Camellia rooted ???

Last November I was passing by an old house that had a huge camellia,in full bloom, growing beside it. 'The shrub was taller than the house - just beautiful ! I happened to have my camera with me and got a picture.

I was thinking about "borrowing" a cutting of it (the house was abandoned) when an elderly lady from the house next door came out. The house belonged to her.It had been her mother's. Anyway, I did get to ask for permission to get some cuttings.

Those cuttings have now been in my rooting tub since mid november. About 5 of those cuttings still have green leaves. Do you think they are rooted ???? How long should I wait before planting a few in the ground---- April, May?

here is a closeup . The woman did not know the name of the shrub and said she had only been able to root it by bending a limb down . I am hoping to be able to tell her that I was able to root my cuttings. She wants to cut it way back because it is hanging over onto the house and roof so much she is afraid it is damaging the house. I would love to be there when she cut it back and perhaps get more cuttings.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2011 4:58 PM

If you lightly/gently tug on the cuttings, if they have rooted, they will be hard to move upward. Do you have the rooting covered. That will keep the humidity up and help with the rooting.

yes, I have a lightweight clear plastic garbage bag over the rooting tub,supported with dowels. Since the soil mixture isn't real loose I hated to pull up on them yet. I didn't know if it was safe to assume they were rooted and could take the plastic off now or not. My greenhouse is not heated or cooled except by a small electric heater.

Corgi--
The man you need to ask is "mqiq77" in GA.

He fell in love with my Bob Hope camellia a few years ago and asked
if I would send him some cuttings.
He said to take the cuttings when the new tip growths are about 6" tall,
but starting to harden off a bit--that means start to get a bit woody.

At this time of year (approx. mid-summer here) you would also trim back
your bush if you needed to.
So, I sent him a box-full of cuttings and he said I made him "the happiest
man in the World". I believe he got about 30 cuttings out of what I sent him
and rooted about 28. He has his ways.....
Being woody-cuttings, it is not all that easy to root them.

Ever since then--he has been my camellia expert and I have gone to him for
all kinds of advice.
Feel free to use my name (Gita) as he would know me.

Good luck! Gita

Here is a picture (in better days...) of my Bob Hope Camellia.
And, NO! I do not have cuttings to share, as I cut the whole bush down to nubs
in an attempt to eradicate some kind of fungal problems on the leaves.

Another shot.....

that is beautiful !!!

Here it is mid Feb and I got the nerve to "tug" on two of the cuttings. Would you believe that they flew up out of the tub? Not one root yet the leaves were still nice and green.

Someone please tell me - is this normal to take this long to root them? If they haven't rooted since Nov. does that mean they are not going to ??? I was so in hopes of having little plants by now.

Libby

mqiq had suggested I root them in jugs but I had already had them going in this old tub by then. I also took the cuttings in Nov. , which I know is NOT the time to do it but was perhaps my only chance to get these. Am I expecting it to happen too soon ? Will it take till summer since I started in Nov ??? I do not have any bottom heat. My tub is an old washtub and is very heavy filled with sand and vermiculite. It does have rotted out places in the bottom for drainage. I have supports inside the tub with a clear plastic garbage sack over them. How long does it stay on???

If there are any "new Leaves" or new growth, they are rooted for sure. Just be carful dislodging them from the soil as the new roots will be very tender. I would take a spoon or sharp trowel and dig under them rather than tugging on them.

corgi--

I tried once to root a cutting as well. The leaves stayed green forever----
but the stem never rooted....Eventually--the leaves dropped off and the stem rotted out.

Did you ask mqiq how best to do it? What did he recommend?

Hope that big bush will still be there next summer so you can take more cuttings
at the right time......

Gita

Gita, the bush will still be there but I don't know if the lady will let me get more cuttings. She wasn't too friendly about letting me have the first ones (and you can see from the size of the shrub that there is no way she could miss the few little ones I took ! ) I hope, maybe if take her a daylily or something that she will be more willing to share again.

Oops, I did "pull" those 2 cuttings up out of the tub. Maybe the little roots broke off, or maybe they just aren't going to root due to my getting them in Nov.


Thanks for all your responses !

corgi---

Under the cover of night--with a flashlight--you could do it!!!
Just kidding! Asking her first would be nice.....promise her something else
in return....
Is she a gardener--or just a stingy, crotchety woman????

G.

she didn't seem to be a gardener - no plants in sight at her house. I am excusing her because she did finally tell me that right before I showed up, another woman that just happens to live down the road from me had driven by and wanted an armfull of limbs for a church bouquet. I meant to call that neighbor and ask her to let me have some of THOSE , but I forgot to. I guess the elderly lady was afraid the word "had gotten out" and she would be the target of camellia lovers. LOL. If you have never lived in the country you might not understand that (or is that true all around the country?) You know, strangers just dropping by and asking for flowers from your yard?

I am amazed at how many people do that to my mom. She lives right ON the highway ( I live behind her so my yard is out of sight). When she has daffodils ,daylilies,etc blooming - all sorts of folks stop by and ask for some plants. Not just blooms - plants. My mom keeps a shovel handy and digs away. I fuss when I think she is being taken advantage of but she ignores me. I don't mind sharing , but I do mind greediness.

I know it's been a little while since you asked this question but I was wondering if you used a rooting hormone powder before you put them in the medium? If so, this really helps. I got azaleas, gardenias and a holly to root with the hormone and using Perlite as the soil substitute since it's sterile. With the perlite you can tug and feel the resistance without damaging the roots. Can't wait to do more this year! Here is the link I always use when deciding what and how to root something, it's quite informative. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8702.html Hope this helps!

yes, I did use a rooting hormone. I was so sure I had some rooted b ut I think they all finally died ! I really hate it;. I am going to be brave and go back in late summer and ask for more cuttings.

thanks for the link ! I saved it for further use:)

I just ran across this posting. I would think that late summer would be the wrong time of year to take a cutting. Right now (if not a bit late) would be the best time. Look for new growth, take a cutting. Cut off all leaves except a couple on the very top.
Fill a mason jar with sand, add water, dip cutting in rooting hormone, then stick your cutting into the sand. The water level should be just an inch or so about the top of the sand. Eventually you will start to see roots form just above the water level. Once they are abundant plant your cutting into soil leaving the very top roots just barely out of the soil. Keep moist continuously until you start to see new leaves form. Hope you have luck.

thank you. I don't know if the lady will let me have more cuttings or not. MAYBE if I take her some daylilies or something in trade she would be more inclined to do so.

As I said, she was not the friendly type. I do, however, want a piece of that camellia. I have never seen one around here with as many blooms as this one had.

I know very well how the old people can be. I had an elderly neighbor tell me I could have some mulch from her huge pile. She had cleared an acre of trees and mulched them all. It had sat there for at least 4 years.
After taking it, she called her granddaughter 3 hours away to come confront me, because I stole it from her!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the suggestion to go in the dark of night LOL

Hum-- I think God intended for us to share the bounty!! I just pruned back all my Camellias last week - I wish someone had come along that wanted the cuttings - they are being composted now, a lot of raking and cleaning up tp do each year. I was late doing it, I think you should prune the as soon as the blooms fade, but I neglected the chore til now. I may not have as many blooms next year if I am too late, but I hate to see them get so big and out of shape.

I agree Azalea about sharing the bounty. We plant a huge garden every year. Way more than we could ever eat ourselves. I enjoy giving it away to our friends. Sometimes I'll take some to the local food kitchen.

I have 20 tomato plants. Way more than two of us can eat. I grow them so I can give them. Fresh tomatoes always opens the door.

I learned that from my parents. They always planted twice as much as they needed so they could take care of the neighbors that could not grow their own vegetables.

Love to share! And since my husband's parents can't have a garden this year (critters growing under the ground killing everything...can't remember what they're called), they have to cover their whole garden with black plastic and let this good old Southern sun cook the nasty things. So we planted 15 tomato plants this year to help them have some tomatoes. We buried 4" pvc pipes vertically between the plants that we drilled holes in around the bottom and my husband made them tall enough to hold 2 gallons of water each. So, we just keep water in the pipes and it helps keep us from watering all the time but nothing gets splashed up on the plants. They were thrilled when we told them and they can come get whatever they want when they want it.