Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

I have been experimenting with and commercially rooting cuttings for 30 years. I cannot aford to have rooting fail because that may mean several days work and thousands of plants wasted. I often read here and on other groups how people loose valuable plants because they make major mistakes in thier methods. So, here goes . . . I will expose the secrets of the professionals ! First secret . . . There is no one way, every grower does rooting a bit different, even the professionals sometimes use methods that are complicated and un-necessary. In short . . "Its easy" !!

First importance: You must provide constant moisture to avoid rapid transpiration (foliage wilt).

Second: Too much moisture can cause root rot or stem rot befor rooting.

Third: The potting medium should be stirile or of non-active organic materials.

Fourth: Never try to root cuttings in full Sun or without light. Most plants need bright light but no burning Sun.

Fifth: Never try to root cuttings with full foliage left on the cuttings. Cut off (do not pull off by hand) leaves all except 3 or 4 at top of cutting, then cut thoes few leaves in half. A few plants will root best from cuttings with all leaves cut off and others may need a few leaves (so they can remember who they are).

If you are rooting only a few cuttings at a time, heres the very best medium to stick cuttings in. "Canadian Spagnum Moss" One small bag with 1/3 Pearlite. Wet Spagnum in a bucket, drain off excess water then add Pearlite and mix by hand. Stuff medium into 4" or 6" clean pots. Poke hole with knife into moss then stick cutting/s 1/3 deep. Never stick cuttings without poking an opening first or you will tear the bottom of the cutting causing rot.

Spagnum Moss holds many times its weight in water than soil creating its
own constant damp environment and (very important) Spagnum is naturally anti-fungus which protects cuttings from rot !!

Most "soft" stem house plants like Ivy's do not need this attention, will root in pre-baged potting mix. This formula is important for hardwood plants, heavy stem tropicals and thick branching species.

Example: Folow method above and stick 3 cuttings of your favorite Bougainvillea into one pot. One or two will root in 4 weeks at about 78*f. Bougainvillea roots best with cool nights 72-75*f. and days at 80-90*f. They like the rest of cool nights. Cuttings must be taken from the parent and stuck immediately. Bougainvillea will require misting about three times per day. (no vacations allowed untill rooted!).

We might get a usefull thread going here if y'all will tell us what you wish to root. I will come back and offer my experience and perhaps someone els will chip in with particular plant rooting experience !
Logos

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

I will chime in.

The number of methods also rises according to the variety of plants. Rooting succulents such as cacti and aloes is totally different because the plant itself stores water in the stem or leaves. Typically after cutting you need to allow the wound a couple of days to dry off, and then stick the plant in moderately moist soil and do nothing for weeks to months.

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

Oh, if you could give me hints on rooting a Pseudobombax elipticom (sp?)(Pink shaving brush), I would be in heaven! I have tried more than a few times and failed.

Or if anyone has a plant they are willing to part with....

Margie

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

Margie . . . Pseudobombax are mostly trees that grow to 100' Your favorite to 35' and the trees do not flower for a few years ? I found some info on your favorite that indicates it will grow in zone 9. If you live near the beach in Jax, I think you are in 9-a !! ??

Your favorite, Shaving Brush is a species and would start better from seed.
Trees seed about Feb. March. Check out seed sources ? I do not grow trees but if I see this one I'll try and see if it will root from cuttings.
Logos

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

formontcalamus thank you for sharing this rooting technique!!!

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

the banana tree.com has them beachgirl,( id rather get mine from logos, you know what youll get) if logos cant locate one. they have the seeds i believe. thank you for the use full info. i have been rooting christmas cactus and they are great( you know who you are) i figure a few more weeks and they will be on their way. yes you can say horray! i rooteded mine in water 7-10 days. then put them in 'nana' dirt, and didnt water for one week, because of the water storage. now my sedum, i just layed the extra leaves on top of the dirt, and just put VERY little dirt over the cut ends and ive had everyone of them root. thats for those who want to root you more sedum. and i have found a way to ' cheat' when it comes to rooting woody stemmed plants. and logos is right do not leave very many leaves on the plant. he is right about cutting the leaves not pulling them off. however this is how i root my willow trees, corkscrewillows and a few others like certian roses, and logos please dont choke... cut a good, thick sturdy limb, branch, piece of rose bush, what ever you are tyring to root. cut all the excess leaves off. leave a few at the top so the plant can breath. on the cut end you can either score the wood 2-6 inches up the wood, or mash the end with a hammer. i have done this tons of times and it does work. place it in a 1 gallon clean pickle jar with warm tap water and place it in the shade where it will get filtered light. change the water 1 time a week and in 2- 4 months you will have roots. i just gave away a corkscrew willow tree that i had rooted this way and the roots were so massive i had to jocky the roots out of the jar.i also rooted wild rose bushes this way. my friends thought i was cracked till they saw the root system on them. just my 2 cents on how i snag branches from trees and make my own.

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

one of my favorite mediums for rooting cuttings is peat pellet.. the type you start seeds in.. they come compressed and I can store many until I need them and only use the ones I need when I need them.. I also use Ziploc baggies as a mini greenhouse.. it keeps the moisture in.. I air up each baggie each day to keep the bags off the leaves by blowing in the bag and sealing it before the air can escape. I keep the baggies on top of the fridge where it is nice and warm and I have florescent light right above it about a foot from where I keep the cuttings..
I'm sure this probably doesn't work with every thing.. but it has worked very well with my citrus root stock cuttings..
I do cut off all but 2-4 leaves and use rooting hormone..
as soon as I see root coming out of the pellet I transplant to my regular soil mix in 4 in clay pot and place the clay pot back in Ziploc baggie with the top open for a few weeks to allow the new roots time to get in to the soil..

I also have recently put some cuttings in a fish tank I've made in to a terrarium.. I ran out of pellets and the local nursery was destroyed by the flood and will not restock till this next spring.. so I'm having to be creative about how to solve my planting needs..
I don't know how well the terrarium will work.. but so far so good.. I put about two inches of my "usual" citrus mix with over double the perilite mixed in..
I do have to mist it at least once or twice a day..

Gina *BabyBlue*

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

may have to try this on some of my wifes and kids roses this summer

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

Ms. Kitty . . . You jogged my memory on something worth trying. If anyone trys rooting in just water (always let water sit for few hours to evaporate chlorine) . . . scrape some bark off a branch of Willow then drop the crumpled small branch and the bark into the water container with the plant you are trying to root !! This is an ancient farmers method of rooting. The Willow contains "asidacylic" (spelling?) acid which generates rooting. The same acid is used to manufacture Asprin. Logos

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

Could you break a capsule of white willow bark from a health food store into the water if you don't have access to a willow tree?

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

willow tissue contains a low level of indolebutyric acid, a rooting hormone. aspirin is the acetylated form of salicyclic acid which has little or no rooting hormone activity, there has been a lot of research on this subject. what aspirin does do in some plant is stimulate the production of anti-bacterial proteins. other studies have shown that the addition of willow bark had no significant effect on rooting, in other words water without bark rooted as well as water with bark.

using willows capsules will depend upon how the herb is manufactured; if it is sterilized with heat it will most likely destroy the rooting properties.

another thing to keep in mind when water rooting, the roots formed in water have a lower survival rate when planted in soil.

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

interesting.. thank you

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

i knew that willow bark could be used as asprin, but i didnt know all of that. wow. learn something new every day. when i root the willows this way the rate of success was really good. however i didnt know the roots, rooted from water had a less chance of survival..thats good to know. might have to do some more rooting of both ways. thanks for the info.

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

I started rooting plumarias in a similar way. Here in Chicago they cost $50 for a 12 inch stalk and More $$ the larger they are. When I found this could be done when ever I would go to the keys I would break a branch of and take it home. I would take all the leaves off it dip the cut end in water then dip it in shcultz root hormone. I would stick the stalk in soil about 4 inch down and keep it in a sunny room and keep it moist and warm and about 30 days later lots of roots. Now I have seen stalks for sale online for 4 to 7 each.

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

50 bucks????? dam!! that is quite pricey. I get mine off e-bay from a grower in Hawaii. anywhere from 10 to 30 bucks for a 12 inch or more cutting. :parachutenanner:

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

I've got a question for you rooting gurus out there. While I root many plants at the greenhouse, they are usually very easy plants like Coleus or some herbaceous plant. I bought a Wollemi Pine last year, and it now has 3 leaders. I want to cut one and try to root it, but have never attempted a conifer. What do you do with side branches, especially if they are close to the apical meristem? I would think that you just cut them way back, close to the main stem, but I don't know. Also, is it better to take cuttings from dormant wood or actively growing wood? Thanks,

Frank

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

O.K. You guys . . . Everyone seams to have a different method for rooting. There are lots of plant species that are so easy that you can make all the wrong moves and they will root anyway, so long as they have water and soil. However . . .

there are basic necessities required in rooting. First: use clean pots and soil without active organic materials. Many commercial potting soils contain mulched bark that begins to decompose as soon as wet causing regeneration of fungus. "No good" Cypress mulch contains bark but is resistant to decomposing at least untill long after your cuttings are rooted.

Something overlooked in my previous posts . . Suculents, Cactus, some Euphorbias and Plumerias all need to dry off (heel) for a couple days before sticking into rooting medium.

"Aeration is very important" The rooting medium should drain very quickly to show that air is entering the medium. Rooting cuttings is somewhat like a religious experience. Once you find a way that works (if it works, dont fix it), you will tend to stay with it and "believe in it" and you will be resistant to change the methods, but if you are loosing cuttings to root-rot, you must keep trying other methods . . .

I challenge all to try the mix I discribed in my post: 1/3 Pearlite and 2/3 rough Canadian Spagnum Moss. CSM is "anti-fungus, the most important asset that no soil mix has !! You do not have to fool around with hormones and in small pots large cuttings can be rooted. The roots develope "fast" and fill the pot with a solid rootball. The Spagnum binds all the roots in a ball so that when you plant into regular soil, the root ball does not fall apart damaging roots, etc.

This past month I rooted over a hundred PLUMARIA cuttings, 2 cuttings per 6" pot and lost 2 (because the cat sat on them). The cuttings took only three weeks to root and are now full of little buds !!

In my nursery business I root hundreds of cuttings every day without a mist system, in the open air without shade cloth cover. The plants are watered with a sprinkler system that wets them only three times per day for three minutes.

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

formontcalamus... I'm also interested the dormant or actively growing question? Do you have any ideas on that?

Thanks,
Deb

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

I cannot believe you guys are paying such prices for unrooted Plumeria !! My plants (trees) are not big enough to offer quantities yet. But for 30.00 I'll send you 10 total of three or four varieties . . .

Also, check back here few days I'll post sources for Plumeria much lower than Hawaii !!

Re: Rooting plants from cuttings . . .
 

Cookie . . . You got me in a pinch there. My experience is almost completely with tropicals. I root any time of year, any plant. Little experience I have with temperate climate plants is that of cource they will root from active groth vegetation, and I would think better than from dormant.

Once the plant has had its system shut down from cold I would think dormant branches would respond to rooting as if they had just discouvered Springtime ! An important reason for leaving "just a little foliage" on the cuttings is that some limmited transpiration keeps the cutting alive untill rooting can support it. With dormant cuttings, I think you may have to allow the normal seasonal rest befor it will respond to new groth ?

If I were in your spot, I would at leat experiment during the winter and if your "sample" cuttings do not root . . . and if they do, then you are months ahead of Nature !! Try with a dormant specie that you know you can root in springtime like Juniper, Viburnum, Forsythia, etc. That way if they do not root, then your question is answered.