Propagation: Rooting and grafting Brugmansia, 1 by mainfrog

mainfrog wrote:
What a wonderful thread I stumbled upon!
I had wondered if brugs could be grafted. I thought of taking 2 straight cuttings of approximate diameter, cutting out a third vertically from each cutting, pressing the two exposed faces together, binding them tightly and then rooting them I might get a grafted, single trunk brug. I only THOUGHT of doing this, but didn't execute, thinking the brugs would not respond to grafting. The next best thing, I thought, was to bind 2 cuttings together, root them together and grow the two trunks in close proximity.
I have several growing like this, but now I'm going to follow Brugmansias' method 2, outlined in his June 20 instructions.

By the way, Brugmansia also suggests a method of rooting in layers of perlite and peatmoss. I have used this method with great success with a small modification: I take a 6" round plastic container, made from cutting the top off clear plastic beverage containers and drill 2 holes at the bottom for drainage. I then line the bottom with perlite, about an inch (for drainage). I follow with an inch layer of peatmoss. I then place a bundle of cuttings, their rooting ends dipped in rooting powder right on the peatmoss. I gently pack additional peatmoss around the bundle, shaking the bundle to allow some of the peat moss to enter the interior of the bundle. If need be I may place a rubber band around the bundle to keep them stationary. I place the pots on top of a propagating heat mat at a temperature of 60-75 degrees F. I check the peatmoss to see if more water is added: dark if moist, light if dry.
In about 2 to 3 weeks the roots are visible through the clear plastic. When I think the roots are well developed I then remove the rooted bundle, shake the perlite and peatmoss that cling to the roots, gently separate the roots (swished in a bucket of water will always separate them cleanly) and transplant each rooted cutting individually into 4" pots.