I have successfully rooted brug cuttings. It's all due to the wonderful guidance I found on this forum. I'm sorry I can't remember the exact thread/threads. I tried 2 different ways I read about and both worked. This is my experience :
1st way was to put the cuttings in water with an airstone and aquarium bubbler pump
result = visible roots in 1 week/ no new leaf growth yet
2nd was to simply stick the cuttings in damp potting soil and cover with plastic bag
result = don't know about roots but lots of new leaf growth in 1 week
I have just ordered a greenhouse, and Lord help me but I think I'm addicted to this now. Anyone know if Daturas are this "easy" as well?
Thank you to everyone who has shared their experience and knowledge. This is truly a wonderful community. :)
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
That is great. Congratulations!
I read somewhere on 1 of these threads that Dat's can't be rooted the same way as brugs. Someone sent me some brug cuttings and also a dat. I put them all in soil in my unheated sunroom. The brugs have growth, the dat shriveled up & died.
catzgalore,
I've never tried rooting a Datura cutting so I'm just guessing the difficulty would be in that the Datura cuttings would be green cuttings. Green Brug cuttings are very difficult to root. My success with green Brug cuttings has been hit and miss. Dats are so easy to grow from seed. Since most are annuals, they also bloom very quickly. Try starting some Dat seed.
You're not that far from me. Do you have your cuttings ready for winter? I haven't had freezing temperatures yet, but came close early last week. While the plants themselves were OK, they dropped all their flowers. With some help, I got mine in the greenhouse for the winter. If you have a heated greenhouse, they will continue to grow during winter. Our temperatures fluxuate too much for them to go dormant.
Hi bettydee,
I have some seed I collected from one of my dats. I was hoping to try them but not sure when the best time to start them is. One of my dats is planted in ground and 2 others are in pots that will be moved into the greenhouse soon. I wasn't sure if the on in ground would make it through winter here or not. I also have some brug seeds that I want to start. I have my cuttings in the house in a window, when is the beast time to plant them outdoors?
I found 2 sites with information on planting Dat seeds. While the seeds can handle freezes, the plants themselves need to be planted after the last frost date.
Brug seeds can be started anytime as long as you can provide the seedlings with plenty of light, either natural or artificial. They will get very leggy if they don't get the light they need. Seedlings and young Brug plants are more sensitive to freezing weather than big mature plants. So wait until after all danger of freezing weather is over to plant them in the ground. Getting them in the ground in early spring gives them a chance to establish a large root system before next winter. That is if you plan on keeping them in the ground. Be aware that in zone 8, Brugs will die down to the ground. Most will come back from the underground trunk the following spring. A few more cold sensitive Brugs may not so it's always a good idea to take cuttings of your Brugs just in case.
Since the new growth has to grow vegetatively before forming a "Y", it may not bloom until late summer or early fall. That is why some of us go to great lengths to protect the "Y"... to get earlier blooms. You could also dig the plant up and move it indoors before the first freeze every fall.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5063512_plant-datura-seeds.html
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:psx3GI-xrPQJ:dragocactoid.com/caresheets/GrowingDatura.pdf+when+to+start+Datura+seed+before+planting&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbSNAK_QszdWoCrGE__Z7gaswoDrWg
Wow, thank you bettyde.Great info.
Yay Catz g! I am happy for you, and sorry it turned into an addiction.... I knew it would :-) Same thing happened to me!
Christie
Each spring I say that I have enough brugs that I do not want/need any more. But then I see pics of brug that I do not have and the hunt is on. Can't eat, can't sleep until the search is over. Now I think I just have to have Minuet and Miss October. The addiction goes on and on.
Catz welcome to the addicted to brugs club. Your greenhouse will not be large enough soon. I have had to expand mine three times.
Janice
It is an addiction....then again plants in general are an addition!! I have really gone crazy over brugs this year. I have several NOID in the ground and then decided to add named brugs and keep in pots so I can get earlier blooms. So a added a number this spring and summer. Then comes fall and I have gone nuts getting different brug cuttings. So far I have about 60 cuttings going. I'm sure I'll loose a few but so far they are looking good. I cut the ones I have in the ground down before the frost could get them and I have them in water right now with a small fountain pump running. Figured it would be the same principle as the bubblier and I already had it. The small cuttings I have in a mixture of perlite and sphagnum moss. I dipped them in root hormone before I potted up. I have a number of soft wood cuttings and I have them the pots on a heat mat and think they are going to make it. I can see a difference in how they look after I put them on the heat mat.
mrs-colla, All those cuttings you gave me they rooted so well. This was my first real attempt to be successful. I' m so glad it worked out so well. I am curious, why the cuttings I set to root in the water bubbler do not have near as many roots as the ones I set into moist potting soil? They are also starting to set out leaves,should I leave them be or should I pinch them off?
I think the odds are even, as to rooting in water or moist soil... Do you change the water every other day, do you make sure the water has no more chlorine in it ( set it in a cup open to the air overnight) and is your water room temperature? Those are things that work well for me.
I use the water way, I love to see the nubbies turn into roots!
No, leave the leaves, they are there to feed the roots, the roots become bigger, the leaves grow bigger and so the cycle continues and your plant grows! Miracle!
I can't wait for Spring, I have so many cuttings that set roots, and they are all in my son's bath tub! He doesn't use it ( LOL) so I might as well!!
Christie
I stopped rooting cuttings in water about 1999. I found they get a much healthier start in soil. But then there are a lot of people that say they have the best results with water. But I never did. So often when it came time to pot them up, they would go into shock. They would recover from the shock it would take a couple of weeks. Then some of the picky varities would just sit and rot in water. Like they were drowning, some varities just do not like to be as wet as others.
To me water roots are weaker than soil roots. But that is just my opinion, I am by no means a pro, just a blooming idiot that is addicted to the flowers and smell.
Janice
I agree Janice, it is variable.
This is almost like saying "which socks are warmer, green or blue?" :-)
Everyone needs their experience, and some cuttings do get lost along the way, but less as time goes by!
I still don't have succes rooting thin green pieces though, I tried again, someone sent me a bunch, and despite all care they rotted really fast!
CC
Christi, You are right it is a varible. I have just found that soil works better for me, even more so on green cuttings.
How are the cuttings doing that I sent you? If you have any problems with them let me know which one and I will send you some more. I am so happy with the plant you sent me. It has begun to put on new leaves. Thank you!!!
Janice
Soil also seems to work best for me. I have some thin green cutting I have in soil and I have them on a heat mat. I think the heat mat is making a difference. I just had them sitting on the table in front of a window for a couple of weeks and some were looking not so good. After I put the heat mat under them they look much better and the ones that were struggling seem to have stabilized. I have 2 or 3 that the tops had started shriveling and now they seemed to have stopped and I still have green for a several inches.
Oh Janice, I am so happy to hear the plant is recovering from the abuse I put it through! It hurt me too to cut off her head, but it was the only way!
I am very happy with your cuttings, they are nice and plump, and working on roots as we speak!!
Cperdue; do you leave the heatmat on 24/7 or do you turn it off in the day or so?
CC
I'm leaving it on 24/7 until I see signs that they are taking hold.