Can you use your septic tank to help root hardwood cuttings?

Rooting hardwood cuttings has got to be one of the easiest ways to increase your number of plants for your landscape or nursery. Why? Well essentially all you have to do is take a cutting, place it rooting media, keep it watered throughout the winter, and leave it alone for at least a year. Sounds easy doesn’t it?

What is a hardwood cutting?

A hardwood cutting is essentially one that is taken after the plant has been subjected to a few very cold days and nights. The plant will have no leaves attached to it so it will look like a bunch of bare branches and spindly sticks. If you take one of these branches and bend it, it will snap right in half. These cuttings then get stuck in rooting media and will eventually form roots and ultimately, new plants.

Using bottom heat under the hardwood cuttings can provide the right conditions for the cuttings to form roots earlier than they would naturally as well as allow the cutting to form larger roots. Keeping the tops of the cuttings cold and the bottoms warm is one of the trade secrets that professional plant propagators use, but how does a small nursery or homeowner keep the bottom of their cuttings warm without spending a fortune?

Easy, use your septic tank to give them a boost!

Have you ever noticed that the grass is greener over your tank? Or how about how snow melts quicker over the tank and you can sometimes see grass even during winter months? This is because as the septic tanks does it’s job of breaking down the material in the tank, the process creates heat. This heat rises and gets transferred into the soil above the tank.

So how do you take advantage of this heat?

By placing your rooting flats or containers on top of your septic tank, you can take advantage of the heat that is naturally rising. The amount of heat is slight, but enough to stimulate the cuttings to form roots quicker than the normally would.

Taking advantage of the heat rising from your septic tank can cut a few months off the rooting process of your hardwood cuttings. This can result in you being able to plant it into your landscape quicker or for folks who sell their plants, get them to market faster.