Normally, I base how many leaves I remove on how deep I am going to plant the cutting. Cuttings can develop differently based on how deep they are planted, and different plants may do better planted deeply or not as deep. Most of my cuttings though will resemble style B, rather than A.

Would you say that B might do something better?

I think A or B will work and also keep a film of water on the leaves,either with a misting system or put inside a white or clear plastic bag over a framework until roots form.Misting with a spray bottle will help minimally. Brady

This is small for what I would prefer for most plants. I have seen no benefit in arbitrarily removing most of a cuttings' foliage, for most plants. Many I don't trim at all. Really, a lot depends on the particular plant, temp, light, wind, so many variables.

I would prefer a style C, a cutting with at least twice as many nodes, with the tip (shown on 'A') removed, and the bottom 2-3 leaves to be the buried nodes, the rest of the leaves left to their own devices.

> Posted by purpleinopp
> I would prefer... a cutting with at least twice as many nodes,

My thought is that, given many plants' natural internode spacings,
more than a few cuttings so tall would be impractical for many of us.

> Many I don't trim at all.

I do like the idea of eliminating that work.
Let's invite inputs by more gardeners on this detail.
We already know the theory that argues for doing it;
so, the more useful comments will be of empirical type.

Yes, it's not a set answer for all plants. On a Gardenia shrub, for example, why not start with a whole branch with side branches already, not just a few nodes? I don't want to wait for years to have sizable shrubs. Same with a rose, lilac, or Coleus - I want the big one, next week. Something like a Hydrangea, OTOH, will only lend material of a single branch usually. Then there's lignification, which is often the deciding factor, no matter how large of a cutting one might dream about.

I have very little luck with small (less than 12") cuttings in general though, if one must speak in generalities. Scientifically I don't know why, but it's my theory they just didn't have enough substance to manufacture new parts such as roots before they dehydrate. I'm also sure these cuttings *could* have survived under different conditions, care, methods too tedious for me, like tenting & misting. Why bother through all of that if a bigger cutting will do fine?

Depends if you're propagating to make as many new plants as possible, to quickly as possible free-scape your yard, trying to cheapskate one plant into a whole display of annuals, you were bored/curious, or just because you were trimming anyway so figured you'd use the pieces for experimenting. I've been guilty of all of these at some point. The fun irony is, the more 'important and coddled' a cutting is, the more likely is failure, empirically speaking. Second-thought yard trimmings thrust into the ground rarely fail. If you have the pieces to spare, give 'em a try.