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Osteospermum cuttings

mandyroberts99mandyroberts99 Posts: 235
in Problem solving
I have read conflicting advice on when you should take cuttings. Now or wait till Autumn. What do you recommend? I have a greenhouse and last year I over wintered them and some of them were fine but don't want to risk having none next year
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Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Depends which ones they are.  I buy seeds and sow afresh every year.
    very cheap and out of a packet of 40 I got 43 germinated. I don’t bother with the faff of taking cuttings. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    If you're talking about the more "perennial" types such as Tresco Purple,  l usually take them end July to mid August,  but there's no harm in trying a few now if you want to  :)
  • GrayGray Posts: 19
    Take cuttings now - July, grow them on and overwinter them in you greenhouse, frost free. Osteospermum are always far better from cuttings and not seed, I grow loads of them every year. 
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Try now, and if they don't take have another go.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Novice23Novice23 Posts: 200
    I take cuttings throughout the summer, usually when I need to tidy a plant back.   On average I get about 60% success without too much hassle.   I agree with Gray, with cuttings you know what you are likely to get.   
  • mandyroberts99mandyroberts99 Posts: 235
    Thanks all, I'll give it a go and see what happens!
  • mandyroberts99mandyroberts99 Posts: 235
    Treeface said:
    This is an osteospermum cutting that I took last year and I’m not impressed. It’s done nothing. Behind it is a pelgargonium cutting and that's also done nothing! Do I need to over-winter them indoors 2 years in a row to get a decent nursery-sized plant?! £3.30 for the osteo and £1.50 for the pelargoniums I think. Not sure if I am getting £3.30 worth of joy out of these plants over 2 years so just gonna leave them in the ground this winter and fill their graves with perennials in spring.

    How has it cost you £3.30 to grow a cutting?
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Looks like the one I grew from Seeds in March, think it was called sky and Ice, got 43 from a 99p packet of seeds.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • mandyroberts99mandyroberts99 Posts: 235
    Treeface said:
    I bought an osteoplant for £3.30 last spring and took cuttings in summer and autumn and over-wintered them indoors. @mandyroberts99 How much was your osteospermum? Maybe you grew them from seed.
    I got 10 large plugs for £9.99 so £1.25 but I think only 6 actually made it so really they were £1.66. I was slow to get them in before the frost last winter so have 3 survivors but they are growing well
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    If you lift the teeny osteospermum and pelargonium and pot them in decent compost and care for them they will grow bigger and stronger more easily than in a big border.  They will also survive winter better under shelter and then you'll have sturdier plants to put in the border next spring, after the frosts, and maybe even more material for cuttings.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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