Woody stems and roots were removed from Hydrangea quercifolia, cut into 40 cm segments and placed horizontally in flats of perlite to produce leafy softwood shoots under intermittent mist for cutting propagation studies or under drip irrigation for micropropagation studies. When stem and root segments were compared, root segments produced fewer shoots than apical and middle stem segments under both forcing environments. Forcing was better under intermittent mist than with drip irrigation. Softwood shoots from forced stem segments and outdoor shrubs were excised and were treated with 0, 1000, 5000, or 10,000 mg l^-1 KIBA and then placed in a 1 vermiculte: 1 perlite (by volume) medium under intermittent mist. Shoots rooted at і 80% with or without auxin. Forced softwood shoots from stem segments produced a greater number of roots than softwood shoots from outdoor shrubs; however, there were no differences in percent rooting between the two sources. 'Dayspring' produced the fewest adventitious roots compared to 'Ellen Huff', 'Snow Queen', and an unnamed selection. However, the unnamed selection had the lowest rooting percentage. Nodal explants collected from the forced shoots and greenhouse-grown plants were disinfested and placed in vitro on MS medium containing 1 µM indolebutyric acid (IBA) and 10^-10, 10^-9, 10^-8, 10^-7, or 10^-6 M Thidiazuron (TDZ). Nodal explants on the medium with І10^-8 M produced 0-1 axillary shoots. Shoot numbers were highest on media containing і10^-7 M TDZ and most of the shoots were adventitious. Microshoots were easily rooted and acclimatized to the greenhouse.

Key words: auxin, cuttings, epicormic shoots, indolebutyric acid, oakleaf hydrangea, tissue culture.