Cuttings

[blupit007]

Charlie,

  So while Im in St Martin, my mom is watching over the seedling tank while my brother is watching over all the bigger plants (I didn't want to leave my bro in charge of the tender ones).  I had a Night Runner doing really well in there in the seedling tank.  It had roots and had grown several inches.  I didn't want to take it out of this environment right before I left, as I couldn't monitor it while I am away so I left it in.

 My mom dropped the heavy glass top on it and snapped it clean in half.  Probably about 2-3" left standing.  There are no leaves left on the portion still in the soil.  She put the other half in my cloner (although it is green wood).  What are the chances of the portion with the roots in soil to survive?  

[Charlie]

Ouch, that hurts! Accidents happen but why is it they so often happen to the rarest of plants? Last year a new employee broke the main stem of a small grafted plant of Wild Thing, the only Wild Thing (parent of Heartbreak Hotel) in the greenhouse except for an old stock plant. Good news is that one grew back.

Kristen, my main concern is whether this was a grafted Night Runner or not. If so we have to hope that it is not only root stock left on the plant but also some of the grafted Night Runner. If there are any nodes on the remaining piece of wood it will likely sprout out and start regrowing. No guarantees, of course, it could just slowly die off but the odds are reasonably good that it will sprout a new branch. I shipped both grafted and own root Night Runners last year so if it came from me it could be either one.

It's good to leave it in the warm and humid "incubator" while it starts regrowing.

Charlie

[blupit007]

It was a cutting that I rooted in soil on my own.  I had been babying it since last August.  I was pretty proud that I got it to root so nicely and start growing.  Hopefully when I get back on Sunday, I will see those nodes you speak of.  She said that the half that is in the soil didn't get pushed over so I am hoping!  This is the flower that I first saw before knowing about these hybrids.  It is a special flower to me as it started this entire hobby for me. 

If it dies, you can make me a new one??   

[Charlie]

You bet - one Night Runner coming up! Here's hoping that your baby is going to come back as it well might since it hasn't died so far.

Charlie

[blupit007]

Guess what, there are 2 baby leaves sprouting!!  My mom is soooo relieved!  So am I!!!  Is this a fast grower?

[Charlie]

Night Runner is a slow grower, Kristen, but even so you could get blooms this summer if all goes well.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Great to hear! I really like nightrunner, you should root the other half and send it to me

How is Summer Shore doing in propagation?  That is one nightrunner offspring which is also a WoW for me.

[blupit007]

Chris, the top half is in the cloner.  I think my mom put it through the ringer though.  I will see it on Sunday.  It is a bit wilty from what I hear.  She put it in a glass of water over night at first, then recut it in the morning and decided to put it in the cloner.  Then a week later told me about it, I told her to recut it on a diagonal so she did.  It also is green wood I believe... If it makes it, I will be amazed! 

[Charlie]

Chris, Summer Shore rooted well using wood off the original seedling but none of the clones are large enough to take more wood nor is the seedling plant regrown enough for more wood. The clones now in 6 inch pots are showing medium vigor and will not be among the first shipped - probably late April for those.

For those interested, we are a little ahead of where we were last year. 4 inch pots will start to ship next week to Florida and the most southerly areas and the 6 inch pots will start to ship in early April. Please give Cindy a break and don't write to ask when a particular order will ship as that is not possible to answer now. In general, all plants will ship in March, April, and May if ordered up til now.

Charlie

[davidwood]

I am having a bit of a problem trying to take cuttings from my Pocahontas. Normally I find a tip that is about 5 to 6 inches long and cut where the green is turning brown and have had good results, the problem with Pocahontas I only have about 2 inches or less of green wood, it seems to turn to hardwood[brown] very quick.
 So what I would like to know is can I grow a cutting using the hardwood [and if I can, do I treat the same as a semi hard cutting], or should I still cut where the wood is turning and use a very short length, say 3 inches max, or is 3 inches to short for a cutting.

Also has anyone grown a cutting from Cranberry Muffin , I have got quite good at cuttings but seem to have a problem with CM.

[blupit007]

I didn't realize there was a difference?  Maybe I was told once, but I don't recall.  Its harder to root the hard brown wood?  I just always cut where it is brown, but have at least 6" of stem.

I did root a tiny Sleeping Beauty.  The cutting was about 3".  Along with an even smaller Nightfire.  which rooted but hasn't grown much at all.

[Doll]

Hardwood cuttings should work just fine. Here is one I just recently did of High Voltage. You can see how nicely it is leafing out.

[davidwood]

Brilliant example Doll, thank you. One thing to ask though, do you scrape a bit of the hardwood of at the bottom before adding the rooting powder?

[Doll]

David, I don't scrape away any of the wood at the bottom.

[Darkhorse]

I FINALLY got around to taking a few cuttings today.  My question is... do you re-dip in rooting hormone for each daily water change?  I may have already asked this somewhere, but I can't find it f I did.




The cuttings I took today were from Purple Magic and Island Girl.  What kind of rooters are these?  This is my first time trying to root cuttings, and I want to know what to expect.