Growing Nemesia From Cuttings: Tips For Rooting Nemesia Cuttings

nemesia cuttings
nemesia cuttings
(Image credit: Christiane Godin)

Nemesia is a small bedding plant with flowers that look like small orchids, with a lobbed petal fanning out on top and another large petal below. The flowers cover low, mounding foliage. If you have some nemesia in your garden and want more, you can try rooting nemesia cuttings.

Nemesia cutting propagation isn’t difficult if you know how to proceed. Read on for information about growing nemesia from cuttings.

Nemesia Cutting Propagation

Nemesia is the genus of a variety of pretty flowering plants including some perennials and some sub-shrubs. All feature flowers with two “lips” and simple, opposite leaves.

These are easy plants to love, and many gardeners who have a few plants in the backyard decide that they would like more. While you can grow nemesia from seed, many ask: “Can I propagate nemesia cuttings?”. Yes, it is entirely possible to start growing nemesia from cuttings.

Nemesia cutting propagation involves clipping stems from growing nemesia plants and putting the cut stems in the soil until they root. At that point, they form a new plant. You can start growing nemesia from cuttings without killing the original plant.

How to Root Cuttings from Nemesia

If you are wondering how to root cuttings from nemesia, it is pretty much the same procedure you would use to root other cuttings. However, there are a few specific details involved in the procedure for growing nemesia from cuttings.

You need to select the medium carefully when you start growing nemesia from cuttings. It must have excellent drainage and carry a pH (acidity level) of between 5.8 and 6.2.

Take stem cuttings about 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm.) long. You’ll have the best luck with rooting nemesia cuttings if you plant the cuttings soon after taking them.

Poke a hole in the medium with a pencil, then insert a cutting, bottom first. Pat the medium around the cutting. Keep the temperature between 68- and 73- degrees F. (20 to 23 degrees C.) until roots form at the base of the stem.

At that point, keep the media moist but not wet and maintain bright light and moderate temperatures. You can transplant nemesia rooted cuttings about three weeks after the cuttings are planted.

Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.