any tips on propagation of dormant hardwood cuttings?

Planning to try my luck at getting some dormant hardwood cuttings to root this winter

Seems cheaper to buy for $2-3 a stick, rather than $20 for a plant.  I'm patient

We've had a couple hard freezes here in New Hampshire, so everything is doing dormant.  Is this the right timing to take cuttings?

I plan to dedicate a garden bed to propagation.  Just healthy garden soil with some wood chip mulch.  It's on the lower side of the garden, so it gets some natural moisture from drainage

I can provide some protection from deer with a hardware cloth cage, but I don't want to encourage voles to take advantage of the predator protection and burrow underneath

Any tips on success?

These are the varieties I'm planning to try, if I can find them:
Elderberry
Grapes
Gooseberry
Currants
Figs
Hardy kiwi
Blueberry
Honeyberry/haskap
Seaberry/buckthorn

Any I should add or delete from the list?

Any online nurseries you can recommend that ship bundles of dormant cuttings this time of year?

Cuttings can range from very difficult to very easy depending on the plant. There can be a lot of technique involved, especially for more challenging species and to ensure a strong, healthy plant. Case in point: blueberries are supposed to be super hard to impossible to root from hardwood cuttings and need to be propagated by digging up shoots instead (and indeed, I got a 0% take rate on blueberries when I tried).

Nurseries that sell a good range of cuttings can be tough to find, and those that you can find (Edible Acres in New York comes to mind) tend to sell out fast.

Elderberries are a great place to start—I have hardly ever had a hardwood cutting from elderberries fail. The cutting itself may die, but if it roots at all it will send up a new shoot from below.

Figs are also pretty easy, although I have had better success with softwood cuttings. In your climate I assume they won't be hardy, so I would probably wait to start those until spring.

I have found grapes to be pretty challenging, although they are supposed to be easy.

Currants and gooseberries aren't too hard, but they should be planted deep, with the cutting essentially buried.

I like to start cuttings, hardwood or softwood, in a very free-draining, sterile medium like straight sand or perlite. I live in a super humid climate and the cuttings seem to do just fine without any organic matter to start.

Davis Tyler wrote:These are the varieties I'm planning to try, if I can find them:
Elderberry
Grapes
Gooseberry
Currants
Figs
Hardy kiwi
Blueberry
Honeyberry/haskap
Seaberry/buckthorn

I've successfully rooted these below outdoors from hardwood cuttings and had good success rates. I have pretty mild winters though, usually a low of 15 degrees F. If it gets really cold where you are, it could damage or kill the cuttings.

Elderberry
Grapes
Gooseberry
Currants
Figs

Most of the ones below are either hard or very hard to root from hardwood cuttings from what I've read. I think these are mostly rooting from softwood cuttings, layering, or other methods that give them more success. I say go for it though, it never hurts to experiment!

Hardy kiwi
Blueberry
Honeyberry/haskap
Seaberry/buckthorn

If it's your first time I recommend either practicing on some cuttings taken free from the wild or purchasing on just a few to start out, and then if you have some success, scale up from there.

Best of luck!

Steve