Surely taking cuttings isn't a crime?

Just a 'by the way' question/observation really, but ...

Wanting to build up the number of plants we have without spending a complete fortune, we've deliberately chosen ones with fewer flower buds in favour of those with non flowering shoots - the specific intention being to propagate. Having taken as many cuttings as the plants will allow, we've have had quite a bit of success - to the extent we've had many small plants we didn't actually need and were able to give them away.

The last time I took 'a batch' of plants into work someone jokingly said, '..show us your licence ..'. What? But in a way he's right. In order to find out how to care for them, he's looked up some of the plants we've propagated on 'the net' and indeed it does often say 'Note: a licence is required for propagation'.

Now, just about every gardener I know either takes cuttings or saves seed so, with what - say, 28 million gardeners in the UK? and many of them either giving plants away or selling them at boot fairs, fetes, etc., surely they can't all be breaking the law every time they hand over a cutting?

On the positive side - at least it's not my job to issue the licences or catch those who propagate without one!

 

You only need a licence if you are propagating for profit

This topic is covered by
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2100/94
of 27 July 1994
on Community plant variety rights

It seems as though Article 15 of the appropriate legislation does not forbid propogation for personal purposes

Quote:
Limitation of the effects of Community plant variety rights
(a) acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes;
(b) acts done for experimental purposes;
You can read the total legislation at
http://www.cpvo.fr/default.php?res=1...egislation.htm

 

There is something called Plant Breeders Rights, which protects new plants from being propagated and sold without a license from the breeder. It only really affects commercial growers and sellers, and any plant that is affected usually has it stated on the label. Most common garden plants are not protected, and can be propagated and sold or given away at the garden gate with abandon.

If you are not sure about a particular plant, here is a list:

http://www.nccpg.com/Gloucestershire/pbr.html

 

Taking cuttings or seeds from other people's gardens (without permission) is stealing.
The amount of otherwise law abiding folk , who think it's perfectly acceptable to go round a garden that's open to the public and think that can take cuttings and seed heads is amazing.

I recently challenged a woman stealing mecanopsis seed heads from a garden, she said it didn't matter because there was lots of them, I said i did matter because they were'nt hers and they weren't ripe and would never germinate

 

As I understand it, there are only three situations where you can't legally take a cutting:
1. Where doing so would be theft, ie you take it from someone else's property without permission.
2. Where the specific cultivar is protected by the breeder, sort of like plant copyright, and you haven't paid royalties to them.
3. Where the plant is in the wild and it is a protected species, listed in the wildlife and countryside act (even then their protected status is not a one-size-fits-all, some you can take seeds or cuttings from, some, such as bluebells, you must leave well alone).

Unless the cutting you take was overhanging the garden boundary onto public land (if I'm not mistaken - or does this only apply to fruit from trees?)

From privately owned gardens yes, but if it is in the wild, unless it is listed as a protected species (in the Wildlife and Countryside act) it is perfectly legal as long as you don't uproot or otherwise permanently damage the plant.

I agree with you fully on this one. For one person to take a few seed heads will make no difference, but if 100, or 1000 people all think the same way then it would soon be stripped bare.

 

I'm amazed at the number of people I see ostensibly looking at plants and then, when they believe no-one is looking, nip off a side shoot. I'm not talking here just about things in the GC either, but within the last month I've seen it at Great Comp, Broadview (attached to Hadlow College) and even at both Wisley and the Eden Project. I'm too much of a coward to challenge these people (apart from which the damage is done by then), but I did hear one woman say something to her husband at the Eden Project to which he unbelievably replied 'So what, it's only a little bit and I'm going to get something back for my 16 quid.'

Now, I'm all for increasing my own plants from seeds, cuttings etc., but the unmitigated gall of these people leaves me speechless ..... almost.

 

I was thinking of going to Eden next week ... but by all accounts there will be nothing there ...

Shoot the parents, I say ...

 

i had a neighbour, some years ago, who was quite proud to boast, she would go to all the garden shows and garden centres and with a small set of garden cutters, would take cuttings off several plants. she had a lovely garden,and proud to boast (IT DID NOT COST ME A PENNY!!!!).
in the end it cost her .she was in a garden centre doing her usual,but the garden centre had installed cameras,unknown to her. she finished up in court and her name in the local newspaper.
SHE HAS SINCE MOVED!!!.

 

That's shocking on for many reasons. Firstly 16 quid is not a bad price for a full year's membership to go in the Eden project. At the very least you need a full day to get round it, ideally more than that. Secondly its a charity, the admission fee isn't lining some tycoon's pocket, it goes into invaluable research that might one day, very soon, be used to help stop us from buggering up our planet any more than we already have. You should have told the woman she was stealing from starving Africans, native Americans and her own kids and grand kids, who will all one day benefit from the research and education that Eden is all about.

If I'd have seen it I'd have shamed her. I have a (un)naturally loud voice. I'd have said to my wife loud enough for all to hear "THAT WOMAN IS STEALING FROM A CHARITY", while shamelessly pointing at her. Humiliation would go a lot further than any legal process

 

However just to make it clear to Fidgetsmum if the plant is covered by Plant Breeders' Rights then it is OK to take cuttings for your own use, or for family or friends but no money or trade must take place. So you cannot sell them at the church fete. Its fair enough. If I had been skilled or lucky enough to find a new variety I would expect some recompense. It is only like royalties to authors or musicians.
Taking cuttings from gardens thats downright theft. Why is it that some people think its OK to steal from gardens. It seems its OK for kids to go scrumping. I cannot see any difference between that and shoplifting. I cannot see any doing that in my garden. if they did not get dismembered by my GSD the bees would get them.

 

I'd be very happy for a keen gardener to take cuttings from my garden. If they asked first ...

 

I am always flattered when people ask for cuttings-I don't mind, like you as long as they ask.

 

I think that's the key point. If someone asks, most people are only too willing to oblige. Without asking it is stealing.

 

This reminds me of something my Nan did years ago when I was little. We were walking along a side road on the way to the High Street and Nan saw some Violets growing. Quick as a flash she uprooted a fair few and demanded me and Mum head back to put them in our garden.

There were a fair few there, so not much damage was done. Last year, landscaping was done by Network rail and the entire site was cleared. They've since colonised our garden in their thousands, so in that sense, good for my old Nan!