How do you root the huge cuttings?

One of my cuttings from brugman is a monster! 3-inches around - I've never rooted one this big. Should it be soaked in water like the rest or do I stick it right in soil? I don't want to mess it up. The plants I grew all summer don't even have stalks this big. I'm so excited ~:o)

look in the thread that he started about sending them. He says leave in dry soil until they callous, but don't go by what I'm saying, read what he wrote instead:) 3"??? good going!

Large cuttings don't need to be watered nearly as much as thinner cuttings at the start. Simply water once very heavily and wait for sprouts to emerge from the nodes. Once sprouts emerge and the soil has dried out completly once you can lightly water from then on out every few days or when wilting.

Here's a trick that Earl showed me.Cut the large ones into two inch lengths.Lay the cutting on it's side,about half buried in the potting soil.It roots just fine that way and you can get several cuttings from one piece.

JT...doing the cutting Earls way also makes for a better looking stem.

JT, brain damanged... so it is a 2 inch circle, and you bury it with the open sides that were cut standing up? does it matter if there is a "node" on the length???? got a couple may need to go chop up. ths kinda sounds like brugman running them over with the lawn mower and then scattering dirt on top.

arlene......just put 'em in your blender for a minute or so. Then scatter dirt on the resulting pieces. Makes good compost:) just kidding:)

Owen

Tig,
The rooting method above is done with more than just Brugmansia, but in short-most people bury the cuttings laying them directly on their side and only buring them 1/4 to half way. I have rooted Brugmansia cuttings by simply laying them directly on top of the soil without covering them with any soil at all.

sorry, still brain dead here. Does the cutting lay on it's side with both ends in soil, or does it stand up?

tiG,
....do the cutting like this(-) instead of like this(I)...sometimes I cover half of it sometimes the whole thing ends up getting cover just depends how much I have been playing in my rooting sand. :)


This message was edited Friday, Nov 9th 12:46 PM

that's what I thought y'all were saying. Thanks!!!!

Eric, I just got back from WalMart.....had to buy another shop light and bulbs in order to plant your cuttings under:)
See all the work you are causing me? haha

Got your email today....thanks for the information; guess hybridizing is not so simple after all:)

Owen

Simply laying the pieces on the dirt-you can root large pieces that way as well without buring them at all.
Owen,
When one is working with others hybrids it is much easier-simply label the cross DrSues x Ecuador pink until one thinks of a name-but when one is dealing with unamed seedlings or wild seeds it is best to simply label by species cross unless the other is introduced.

I planted mine whole. I'm too chicken to cut it up. I'd need a chain saw! Keep your fingers crossed for me....

somehow when I posted Eric's post about laying on side wasn't here (at least i couldn't see it) not quite brain dead enough to miss that:)
Sue, I'm cutting one of mine up, just to see.

tiG,
I have rooted pieces not even an inch long by laying them down and they were not always mature wood.

Wow, I'm sure glad to learn about cutting the larger ones into smaller pieces. I'm heading out to the garage to get the chain saw. :-) Those thing are pretty hard to cut with a sharp kitchen knife and too big for a pair of garden clippers. Maybe a chef's knife would work. Thanks for posting this information. This might mean that I'll have more for trades later.

Shirley

Me again,

The Chef's knife didn't work, but DH's table saw did. Got those things planted again and now for the wait. Hope you got yours cut in pieces Poppysue.

S.

I had to use a saw to cut many of those cuttings. Smaller cuttings are much easier to send. Larger cuttings tend to root faster and put out growth faster as they can devote more reserve energy into one or two nodes. Once started many of the nodes can send up shoots and one can then burry the entire stem lenghwise with the green shoots poking out above the soil...each shoot...green or not...will then generally root and can be removed from the woodier trunk much easier to form many more plants. The rooted stem still in the ground or placed back in the ground can then send up more shoots/future plants.

Guess I'm never too old to learn and this was a good lesson. Now I know I can send my bigger cuttings out to people and they will be able to root them. I've rooted big chunks before, but have only sent out the stuff above the main trunk. I'm anxious to see how many shoots the one on its side will produce. Thanks Eric.

most of the big cuttings you sent me are already putting out, Eric. So now I lay the cutting down? Should I take each piece that's got a shoot and cut it off and plant separately?

Tig, I would just let them grow at this point, let em get rooted first-then you can lay them down and the tips will bend toward the light and give you many more shoots then the other method. Keep new green shoots barely above the ground or barely in the dirt and the weight will push them down to the ground and they will form roots from those green shoots as well. Uprooting them before roots are started will just stunt them at this point. Better to wait until pot bound at this point, then lay on its side. Just my oppinion though.

Tig, I would just let them grow at this point, let em get rooted first-then you can lay them down and the tips will bend toward the light and give you many more shoots then the other method. Keep new green shoots barely above the ground or barely in the dirt and the weight will push them down to the ground and they will form roots from those green shoots as well. Uprooting them before roots are started will just stunt them at this point. Better to wait until pot bound at this point, then lay on its side. Just my oppinion though.

I have full grown Brugmansia that have branches so far out that the weight pulls them close to the ground and they root. Keep these pruned if you don't want any more plants. Simply laying any Brugmansi on its side after rooting it is a good way of getting many more plants and increasing dramatically the size of the plants root base. Simply cut into the dirt and remove shoots with roots attached after they are a few feet high. Nick shoots earlier if one wants roots to form a bit sooner.

Had a beautiful Dr.Sues X Ecuador pink open up for its first time today. Wonderfully fragrant and I am glad I kept this amber flower with pink-peach spots. Hoping the color fills out more on the second flush. Definite candida type flowers, most likely versicolor type seedpod, but only time will tell if shes like her sister in that respect. Calyx looks very similar to the wild arborea calyx and is extremely velvety from the corolla,calyx, and green stem vantage points. Definitly a keeper. Calyx forms a small tear duct like pouch at the end where moisture collects.

This message was edited Saturday, Nov 10th 10:47 AM

This is an excellent posting!! I received "logs" of brug cuttings from a dear friend from South Carolina. Each cutting was at least a foot long and 2"-3" in diameter. They are covered in leaf nodes and I was afraid to cut them up into smaller pieces. I put them in water with liquid fertilizer and they rooted in 3 days. This morning I got brave and cut all of them down into small pieces each with a single node and thought I would hope for the best. The second 'log' he sent me of each variety I left alone.

Now that I read this post I guess I'm going back downstairs to the greenhouse to cut up the other "logs". Wow I'm going to end up with 2 dozen plants or more of each of the brug types he sent me.

I'm in heaven I just know it cuz there are angels flying all around me! Everyone (angels) is/are so helpful sharing information.!

i am a first time brug raiser and i love them. what i want to know is, do u prune them back severly in the fall or do u just let stand as is untill spring. i would appreciate any info on raiseing these beauties. i have a room in my house where i keep them in the winter. but i wanted to know if i could prune them and make more plants. also how much should i fertilize them and how often?

Wow! what a great thread to bring back up! LOL I was confused when I saw November 10th there.... thought I lost a few days!
Very interesting reading here!

LOL!!!I thought Owen was back!!I guess I should have looked at the dates!!

I chop them into logs and lay on the side,I use the plastic bottoms of window boxes,only holds 3/4 inch of water,after they start to get root nubs,I plant in the top part of the window box with soil.

Wow! Thanks for the pic root! So am I understanding right? you can THEN cut the cutting where (like you have 2) new growths are? I dont know that you would want to let them go like that because of crowding each other out??
Did it work good for you Ms Brugie?

Shelly, I have two chunks of logs in an 8-10 inch pot, laying side by side with an inch between them and they have 14 shoots coming up from the logs. I'd say it works very well. What I'm going to do is bury the logs deeper as the shoots can take it and hope that the shoots will have good roots by spring so I don't have to get the chain saw out to cut my logs into pieces. LOL!!

bloomluver, You don't want to prune below the Y ... where the plant branches out. If you prune below that point it will have to re-grow to make a new Y next year.

Bloomluver,If you are pruning the plant to over winter,trim it back,as poppysue says,don't cut below the Y,I was told to leave 6 nodes above the first Y,when we say Y,it is the upper flowering growth,the plant must make a genetic Y,before it flowers.
I like my cuttings to be below the Y,the trunk of the plant,this is what works for me,I want the plant to get taller,cuttings above the first Y will give you faster blooming clones,but they will not reach a good height.
I like to have taller plants,don't get me wrong,I have a short bushy white that was first to bloom,and is still blooming!

Thanks Root and all the rest of you for the propagating information. My biggest problem is going to be what shall I do with the large seedlings. some are almost 30" tall already. Donna

Just got my greenhouse finished---whew!!!! Alot of work but so much fun! Would anyone be able to send me some cuttings---I know that is asking alot-- I will do SASE or maybe I have something you would like--- I don't have very much plant wise on my exchange list because I haven't had time but if you will let me know what your interest are I can send you a email of what I have available--- I would love to get some to start for me and my Daddy to share ~;o) Tracy

Bloomluver, in Zone 7b any trunks you leave standing outdoors are going to freeze to the ground, most likely. You can save the rootball with a heavy mulching, and last year I found that I could cut BIG trunks (3" across or more!) off at ground level, strip the leaves,prune back the tops to a few nodes above the Y, and stand the whole thing in a few inches of water in a five-gallon bucket for the winter. (I kept them in a spare room---dark and cool, most of the time.) These monsters nearly all rooted, and started blooming 2-3 weeks after I planted them back outside in the spring. Since they'd been in water, not soil, and about a dozen of them crammed into one bucket, their rootballs weren't very large, so they were VERY easy to plant. (Used a post-hole digger, lol!) I planted them deep so they wouldn't tip over before they had a chance to grab the dirt, and they never looked back. I'm going to do the same thing this year!

Hi MsBatt! We haven't see you for a while :)

You're big cuttings stayed in the water all winter like that? You must have had to change the water a lot? I'd be afraid they'd rot.

MsBatt-- I plan on growing them in the greenhouse and bringing them back in during the winter--- But I need to get some starts first. I would love to see those monsters before you cut them back for the winter-- I bet they were more than beautiful!!!! Tracy

An old thread to look at again. Since I used this method on my MM cutting I wanted everyone thats new to Brugs to get a better idea how to do it. Even some of us that aren't so new.........LOL

8o)
Dee

I love it when I get hard wood cuttings instead of soft green. The hard wood hardly ever die out. and the log position for rooting is great, they just look real good when they start to grow you don't have that stub showing as you do with the stand up method. I have several I have done that way and am very happy with the plants,,they seem to get off to a faster start.

WillowWasp,

Thank you for bumping this thread. I had 4 stalks that were too thick for me to cut up for rooting last Fall and I just put them in a 5 gallon bucket. They rooted over the winter and I was wondering if I could plant them after it warmed up.

MsBatt, thank you, also, for answering my question. I can hardly wait to plant them outside. One has already y'd and should be blooming soon. I'm so excited!

Digs