Just cuttings of annuals -- I need mother plants for next year's stock; namely, salvia, heliotrope, and browallia.

Stock? How are you doing the cuttings? Do you have a heated greenhouse, or some other warm space?

I do not have a heated greenhouse, but I do use heat mats.

"How are you doing the cuttings? Do you have a heated greenhouse, or some other warm space?"

No, no heated greenhouse. I do have a light cart in the basement, but I won't start using that set-up until it's time to sow the seeds under the lights (March at the earliest).

I start cutting the usual way, no special treatment other than using rooting hormone. Right now I have them on a heat mat because they're in the windowsill and it's been cold (drafty windows). Once they get a good root system established, I'll take them off the mat. The cuttings have rooted and are potted up in 2" pots for growing on. These are just mother plants; I took multiple cuttings for insurance, sometimes my cuttings fail. This seems to be more of a problem trying to take cuttings over the winter from the mothers; usually in the fall the cuttings root pretty easily, taken from outside plants.

salvia, heliotrope, and browallia.

Just curious @porkchop_z5b_MI as to the approximate numbers of each or overall for cuttings.

I usually aim for two mother plants of both salvia and heliotrope, but this year I deliberately took extra of the salvia because I have a devil of a time rooting them in the winter -- as in I'm happy if I have 50% success rate, often it's less than that, so there's times when I barely have good cutting growth to get as many as I need because I have to keep cutting (not all growth is good for cuttings). So I figured the more plants I have the better. It's just odd because they root quite easily in the fall, but not in the house over winter; 100% success this year with the fall cuttings.

I ended up with too many heliotrope this year (4), all the cuttings took. They are really easy to root, I have almost 100% success with winter cuttings. The reason I took a couple extra was because I didn't get around to taking the cuttings until October so no time to ensure they rooted before the frost/freeze wiped out the outside stock (insurance, if you will). Oh well. They make nice houseplants, grow well in the windowsill over the winter, and the scent is lovely.

This is my first try with browallia. I took 3 cuttings, down to 2 -- one didn't root; I think the others did but still have them in the plugs for now.

^^ I think maybe I didn't actually answer the question. This past season I had 8-9 heliotrope and about 15 or so salvia. I bought one browallia, which is usually all I grow, but if the cuttings manage to do well I'll perhaps find a way to work more of them in.

It gets $$$ to buy annuals every year; I do buy some off-the-bench annuals in the spring, but I grow much from seed and cuttings, and I over-winter my geraniums (Pelargonium).

ETA: Plus I enjoy it -- seed-starting brings me joy; always has, always will. So it's not solely about the money.

Currently growing from cuttings - numerous borderline hardy/tender Salvias, tender ornamental foliage plants (Alternanthera 'Purple Knight', Hibiscus acetosella, Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus), coleus), gardenias, crepe myrtle, wax begonia. Leaf cuttings - African violets and Streptocarpus.

I've been obsessed with propagation for a few years now. Now I'm starting to experiment more. Different plants, different mixes, and different times of the year. Currently trying to incorporate fine bark pines in my mix. seniorballoon: when you say fine bark, are you using a specific bark or a mix? Fine bark pines aren't as easy to come by around here as they used to be. I recently bought some pine bark mulch and used my compost screen to narrow down to the smaller pieces. I'm hoping this works.

@Gawdinfever Z6 I honestly don't know what type of fine bark I'm using. I get it from a local supplier, I'll have to ask them. I'll post a pic of the material tomorrow. I'm in the pacific northwest so most likely some kind of fir or cedar. I've been incorporating their fine bark ( which is 1/4 inch and smaller) along with their medium bark (1 inch and smaller) into my potting soil. I got the idea of using fine bark from a youtube video. The gist was to use any inert material as that reduces the chance of cuttings rotting before they root. It's always a race to root before rot. :o)

This year I've rooted over 300 different cuttings. Roses, clematis, euonymous, physocarpus, cornus, lonicera, blueberry, hydrangea, pieris japonica. I also tried some maples, but no success with those this year, last year a few rooted and are growing on.

I've been using both a powder, hormodin 1, and a liquid Dip & Gro. I wish I'd tracked which and when to see which was more effective, but this year was a bit here and there. Next year I'll keep better notes.

Editing to add what prompted this post. I have 40 or so cuttings in the process of rooting, but I'm finding at this time if year they are not producing any or very good roots. So I was wondering what other people propagate during the colder months.

The fine bark is made from Hemlock and Fir.

A few photos of the propagation boxes I'm using.

This is a mix of perlite and peat moss.

This is straight fine bark.

Very nice! I'm using totes/sweater boxes too, but I put my cuttings in containers because I have so many different ones. I have learned the hard way that lots of perlite is a must to keep everything being too wet and rotting.

I was rather surprised the fine bark worked so well as it was very wet. Far wetter than my perlite/peat moss boxes.

How well does the perlite/peat moss work?

@porkchop_z5b_MI It works very well. I don't have enough data to know if one or the other is better. I have 9 perlite boxes and one fine bark. But based on that I had more rotting in the average perlite box. That could be due to it being reused from last year. I didn't realize I should give it a bleach treatment each year. Will be doing that for next year.