General Discussion & Chat: She's about to...63... Summer is here and it is stil HOT!!!!, 1 by joeswife

joeswife wrote:
Faye, I have several small plants from cuttings that started out well, but the heat just stinted them. So, I cut the top off in pieces leaving a top with a Y for my tree form, but short, and then a chunk about 6 inches long, marked , rooting hormone, in water bubbler, and another chunk about 6 inches long same thing, leaving me with a tagged bottom about 9 inches tall and about an inch and a half wide, with a root ball. It stays in the ground until October or 40 degrees which ever comes first, I uproot it and dump it in a large plastic tub along with the other root balls, tagged and de-bugged and clean potting material in the tub. they say there all winter in that tub, in the dark, until about february, I bring them out to the light a bit and they start growing. the tub has small holes for drainage, but I hardly water them at that time. It saves a plant I love, and room for my trees I am not cutting down, and other plants in the grow rooms. The back room in the basement does get a ray of sunlight for about three hours, it sits near the water heater so it stays warm thru the coldest times. it beats lugging in tons of heavy pots up and down the stairs. Son and Joe have already moved Maya, Flamenco, Peach versi and cherub x berkonigon for me. My serendipity is already down there, in a hanging basket where it rooted from the time you sent it to me. I have two cuttings of the long pendulas pink from Bonnie rooted this way, and the bottom of it is 8 ft tall, it will hang out in its pot until spring, and will be moved to a bigger pot.
see this frosty? notice the cut point just to the right of the blo0m hanging.. and all those off shoorts? they were all removed, as was the top stump, and rooted to make new plants for sending last year.