The Leaf-Joint Lottery: A Blind Test of Nodal Cuttings on a Winter Sill

Few pieces of cutting advice are repeated as often as this: cut just below a leaf joint. It is in books, on seed packets and in every second YouTube video. But does the node actually matter, or is it just a convenient landmark? To find out, I ran a small blind trial on a cool conservatory shelf in November 2026.

The trial

I took 36 cuttings from three forgiving species: Tradescantia zebrina, a scented pelargonium and a hardy fuchsia. For each species, six cuttings were nodal and six were internodal. Nodal cuttings were cut 5–10 mm below a leaf joint. Internodal cuttings were cut from the middle of a clear stem section, well away from any leaf or bud. Every cutting had two leaves left at the top and was inserted into the same free-draining compost in a small pot.

The pots were coded by a friend and shuffled on the shelf. I did not know which was which when I assessed them at 28 days. That is not a perfect double-blind laboratory design, but it removes the worst of my own bias. The shelf was cool, around 15–18°C, with weak November light and no bottom heat. I did not use rooting hormone.

What happened

The results were not a clean sweep for the node, but they leaned that way.

Species	Nodal rooted	Internodal rooted	Notes
Tradescantia	6/6	6/6	No meaningful difference
Pelargonium	5/6	2/6	Nodal roots thicker and higher up the stem
Fuchsia	4/6	1/6	One internodal cutting rotted at the base

Tradescantia rooted from anything, which is no surprise. It has preformed root primordia along the stem and will root in a glass of water on a kitchen windowsill. The pelargonium and fuchsia told a different story. Nodal cuttings produced more roots and lost fewer leaves. The internodal cuttings were slower and more likely to sit there doing nothing until the stem went soft.

That fits the practical experience of most propagators, but the reason is often explained badly. The node is not a magic root-making button. It is a piece of anatomy.

What is a node, actually?

A node is the point on a stem where a leaf, a bud or a branch is attached. The internode is the stretch of stem between two nodes. At the node, the vascular tissue of the leaf joins the vascular tissue of the stem. There is usually an axillary bud tucked into the angle between the leaf and the stem, and a cluster of parenchyma cells, the flexible packing tissue of the plant.

That matters because adventitious roots, the new roots that form on a cutting, usually arise from cells near the vascular cambium or from parenchyma. They are not coming from existing root tissue. They are new organs made from stem tissue. A node offers a ready-made junction of vascular tissue, a bud that can produce growth regulators, and a supply of living cells that can reorganise into root initials.

Why auxin gathers there

Auxin is the plant hormone most associated with rooting. It is produced mainly in young expanding leaves and shoot tips and moves down the stem in a polar way, from top to bottom. When you take a cutting, you interrupt that flow. Auxin and wound signals accumulate near the cut end, and in the right conditions they encourage cells to dedifferentiate and form root primordia.

The node is not the only place auxin collects, but it is a place where auxin, carbohydrates and vascular connections are concentrated. A cut just below a node leaves that junction near the base of the cutting, where the compost is moist and the wound is close to living, dividing tissue. It also gives you a clean base: you are not leaving a long, leafless stump that can rot before roots form.

There is a second, more practical reason. Cutting just below a node avoids cutting through a hollow stem or a soft growing tip. It gives a firm base that can be inserted into compost without collapsing. For woody and semi-ripe cuttings, that matters more than any hormone.

Where the rule comes from

The rule is old. It comes from commercial vegetative propagation, where growers need a repeatable cut that gives a high strike rate across many plants. It also comes from the simple observation that many plants root at the node and not in the middle of a long internode. Over time, the observation hardened into a rule.

But rules in gardening are usually averages. Plants such as willow, ivy, tradescantia and many trailing houseplants have preformed root primordia along the stem, so an internodal cutting can root perfectly well. Succulents often root from any part of the stem if the cut surface calluses. And some plants with milky sap or hollow stems need different treatment altogether.

The node rule is therefore best read as a default, not a law. It is the safe choice when you do not know the plant, when the cutting is semi-ripe, or when you are working in cool November conditions and cannot afford a slow, rotting base.

The takeaway for winter cuttings

For a UK windowsill or cool conservatory in November, cut just below a node for most shrubs, pelargoniums, fuchsias and other semi-ripe cuttings. Leave 5–10 mm of stem below the node, strip the lower leaves, and insert the node just below the compost surface. Firm the compost, water, and keep the pot somewhere bright but out of direct sun. Do not judge it at ten days. In November, three to five weeks is a more realistic timescale.

If you are propagating an easy trailer such as tradescantia, an internodal cutting is fine. If the stem is hollow, cut back to solid tissue. If the cutting is soft and milky, let it callus for a few hours before inserting it. And if you are using a humidity bag, ventilate it; a node will not save a cutting that is sitting in stale, wet air.

The leaf joint is not a charm. It is a junction of tissue, hormones and vascular plumbing that gives a cutting a better start. Cut below it when you can, but do not treat the rule as a religion. The plant will tell you soon enough whether you got it right.