine grows quickly enough that a fortnight either way in the pinching schedule visibly changes the shape of the finished plant, and your own dates are the only way to repeat a result you liked.