I went out to the cold garage today and grabbed some cutting material from 4 of my brugs. Of course, I didn't have a pen, so they will be mixed. Dr. Suess, Tragedy (I had forgotten that I had the mother plant), Sunray, and Jean Pasco. These are short cuttings with one node on them and placed in wet oasis. Will see how this stuff works as a rooting medium. This pan is a regular size bread baking pan and holds 21 cuttings.
Looks great!!
Brugie, my friend buys this oasis type stuff with nutrients in it to start succulents. She did a bunch of cg cuttings in it too. I've used it for clivia seeds and it worked great. I was trying to find the name of it for Hibiscus. I'll call her and ask her what it is. Your cuttings should be fine, worth the experiment anyway.
Brugcrazy, I got these from Home Harvest and they have a two week supply of starter fertilizer in the cubes. I bought them to do geraniums, but will try them on anything I can get my hands on. :-)
Brugie,
Looks like a good experiment to try for cuttings...I kinda like that. There is a woman who grows roses from cuttings...I found it at a website a long time ago. She and her husband live in a trailer and travel all across the U.S. during the warmer weather.
She starts all of her rose cuttings this way and swears by this method. When they arrive back home the rooted cuttings are then ready to plant into the ground.
Joydie
Joydie, did you get my email?
I hope this works doing cuttings in the oasis because it will save me a lot of room until I need to transplant. I'm hurting for room in my house. It is just about time for us to move out to make room for more plants.
I also bought some rockwool and will try it when I have special brugs that I want to root to mail out.
This message was edited Friday, Feb 8th 8:33 PM
Great idea Brugie. It's a good way to start lots of cuttings in a small space. Keep us updated on their progress.
Brugie, talked to my friend, her cubes come in a large sheet and are brown. She buys them wholesale and they are made by Oasis.Called Oasis cubes. She started a sanguinea cutting in it and it rooted in 12 days. Yours should work great, don't stick the cutting too far down in the hole, was her advice.
Thanks Jeanne,
Mine are brown too and came in a sheet. I just cut enough of them off the sheet to fill that pan. Of course, I didn't get a wholesale price, but what the heck. It is only money and I can't take it with me.
Hey Brugie, do you know where I can get some of this stuff, maybe it might help me with brug seeds. I haven't had much luck with them. Is there a web site??? Dee
Great, thanks Brugie
How thick is this stuff?how long can they stay in it?
Mine are only about an inch and a half. This stuff is used for just the rooting time. Once rooted, the cuttings need to be potted up. I've never used it before, so I hope I have good luck. Like I said before, I bought it to do geranium cuttings, but I'll try anything once. Just have to hope it works. I may have pushed the cuttings down too far, but time will tell.
I definitly want updates on this!!! I would have never thought of it,but had considered rockwool and coconut fiber...
CC, I just really like the idea of saving some space. If this works, I'll be going cutting nuts next fall.
I'll be right behind ya!!
Brugie how are your cubes doing? You inspired me to buy some.
That is quite an impressive operation. I certainly wish I had some experience in those above methods as I have most impressed by the results I have seen from the above type methods.
Sue,
I'm still waiting on roots. The cuttings are growing, but just haven't put on roots yet. It was 2 weeks yesterday. The cuttings are swollen at the base, so I'm thinking it won't be long now. The only problem with this stuff is knowing how much water to give it. I think next time I do this I'll just put the oasis on capillary matting and let it do the watering for me. I want this to work so that I don't have the tall rooted cuttings like I've had before. Am thinking if these root they can be planted deep enough that the shoot will look like it is coming from the ground instead of the side of a big cutting.
I have placed 1 and 3 gallon potted plants on their sides with every foot or so burried in the past to get side shoots to come up. I have also managed to get a few Brugmansia seedlings that I buried several feet above the stem and root to grow...something that small should have no problem if you can get them to root which I don't doubt you can't.
Eric, I'm starting to have a problem though. Can't keep my hands off the little critters. I have two different groups of cuttings in the oasis. One group I continually check and the other I have left alone. Of those that I have checked, three have rotted. The other pan of them are stuck very well in the oasis, but I don't know if they have roots yet or not. I have decided that once in the oasis, it would be smart not to check them because that releases the cutting from the oasis and they don't make good contact after that. Guess I had to try it to learn though. Did put three tomatoe seeds in three cubes and they have all sprouted, so I guess the oasis might work for brug seeds too. Will have to give that a shot this fall after I produce those hundreds of seedpods that might be wishful thinking.
I am confident it would work for Brug seeds, but would it be economical for starting a few thousand seeds?
No Eric, you have the perfect way to deal with them by the thousands right now. If our temps were conducive to growing your way, that is how I'd be doing it. I can put a lot of seeds in a 6 inch pot and then transplant, but then what do I do with all of them over the winter? Just not enough room here. Sure wish I had a glass room. That would solve a lot of problems, but would take a huge check to pay for one and don't think DH would go for it. Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to be satisfied with what we have. Ever heard of any woman being totally satisfied with what she has when it comes to flowers? I for one always want more. :-)
You can pull most of the leaves off and complety burry them. Over wintering them this way at 35-50 degree's is easy.
You don't mean outside, do you, when talking about burying them? We might get down to 20 below zero here, so outside isn't even in my thoughts. I do keep plants in a heated garage that gets down to about 35 degrees, but for growing seeds, they would have to be in the house. I don't know how big they would have to be to withstand the lower temps.
Back to overwinter the way you are talking about.....do you mean to take a reasonable size plant and just pot it in something that is really deep and then storing for the winter? Watering only when necessary to keep alive? What would happen if I totally covered a plant in a pot? Meaning, cutting the top way down and covering the rest of in in a large, say 1-2 gallon pot? Would it start new shoots by spring that would come up from under the surface. If this would work, it might help me with the spider mite problem. And you think you ramble...
If you keep the soil slightly moist you can put the seedlings in a box. Laying them down horizontally and defoliated in the garage. Put a layer of dirt between each layer of seedlings. A plastic tub or box appropriate to the size and number of your seedlings of course.
Completly cover each layer of defoliated seedlings. If one keeps the soil moist, but not wet and cool but not frozen then they will last all winter. Of course you can simply mix a bucket of moist dirt up and mix those with the seedling and till them around with your hands every so often to check on them if you want. You could keep a thousand small seedlings this way for the winter very easily.
Glad to hear this. Will give it a try this fall, that is if I am able to get seed pods and can keep my hands off them until they ripen. Guess I better get the printer fired up again. Thanks Eric, I do appreciae all the help you have been to me. You are like Cala, Monika, and others...... a valuable resource.
Brugie,
Are you changing the water frequently? ...if not the stems will rot.
Joydie
Eric, like the cuttings I keep in the fridge till they callus? I do this with lots of things but never thought of trying it with brugs.
Joydie 1, There isn't any water to change. This stuff is like a sponge only you can't squeeze it. Just keep it moist.
Cala,
Exactly, only by covering them in moist soil they won't wilt. Moist, not wet...there is a difference.
I just checked out the website for the oasis cubes....I am including the link.....http://www.homeharvest.com/seedstartingrootingmedium.htm
There are two types of cubes...one is recommended more for seeds...that is the one with the fertilizer in it....the other is more porous and recommended for cuttings. They also have a rooting gel and a rooting solution that sound very interesting. There goes my allowance for the week...LOL.......
I think that this can only help us all to grow more brug babies.....
Check out the airlayering kit.....after having read the thread on that yesterday this was perfect to try.
Hey,that a great price on the kit!!!I wonder....
Brugie,
How is your experiement with the cuttings in oasis going? Just peeped in to see if there was an update on the progress.
Joydie
Joydie, I have two containers of them. One container, I just had to peek and see if they were rooting. I'm messed with those quite a bit, and even though they have put out top growth, they aren't rooting yet. They are loose in the oasis too. The other group is growing as well, but I didn't touch them and they seem totally firm in the oasis. I'm just waiting to see some root growth coming out the sides of the oasis and then I'll know it worked for sure. I'm sure if I took those in the first group and put them in soil, they would take off as well, but I just wanted to see what they would do in the end. Since I don't need them, this is just an experiment.
