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Tabasco
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Cuttings and Oxygen

I'm just getting into cuttings, great way to propagate.

Have any of you tried to drop a bubble stone into a cutting vessel?
I was thinking it would maybe speed up the rooting process.
I'm going to try it for now and in the meantime see what kind of responses I get from the forum.

imafan26
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I rarely root in water anymore. Water roots are not the same as soil roots. The plants will grow, but when they are planted the water roots will die and have to grow roots for the soil anyway and all of that takes away from the reserves in the plant.

If you are going to water root, it might help to add some super thrive and a tiny bit of water soluble fertilizer. The air stone probably won't hurt. Some plants like pothos and lucky bamboo can be grown in water so they do fine water rooted, but still are happy to get some fertilizer once in a while.

I root nearly everything in perlite. I also have to make sure that I get certain cuttings at the proper time or my success rate plummets. This is especially true of plants that are slow growing and have definite growth and dormant times. The best time to take cuttings are just before the plant will be entering a new growth phase. Some plants like lavender and fuchsia I have only been able to root from tip cutting, stems don't really work that well, others are less fussy.

I have a couple of books on propagation. The one I used the most was called "Creative Propagation" by Peter Thompson.
The other was "Tropical Plants of the Caribbean". The second one works well because we have the same kinds of plants. It just took me a while to understand some of the terms like 'manicotting', which I know of as air layering.

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Tabasco
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imafan26 wrote:It just took me a while to understand some of the terms like 'manicotting', which I know of as air layering.
Sounds like a tasty Italian dish :D

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Tabasco
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Location: Zone 9a, 50 miles North of Tampa Fl

imafan26 wrote:
I root nearly everything in perlite.
Just perlite in a small pot that drains?
Or is it contained?
Also, how much and what type of solution do you add?

imafan26
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I put perlite about 3-4 inches deep in a 6 inch pot, or I really like to use 10 inch bulb pans, but they are getting harder to find.

I pretty much use rootone, powdered auxin on the cuttings for almost everything. I occasionally use dip n' grow, mostly for semi ripe cuttings. I don't care for it that much because it has different concentrations for different types of cuttings and it does not keep very long. I tried as an experiment super thrive on my last set of cuttings. Super thrive is basically and auxin and it does work in stimulating nodes on orchids and for boosting plants to grow. The danger with it is to make sure that the plant gets enough fertilizer and growing room and Super thrive cannot be used more than once or it can kill the plants.

A. Sears
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I'm starting to have better luck growing plants in water. There seems to be a little trick to stagnant hydroculture. It is a whole new game from rooting in soil.

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rainbowgardener
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I also have much better luck rooting cuttings in soil than water. Once it grows water roots sitting in water, it is very difficult to transplant into soil. So I just start them in potting soil. I find it really helps to put a humidity dome over them ( like a 2 liter pop bottle cut in half).

imafan26
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I tried to bag my rose cuttings, but they all died anyway. I think I left the bag on too long. How long do you keep the dome on?. Humidity is never a problem.

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rainbowgardener
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You may have enough humidity that you don't need it, I don't know. If you aren't using a dome, then mist the leaves frequently.

I leave the dome on until the cutting starts putting out new leaves, which is a sign that it has made some roots.



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