Cuttings

[Nievesgirl]

Sounds good so far. Hibiscus cuttings are sensitive to high levels of dissolved salts. Our local water is often right at the limit of what hibiscus can handle. Your DI water would have reduced levels, how about the pH of that water?

Charlie

The PH of the Di is I believe 7.0 or something like that every time I am mixing something for my aquarium it is 7.0 before I add my salt to it.
As for the ph out of my tap I have no idea. I have to find my PH test.

[Charlie]

That's fine. Some filters such as RO can lower the pH quite a lot but yours is good. Tap water here usually is 7.0 whenever I've checked it.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

I don't think these cuttings are taking , I have bought another root hormone with more IBA .  I also saw some rooting gel from a UK company, you just put cutting in the gel cup and let it grow. I think that is neat but I need to see how much IBA is in it. 

[Nievesgirl]

my new root hormone finally came in the mail.
I bought Dip n Grow

It says to put cuttings after dipping indo growing media, so is it ok to place cuttings in potting mix ? or can I dip and put them in water ?

[Charlie]

Dip N Gro is a good rooting hormone. I've used it on and off for years and don't find any problems with it. Some say the alcohol damages the cut tissues but it also sterilizes them at least a little. In any cases I have thousands of plants growing after being treated with Dip N Gro so don't worry about this at all.

You can stick cuttings in water after treatment, or in any medium including potting mix. They are more likely to rot in potting mix so most people use something sterile like perlite, vermiculite, Oasis foam, and other media that hold air and water but are sterile. An easy rooter will root in just about anything, but the harder to root ones will want an ideal media to root in. The most important factor by far is the cutting itself - how old the stem that it was cut from was, and how healthy the plant it came from is. Wood from an old plant growing in the landscape that is old wood will rarely root and that might be what you got when collecting cuttings?

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

For the cuttings I got some cv's had different growth patterns

2 of the cv's I cut had nice green branches LUSH leaves huge also ( I will take some pictures of the bush today) I cut the green part and tried that.

The third CV grows like Heartbreak hotel really no green parts but lots of leaf nodes and wood. these where trying to root but I stopped messing with them until i got the dip n grow.

 

[Darkhorse]

I am getting ready to take a couple cuttings from some of my cvs and try to root them.  I re-read this post for a step by step guide to rooting.  Couple questions...

Once the roots are several inches long, do you just remove them from water and plunk them into potting soil?  (gently of course)

Also, you just dip the wood in the hormone, then put it down into water with a drop of bleach?  How often do you change your water, and do you re-dip the cutting each time in the hormone?


I was thinking of trying to root my Chariots of Fire.  It needs pruning and is a good beginner exotic, so I would give the extras to friends.  Does CoF root easily?



ugh, sorry for the billion questions......

[Charlie]

Hi Jordan,

Chariots of Fire is an excellent one to start with. It roots very well and is not as likely as some to die by rotting before it roots. I think one of the pitfalls that gets many attempting to root exotic hibiscus is the time it takes before they root. 6 weeks is good but some cuttings can take up to twice that long and the entire time the cutting has to be maintained in good, steady conditions for it to be successful. Garden variety hibiscus and root stock types like Pride of Hankins and Albo can root in as little as 3 weeks so those are good to practice with if no success is had with easier to root exotics like Chariots of Fire or Love Story, for example.

Probably the main drawback to rooting in water is transplanting to soil when the roots are ready. It is not hard to do but you do need to be careful not to break the roots and the plants go through a little adjustment period as the roots adapt to soil.

Yes, dip the cuttings in hormone and set them in about an inch of water. Changing the water is critical for success. Do it several times a week and use lukewarm water if available. The hormone is active in the cutting for up to 3 weeks so you can re-treat every 2-3 weeks until roots form. If you use bleach make it a very small amount. Most city water has a mixture of chlorine and ammonia added so adding more is not that helpful and too much will prevent rooting just as too much rooting hormone will prevent rooting.

If rooting more than 1 cutting in the same glass watch them carefully and remove any that show fungus growing or rotting asap and then change the water with a little bleach added. Any that are going to rot usually do so in the first 3-4 weeks.

Now if you can keep the cutting warm and the air around it humid for 6 weeks or longer it should root.

Best of luck!

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Good!  I will let you know how it goes. 

One more thing... I shouldn't have trouble keeping the area warm enough (house is ~ 74 degrees) but is normal household humidity enough, or do you reccommend an incubator?

[Charlie]

Jordan, houses that use central air conditioning that lowers the humidity a lot can make it difficult to root or even grow hibiscus. As a general rule rel humidity above 55 percent should be enough. Most likely the air inside the glass will have plenty of humidity from the water for the cutting. If temps fall below 70F at night it will slow down the rooting process, which is already slow enough!

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Oh, good.  I do have central air and I will certainly be using it here in the summer, but I'll probably set it around 76 so there's no risk of it being too cold for the cuttings.  Hopefully the humidity inside the glass will be enough for roots to form.  Now if I can keep everyone else in the house from knocking it over/eating it/doing whatever else might happen I should be ok.   

[Charlie]

Yes, the life of a cutting is full of peril!

Good luck, we can't wait to hear the story of what happens......

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Ok I just re-read this and I am a slacker.  Haven't even tried yet.  I just need to go out and purchase some rooting hormone and I'll be good to go.  I do have another question, though.  Do cuttings need any direct sunlight or are they better off in full shade?

[Charlie]

Full shade. Sun will stress them too much and they'll die before they have a chance to root. What they like most is constant warmth and some humidity.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

I think usually you want to keep them warm and out of sunlight, until the roots grow.  Then you can wean them onto more sunlight!