Just thought I would update y'all on the cuttings I put on their sides a few days ago. There are sprouts coming up!!! I can't believe how fast these are popping up thru the soil. I don't know if I was supposed to cover the whole stem, but I did. I have an order for brugs from a nursery and instead of taking tip cuttings I'm rooting them using Eric's method. I forgot to take my camera with me today, but will try to remember to tomorrow.
Erics propigating method
mine are up too. I did mine after you, and used a very green cutting. I think I put five in there, and four have green leaves coming up.
tiG - did you cover yours? I tried one and they dried up.
Calla, I'm excited for you. Keep us updated....
Cala, congrats on the big order and success with the method Eric uses. I gave up on mine because I didn't have any place to put them after I got them to nubbie stage. I don't think I'll run out of brugs anytime soon.
I did cover mine. I watered well once, and haven't watered again, just misted. I used the tip end, but kept the tiny leaves on it out of the soil.
I covered mine too. I wasn't sure whether or not to, so I covered them with soil. Like Tig, I watered in good with the TTO and have only misted the top since. These are on a heat mat. I used all kinds of cuttings, new growth, old growth, semi-hardwood....it doesn't seem to matter. The ends of the new growth have turned up and are growing straight.
mine aren't on heat mat and weren't in too much light either. I just kindof stuck them somewhere:) I've moved them into the light now, and all 5 are up, I checked a while ago.
How long were the cuttings? Was it a long one or short pcs?
Most of the cuttings were 12" long, some were short pieces.
mine were about 2-3" just one node each.
TiG is braver than me, lol.
well, it was one of my named but not marked, and I figured it couldn't hurt anything:)
I finally got brave today and cut some 2 inch long pieces. I'll let you know what they do. I had to sacrifice a few seed pods to get the cuttings I needed. I stuck them in a pot of dirt. Hopefully they will keep growing like the last ones I did that way.
think about it, Eric gets the most from running a lawn mower over them. small pieces, covered with not too much dirt. Now for the scary part, I'm going to cut my Butterfly up!! :o
Holding my breath for you TiG!! I was going to cut some more of mine up, but they had made the Y and I want to see them bloom.
You guys are scary. I am not cutting anything up right now, but I am watching a new flush of flowers start on my aurea's. Heres to the start of some new crosses shortly. To set a seed or to make more cuttings, that is the question. Of course the more plants the more seedpods down the road.
Eric, I have that problem too. Do I take cuttings or do I start seedpods?
Calalily,
I think seedpods are the better bet for me as a single seedpod will give 25-500+ seeds in my experience and thats a heck of a lot of plants. Of course as each seedling is different one can then breed them together or to another hybrid or ones parents depending on what one is breeding for. Besides, I like seeing all of the leaf variation in a given seedpod. Everything from serrated, velvety, smooth, narrow, wide, wrinkled, rolling, varigated, etc. Too bad so many of these characteristics are diminished after the first year. After that, one still finds that the immature leaves show some of these characteristics, but not always to the same extent. Still, it gives one something to select from. Some people say that is how the Culebra and the other Sibundoy valley hybrids came to be. Carefull selection of the leaf types.
Eric, which aurea's do you like best for making crosses?
What is the best way for me to root green shoots.....several of my brugs have side growths coming up and I thought I would try rooting some.......but I have only rooted cuttings that were more mature!!!
Oblambert,
I like all of the aurea's. Thats why every hybrid I have is an aurea or aurea hybrid. And as always the hybrid I like best is the one I currently don't have.
Sharbot,
I wish I knew a best way for rooting green shoots. I think a lot may depend on luck. But I have had great luck with green cuttings from Culebra, Butterfly, Frosty Pink, and others simply rooting in pure peat. Watering once heavily after removing all leaves and then only watering when the stalk itself was losing its rigidity. Rooting green tip cuttings standing up or laying down, both work. I agree, hardwood cuttings or cuttings with a bit of hardwood in the heel are much easier to root. Especially when dealing with some hybrids. Bottom line, I think some hybrids just root better than others. One can also induce root nodes to form by simply providing very dark shade around the base of some cuttings or airlayering with a bit of wet moss and aluminum foil although I rarely use that method anymore for Brugmansia. Hopefully Kyle will be by with some more exact methods. Its so great to simply have him here.
Is that Kyle Courtney......I have read about him.....that is so cool to have him as part of our group!!!!
I will try some next week when I get back from a business trip aso that I can cluck over them like a mother hen!!
Sharbot
I did lots of tip cuttings last year to fill an order. (I didn't know you could root the hardwood and threw it away. Boy have I learned a lot here). I found that by taking all but the two newest leaves off, sticking in a well draining mix, watering in good with a fungicide or tea tree oil water and then not watering till the soild was getting dry, they rooted pretty good. I also kept them on a heat mat set @ 72*F. I think I just repeated what Eric said, lol. Forgot to mention that the cuttings which were at least 4 inches long rooted best. Then I discovered Eric's instructions for rooting hardwood and haven't taken a tip cutting since then!!
Thanks for posting that Cala as you often post things in a much clearer manner than I do. Believe me, I am very appreciative of all of you guys for for the pictures and the rewording.
Eric, you do great!! Sometimes I have to read it a couple of times to figure it out, but I had to do that in college too!! I had already typed that in and wasn't about to backspace, so I figured "What the heck" I'll just ramble a little. Caught it from you guys anyway!!
You guys will think I'm nuts and lazy but I have 4 buckets of charles, frosty, suaveolens blanc and LBJ hybrids sitting in water since November, tons of roots, I just have no more room to put them so I've left them like that. Will pot them up when I have room. I do freshen the water when I remember. I should probably give them some food too. Mostly hardwood cuttings.
I'm going to do that next fall instead of tossing all the cuttings that aren't wanted by traders. It killed me to throw them away last year.
Remember.......I have a wonderful home for wayward brug cuttings here in Florida.......you can even come and visit them over the years!!!
Suzy :)
Brugie,
Ahhhhhhhhh....RULE # ONE...never toss cuttings...newbies will take them for postage, and a small fee.
By the way, do you know the parentage of your 'tragedy' seeds. Owen sent me a couple and I want to keep a parentage chart.
Joydie
Joydie,
Tragedy is a cross of Jean Pasco and an unknown brug now called Shirley's Peach. The seeds that Owen sent you are a year and a half old and I have not been able to get them to germinate. I think they were picked early because of our cold weather. I didn't know that I could let them mature on a dormant plant at that time. I don't even have a Tragedy of my own now. I had a couple of people who wanted one, so I gave mine away. I'll get a cutting from someone this year if I decide I really need it. I sent out over 40 pkgs. of cuttings last year. This was basically before I found DG. This year will be different. I'll only be able to send to those in the US and legal states though. Where are you located?
S.