Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Point me in the right direction!, 1 by bettydee

bettydee wrote:
Buying already rooted cuttings is an easy way to start. I've mentioned a number of reliable sellers in this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1077100/

Nothing cuts my desire to grow something quicker than to have everything die on me. Brug cuttings root very easily during growing season, but can be trying at other times. You will have to find a rooting method that works for you.

Mature branches root more easily than the herbaceous looking new green growth. Brugs will root in water or in potting soil. In water, the cuttings should be in clean water that is changed often. Adding a bit of hydrogen peroxide helps to oxygenate the water and to keep it clean. Place the cuttings in clear glass or plastic jars with about 1-1/2 - 3" of water and H2O2. Don't crowd. If possible, keep each variety in a separate jar. Keep the jars in bright light but out of direct hot sun. Very early morning sun for a short while is fine. You will see white nubs form along the sides of the underwater portion of the cutting. The roots will emerge from those nubs. You can pot up the cutting at this stage or wait until roots emerge. These roots are very tender so be careful when you pot the cutting into a small container. If you use something like Miracle Grow Potting Mix, add some perlite to get better drainage. It's strange that a plant that can be started in water is susceptible to root rot, but it is. The mix has to drain quickly. Lack of oxygen in the soil will kill the cutting faster than you can say, "What happened?" Until the cutting starts to produce lots of new growth, keep the soil on the drier side of moist. Use the finger test.

Cuttings can also be rooted in potting mix. Again add perlite to the mix. You can choose to dip the cut end in rooting gel or powder, but it is not necessary. Use a small plastic pot or a 16-oz plastic cup with holes punched in the bottom. Cover the cutting with clear plastic to increase humidity. Don't let the cutting come into contact with the plastic or rot will set in.

Others have tried wrapping damp long stranded sphagnum moss around the bottom 3" or so of the cutting. Then wrapping some plastic wrap around it. Water when necessary. If it's going to root, you'll eventually see the white roots coming through the moss.

Brugs require lots of fertilizer to grow well and bloom, as often as twice a week while growing actively. Use a complete fertilizer. They bloom on new wood. They produce two types of growth: vegetative and flowering. As seedlings they will grow as a single straight shoot for a certain number of feet. This is determined genetically so it can vary from a few feet to over 12'. DON'T pinch the tip to get a bushier plant. This will only delay the transition from vegetative growth to flowering growth. This transition is marked by the splitting of the one branch into two branches (sometimes more) thus forming what looks like a "Y". You can also see the change in the leaf shape. In fact its one way to tell whether the cutting you have comes from above the "Y" or from below. Here's gone2seed's site photo that proves one photo is worth a thousand words: http://countrygdn.com/infosheets/yandsub.html

Cuttings taken from the mother plant will continue to behave as if they were still attached so if the cutting came from above the "Y", it will continue to put out more "Y"s and buds. The growth tends to zig zag a bit. As your Brug grows it will also send out new shoots up from the ground. These new shoots are vegetative shoots and will grow straight up. These are the ones to have if you want to grow your Brug into a standard tree form. Leave it attached to your mother plant until it reaches the desired height and "Y". Then cut and root. This is faster than cutting the shoot while it is still very small.

Brugs are naturally rather rangy in their growth habit. They will fill in as they get bigger and produce more branches from the ground. In your area, they may tolerate full sun. Down here, they need morning sun and shade from the hot afternoon sun. In your zone, if you leave your brugs planted in the ground, they will die down to the ground. You also risk losing it completely. Some may be hardy enough to come back from the roots, but that's iffy. So always take back-up cuttings in the fall. I live in 8b/9a and even here some don't come back. Some Brug growers, dig their plants up and place the in pots to overwinter indoors (basement) or in a greenhouse.

Here's a photo of a Bernstein cutting in bloom. The bloom is bigger than the rooted plant.
If you have any more question, please feel free to ask.