Question
I have a boatload of cuttings from Manhattan Euonymus that I brought to Va. from New Jersey in early July.  They are all currently in water and seem to be doing fine for the last 11 days.  Some are woody, some are green. Do I need a root propagator before putting them in left over plastic nursery pots...with some very nice soil.  When is the best time to transplant them from the nursery pots to the yard, where I hope they will grow to a healthy looking hedge, like the one they came from.  Thanks for any help.

Answer
Hi Therese

You don't tell me how big your cuttings are or if they are an evergreen variety, so I'll assume they are evergreen as you want to use them as a hedging plant. I don't think you need a root propagator - plants are usually only too eager to grow at this time of the year.

Put big cuttings into single pots and small cuttings 3 or 4 to a pot.  Mix your soil with some multi-purpose compost if you can so that the growing medium isn't too heavy for the developing roots.

Place each pot into a clear plastic bag and tie the top to keep moisture in.  As soon as you see new shoots appearing take the bags off and stand the pots in a shady position outside, moving them gradually into a more exposed position as the year progresses until the Fall.  That's when you should plant the cuttings into their permanent positions, as the soil will still be warm and the roots will get away into the surrounding soil quickly before winter sets in.  Again as you don't tell me the variety, I can't advise you how far apart they should be planted.  Perhaps you can contact your supplier (friends?) and ask them to measure the distance of their plants from the central trunk of one plant to the central trunk of the plant next to it?

Don't forget to water your plants well immediately after planting and put a mulch of well rotted garden compost around the base of each plant to hold in the moisture and suppress weeds.