[Brendankearns]

New to gardening but have had 2 successful years of propagating cotoneaster coral beauty but wondering why it's recommended to plant 4 or 5 cuttings in one pot before re potting each into separate pots, instead of just putting the new cutting directly into a separate pot which wont need re potting?

I'm sure there is a valid reason for this but just keen to understand it more

thanks
Brendan

[James Kilkelly]

An old farmer's saying about planting oat or barley seed goes ...."One for the blackbird, one for the crow, one for the soil and one to grow."

I presume it is the same with your cuttings, Brendankearns; whereby you allow for some losses along the way.

[Sue Deacon]

James, the version of that saying I know is 'one for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow. But the meaning is the same.

Have you noticed if you carefully sow a few well-spaced seeds NOTHING germinates. If you up-end the entire packet they ALL germinate.