Finally got a cutting to root, now what?
I've been attempting to get a ficus cutting to root for months, and I finally got a little success. I had tried many different things, this time it was just water. I left it for about a month, no results, then two weeks ago I stirred in a bit of hormone and when I came home yesterday I noticed a small root, about 5mm long. My question is do I leave it as is, or put it into a free draining soil (in this case it is baked clay)? In either case, should try to keep the roots warm (it rooted in relatively cold water on a windowsill)?
If it's throwing roots I wouldn't do anything and let it keep going for a while.
Then after you get a network of them you can plant into your clay medium and it should do well.
I would move it away from the window sill to a warmer location even just a few feet away from the window where it will still get some light. If you have a fluorescent fixture you can put it under that would work for you.
We have these little 15 watt fluorescent fixtures under the cabinets in the kitchen what we use to illuminate the counter tops and we've got at least 5 different types of plants rooting in water under those lights and they work great for that purpose.
Then after you get a network of them you can plant into your clay medium and it should do well.
I would move it away from the window sill to a warmer location even just a few feet away from the window where it will still get some light. If you have a fluorescent fixture you can put it under that would work for you.
We have these little 15 watt fluorescent fixtures under the cabinets in the kitchen what we use to illuminate the counter tops and we've got at least 5 different types of plants rooting in water under those lights and they work great for that purpose.
JTred, what has been working for me is to leave them in water until the bulk of the roots are at least an inch long. (of course this will depend on the size of the cutting - go with one third the cutting length) Then I move it into a medium of pebbles, light soil and some sand, but still keep it moist.
What is key, is not letting the young and delicate waterborne roots dry out at all and to be especially careful when transplanting the cutting as the roots are very fragile. They can also fail by aggressively changing them from one type of environment to the next (wet to dry) without some time to acclimate.
For me, I usually keep the new medium wet over the course of about a week, then slowly let it dry out over the course of another week or two until eventually I can put it on a basic check-moister level watering regiment.
Don't fertilize until its done acclimating.
What is key, is not letting the young and delicate waterborne roots dry out at all and to be especially careful when transplanting the cutting as the roots are very fragile. They can also fail by aggressively changing them from one type of environment to the next (wet to dry) without some time to acclimate.
For me, I usually keep the new medium wet over the course of about a week, then slowly let it dry out over the course of another week or two until eventually I can put it on a basic check-moister level watering regiment.
Don't fertilize until its done acclimating.
Last edited by manIK on Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
The cutting has been planted in coarse wood chips and is being kept moist by keeping the "pot" on top of wet kitty litter and the whole thing enclosed in a bag. The bag is aired out daily and fungus is kept to a minimum with an occasional spritz of the medium with rooting hormone (which has an added fungicide). Still no extension or opening of the top bud, but I'm just happy that none of the leaves have changed color or fallen off. I assume most of the growth is hidden under the wood chips. I lightly fertilized it yesterday, using very diluted Miracle Gro. Hopefully it will start growing on top soon and I can make a more interesting update. The future for this is either as a mame, or as a thread graft for the roots of the parent plant.