The best way to propagate murraya paniculata is through stem-tip cuttings.
Taking Your Murraya Cuttings
Start by choosing a woody stem that has no flowers on it. Look for a stem around 0.6 to 1.3 cm thick (about 0.25 to 0.5 inches). Avoid soft new growth, as it tends to rot before it can strike.
Use a very sharp, sterile pair of secateurs or a knife and cut about 15 cm of the stem at an angle. A clean angled cut exposes more surface area to the rooting medium and sheds water rather than holding it.
Remove all leaves from the lower portion of the cutting, leaving only a few at the tip. Too many leaves pull moisture from the stem before roots have formed.
Preparing the Rooting Medium
Place the cutting into a rooting medium that is sterile and free-draining. Peat or coarse sand work well on their own, or you can mix either with potting mix for a slightly richer medium. The key requirement is that it drains freely; a waterlogged medium will rot the cutting before roots form.
Plant the cutting about 5 to 6.5 cm deep. Forestry tubes are ideal individual containers for striking cuttings, as their narrow profile holds the cutting upright and their depth suits the root system that will develop. Alternatively, a divided seedling tray lets you strike multiple cuttings side by side in one go.
If you prefer, apply a rooting hormone powder or gel to the cut end before planting. It is not strictly necessary, but it does improve the strike rate, particularly in cooler conditions.
Caring for Cuttings While They Root
Wet the rooting medium thoroughly after planting, then place the cutting in a warm, bright spot away from direct sunlight. A position that receives indirect light through most of the day is ideal. Direct sun will dry out the cutting too quickly before the roots have established.
The cutting should take root in around eight to ten weeks. During this time, check the moisture level of the medium regularly and water gently if it starts to dry out, but avoid keeping it saturated.
Label each cutting as you plant it. Plant labels keep varieties straight when you are striking several batches at once, and save a lot of guesswork later in the season.
Potting Up Your Rooted Cuttings
Once roots have formed, your murraya cuttings are ready to transplant. Pot them up individually into a free-draining potting mix, giving each cutting room to grow on before it goes into the ground. Air pruning trays are a good choice at this stage: the air-pruning action encourages a compact, fibrous root system that transplants cleanly and establishes quickly in the garden.
Grow the young plants on in a sheltered spot for several weeks before planting out, so they can harden off gradually.
Browse our propagation trays to find everything you need to strike and grow on your murraya cuttings at home.
