Propagation and Fungicide

[quatrechats]

I am new to propagation and have had a little success with geraniums and buddleia.  Now I want to try several other shrubs and increase my chances of success.  Is spraying the cuttings with fungicide desirable?  Can someone recommend a brand name available in France?  Thank you for any tips.[:)]

[liz]

I am no expert but I have taken a fair few successful cuttings in my time, particularly to bring plants to France from my English garden. I’ve never used fungicide and I have never heard it suggested in any of the gardening articles or programmes. I guess you have thought of this as your cuttings have perhaps collapsed with mould. I am not sure if it would do any good or any harm but it is certainly possible to get good results without. I suggest you keep everything such as your knife, pots and compost very clean. I have also found that covering cuttings with a polythene bag tends to make them rot and I don’t usually do this but spray the cuttings with plain water daily.

This RHS article looks useful for the basics http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=307

[Patf]

I get the Rustica magazine and there was an article in last week's or this week's about cuttings. They always recommend dipping in root hormone powder (poudre de hormones de boutourage.)

[quatrechats]

That's very encouraging.  I'm happy to forget about fungicide. Glad to hear you're successful without using plastic bags as I've always found this too much fiddling about.  I'm trying a few using the top half of plastic water bottles.  I leave the tops off so that air can circulate.

I do use hormone rooting powder though just to increase the odds.