We used to spray whitewash over the roof of the propagation glasshouse. It would need to be timed carefully - not by date so much as how the weather was. So in spring, we watched, we felt, we gave each other furtive glances.

Sometimes we even gave the prop house a thought (ha ha).

After a time, the whitewash spraying was replaced by screens, inside the prop house. I never liked those screens. Personally I think they would have been a lot more successful if they had been ABOVE the glasshouse, OUTSIDE of the glasshouse. We used to cook in there. So then the cooler would come on and blow a gale. Don't get me started.

The white wash had a cooling effect as well as a light-reducing effect. These are pluses. Cuttings do not want their tops to be warm, only their bottoms.

So, I would suggest that the best place for your cuttings would be under deciduous trees, out of the wind. Sprinkle with a fine mist every chance you get. Your intention is to cool the foliage, not to water the cuttings.

Thanks for the fast answer. I have one bed in half shade, but it is not covered so far but it gets misted but only one an hour (timer). I will use this one to sow things and I have now setup one which is in full shade with a better timer, but the roof is still missing. There is a timber construction on the top of it and I could invent a roof, but wouldn't it be a bit too shady? We're in Australia but in the mountains and we have some misty days but blazing sun too. We have wind everywhere in out garden.

I might even have heat from the bottom because what I do is take four old roofing sheets screw them together in a square fill them with weeds and put a layer of sand/soil on the top.

I fill the whole thing to the brim and it gets down 30cm or so. I would have to refill that, which is a bit annoying, because I pay mostly for sand.

I'm in Australia too! Here I was thinking that you'll be freezing away in the U.S. of A.

If you put a roof over the top perhaps it would create too much shade. Maybe you could hang some shadecloth down from the branches to protect your cuttings from the wind and to give the neighbours something to wonder about.

I've been wondering about somehow setting up a huge compost system somewhere to somehow generate bottom heat for no cost, other than killing myself. I am not sure whether it will produce heat near the top though. Won't it only produce heat in the middle? If the heap is big enough.

I can't really tell, I think I read somewhere that a heap size of 2 x2x2 is ideal (for the Americans I am talking about meters!). The classic thing however is the muck bed. I am sometimes picking up horse poo in a paddock, lots of work but worthwhile. I think oldtimers used to dig a big hole filled it with manure and put an old window on the top.

If you are from Australia you understand our climate a bit better we're in the Upper Mountains.

What you write is really contrary to everyone else. Everyone says yes you need a cover over the cuttings. But it must be a bit of a sophisticated structure because you need access to you cuttings.

I am thinking around about a humanure system with a greenhouse on the top, but that is another topic.

Were the oldtimers wanting a place to root cuttings or to germinate seed? Hmmm, maybe they did both. (Sorry, thinking as I type.)

Yes, sometimes I feel that I am writing the opposite to a lot of others, but I battle on. I've been on horse forums where a particular poster would have her innards ripped out for daring to differ. I press on here and if anyone wants to converse, I'm fine with it.

Regarding the covering of the cuttings... we are placed in a difficult situation when constructing an area for the vegetative propagation of plants. We want their stems to grow roots so they are better off being warm in that region. But we want to prevent any loss of moisture to their leaves, so we need to keep that area cool, misty, and a nice place to be.

Then of course the sun beats down. A lot of the stuff we want to propagate from cuttings is often best tried in the warmer months. So how do we keep the leaves cool and the root area warm? We don't want wind as a cooling agent because the cuttings don't like it and anyway, wind is too drying. It will be a pain in the leaf. Or neck, depending on who is in its path.

So, I would say that you need a cover over the cuttings IF you can also supply shade. If you cover your cuttings and they sit in the sun, and the season is Spring or Summer and the day is sunny, the temperature high-ish, the cuttings won't be cool on their leaves. On the other hand, if you pop the covered pots of cuttings in dappled shade, they may well be happy with their plastic covers. So much depends on the amount of shade we are talking about, the amount of sun, the temperature. And in my head when I read someones description, maybe I am picturing something quite different to reality. What it would be like under my deciduous tree, for example.

Your area sounds lovely and the sort of place that cuttings might very much like to grow their roots. Perhaps all you need is a bit of bottom heat, a clear plastic cover, and a deciduous tree to place them under.

Some of my cuttings grow very well, and surprisingly wormwoods which should be easy did not strike. I think of simply getting a sheet of plastic and clamp it somehow on. I think it is important to have easy access.