• 

There comes a time in every garden when there is either no room for any more plants, or you have to chip away at the ever decreasing lawn area to create space for new arrivals. I am now at that point!

My annual seed sowing ritual is now just a few annuals and veg plants but I have always enjoyed taking cuttings both to increase stock and as insurance against losses over winter and just old age. The plants I mean, not me!

• 

My interest in this new piece of kit was sparked by an internet search about taking Penstemon cuttings and as usual, one click led to another, and I found myself watching a YouTube video of a guy taking hosta cuttings and propagating them in a Hydropod.

• 

Then I stumbled across https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/ and decided it was the answer to my problem. Problem? What problem? Well, despite having propagated hundreds of plants from cuttings over the years, I have never liked the ‘plastic-bag-over-the-top’ method to prevent transpiration. I have often lost cuttings to rot and damping off due to the close confinement of the plastic bag and have tried all sorts of means to prevent it. The Hydropod from https://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/ seemed to provide the perfect solution.

• 

It is essentially a plastic tub to hold about 10 litres of water, a small electric submersible pump secured to the base with suckers, a filter to keep particles out and 8 jets which provide a constant circular spray of water to promote root growth. The cuttings are held firmly but gently in a foam collar and the perspex cover maintains essential humidity. Crucially, this is tall enough to cope with quite large cuttings or new growth.

After an initial outlay of £60 and running costs of 2p a day to run it 24/7 it can potentially produce 350 new plants a year for £7.30 and very few, if any, losses due to damping off or other fungal diseases. I would say that is a bargain!