What am I doing wrong ?

Trying to propogate hydrangea . I’m cutting just on a node; I’m quick to take off bush and put in compost; I place in sunny indoor room, not hot; and the leaves shrivel up .
Any tips please ?

 

Humidity, especially with really soft cuttings like you have there, those big leaves will quickly take all the water out of the cutting.

Personally I'd wait a month or six weeks and try semi ripe cuttings I think.

 

Pinch the growing tip out and half the two remaining leaves, that stops transpiration. Pop in a clear bag as mentioned

 

As others have said: reduce the amount and size of leaves, will reduce transpiration, cover with plastic bag, will maintain humidity around plant.

 

When I do hydrangea cuttings, I look for a piece with two teeny leaves (about 1 cm long) just appearing at the top of a stem and remove all lower ones. Keep it in complete shade with, as others have said, a bag or small transparent bottle over it. If you have no luck now, as Pete says ^^^, wait till mid-July as the stems will be slightly harder then. You want to catch the moment when these are not yet woody but have lost their early softness.

 

When you say you cut "just on a node" you don't mean into the node do you? You should cut just under a node.

I agree with the others about removing some leaves and the plastic bag.

 

I think this time of year is more difficult for hydrangea cuttings.
I agree with @Busy-Lizzie too re where you're cutting, but I saw David Domoney [?] doing cuttings of Forsythia, and he cut through the node at the base of the cutting.

I also agree about the other factors people have mentioned, but the sunny indoor room may be far too hot which will also dry out the cuttings more quickly. I'd have thought a cold frame or similar would be better. I tend to leave woody cuttings outside at this time of year, and through warmer months.

 

I took a load of hydrangea cuttings last year. A friend gave me their prunings after flowering. The wood looked harder than yours, and I removed all but the top leaf tuft. They rooted excellently and I ended up giving away lots because I had been pessimistic! I am mean and put lots of cuttings around the edge of a pot, ensure compost pretty damp, and put on lower shelf in greenhouse out of strong light. As others have said, cut just below a leaf node because the hormone auxin is higher there apparently.

 

Quick update: thanks for all your suggestions. Silly brain not to cover in bag to retain humidity . Guess what ….. redone with bags . By the way, the window sill doesn’t get hot - yet - and the light is diffused but I’m going to monitor .

 

I’d take them off the windowsill … I kept mine in quite a cool dark shady corner of the kitchen . Roots grow in the dark, not the light.