the best place to start is to purchase the Dirr manual on propagation .....

ken

Are you just wanting to propagate for your own garden and to give to friends? If so, I've had real good luck for the last couple of years just setting the cuttings in the shade of a red oak tree and spraying lightly with water mist 3 or 4 times a day. I just finished building this little 3'X5' mist table with a simple timer and 3 mist nozzles to try this year. I only propagate for my own garden and to have a few plants to take to plant swaps. You really don't need a lot of equipment if you are just doing it as a hobby.
Jim

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Heating mats/cable are the most important parts of a propagation system, no matter what anybody says. Another key part is intermittent mist...I have a couple of systems that I use, but one of my favorties is on this guys site that I found a while back. It's a sweet site, everything's free, He has wealths of info there, etc. It just www.freeplants.com. Lucky for you, he's got an article on heating mats/cables, intermittent mist, and he shows you how to build one of my favorite propagation systems. I have 5 of these things, so I can root about 200 cutting in a split sec. You said you wanted to water from underneath? Same here, so I modified Mike's system to incorperate an under-the-roots watering system! I just use fiber plant mats that I found online, that's what they use in the in-the-box propagation systems. I hope you find his stuff as good as I found it, cause I make cuttings and sell em in the fall for $5.96 each and I'm 17 years old! No joke! Go check him out...Also check out your local state horticulture websites because they might have stuff too. Good luck on finding your system!

Here is a link that might be useful: Freeplants

this guy seems to troll around this site alot..

"It's a sweet site, everything's free, He has wealths of info there, etc. It just www.freeplants.com. Lucky for you, he's got an article on heating mats/cables, intermittent mist, and he shows you how to build one of my favorite propagation systems."

I'm sorry, I waste loads of time on that site, and, it just seems to be ALL About Selling you something.. So, if I'm wrong, someone please just post the link to HIS Free mist system.. otherwise, why doesn't someone suggest he just PAYS for advertizing, and stop spaming this site..

thanks,

All that complicated stuff is baloney IMO. You don't need rooting hormone, a mist system or heating cable. Just
1. take your cuttings, winter, late spring, summer or fall
2. stick them in an extremely fast draining soil in a pot that you have punched at least 6 extra holes in, including up the sides
3. Put a plastic cover over--2 liter pop bottle is fine. It should fit tightly, or wire down.
4. Wait 3-4 months, watering about once every two weeks. Keep in the shade--even outside is fine.

I have rooted huckleberry, willow, spirea, lilacs, witchhazel, laurel, azaleas and euonymous this way just this year!