You want to plant a hedge, but the price of hedge plants is beyond your budget? Why not start your own hedge from cuttings? Begin this summer for a starter hedge next year. And yes, you can take cuttings of any hedge plant, even conifers like arborvitae (Thuja spp.). After all, the nursery grew its hedge plants from cuttings, so why not you?
Look for a neighbor who is trimming a hedge of the variety you want and ask if you can pick up the prunings: they make excellent cuttings! Or if you have the shrub in question at home, simply harvest branches about 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) in length. You can do this any time from May to the end of July.
How to make cuttings
Fill a tray or pot of with moist growing mix (the container must have drainage holes). For each cutting, remove the lower leaves (those that will be covered in mix) and brush a little rooting hormone on the end of the cutting with a cotton swab. A #2 hormone is best for most hedge shrubs. Insert the cuttings into the mix, spacing them about 2 to 3 inches (5-8 cm) apart. Always take twice as many cuttings as you think you’ll need in case they don’t all root. (If they do all root, well, sell your surplus and make a bit of cash!)
Cover the container with a transparent plastic dome or bag to create a greenhouse effect (high humidity helps rooting) and place it in partial shade (outdoors) or in bright light (indoors), such as under a fluorescent lamp. Wait 3-8 weeks. Check the state of the soil occasionally: if it begins to dry out, water.
When new shoots appear on the cuttings, or when cuttings resist when you gently pull on them, it means they are rooted. Remove the dome or bag bit by bit over 4 or 5 days and then gradually acclimatize them to outdoor conditions: a few days in the shade, a few days in mid-shade, etc. Plant them in the ground in a plant nursery (perhaps a corner of your vegetable garden). Mulch heavily the first winter.
Next spring, your hedge will be ready to plant… and it only cost you the price of a bag of potting soil and a bottle of rooting hormone!
Because common privet is so prolific with seed, I tried to grow a hedge from its seedlings. I failed to consider genetic variability. Fortunately, it was an informal hedge. Nonetheless, the conformity of genetically identical cuttings is an advantage.