Brug-Roll

Here's what I came up with for my cuttings. Got this idea from the AHS Plant Propagation book. I'm fortunate to have plenty of places around here where I can collect spagnum moss. I cut 12-inch strips of plastic from a trash bag and layed down a layer of moss. Then I laid out the cuttings so they were about 1/2 of their length in the moss. I put another thin layer over the stems and rolled em up nice and tight. They're secured with rubber bands and the bottom of the roll is left open so the water can drain out.

Think it'll work? I HOPE SO!! I made up 8 of these rolls today. I bet this would work good for a lot of plants.

if they are kept moist in the spagnum moss do you think they would start to root? sounds like a good method to root a lot of cuttings.

poppysue you are so clever.

I've seen this - maybe the Ken Druse book? - I wondered if it would work on brugs - supposed to be a great space saver.











This message was edited Tuesday, Sep 24th 8:02 PM

Well - if it doesn't work I'll be back on here crying. I think they'll be okay as long as they don't stay too wet. I've read that spagnum has some mild antibiotic effects on seedlings and controlling the bacterial diseases they get. Maybe it will be good medium for brug cuttings.

I wonder if it would work for passion flowers? :)

Oh Poppy, that's a great idea. Keep us posted.

What a neat idea. Good for you Poppy.

I agree a very clever idea.

Great idea. Right now, mine are in buckets of water. Hope to have them all mailed out very soon.

What a neat idea!

Looks great, please keep us updated.

Great idea. I bet it works.

Good idea poppysue! Brugmansias root easy in moss. We have lots of it growing around our garden and I collect for rooting or air layering purposes.

I use a similar method but use paper towels between the stems.

Do you root them that way - with the paper towels?

poppysue, where will you be keeping them? oustide?
What an innovative way to do it. I want to do it too...

Yes, or until they get the white nubs,(one of these days I will find out what those are called). Sometimes I put the roll in a plastic bag and wet the towels and tie off top. Haven't tried leaving the bottom open. Will have to give that a try.

They're outside now pebble. I'll have to bring them in if it gets too cold. I think I'm gonna try some smaller rolls with different plants. I'll have to go on another moss collecting hunt.

Wonder if I could keep them like that in the garage.

Barbara last week Kyle told us the white nubbies are called lenticels. He really must shake his head at our creative descriptions of plant parts. LOL

Thingies and horns? *LOL* It took me a while, but I am sure, that Kyle is a fast learner. :)

Have they formed lenticels after about 10 day? Do you add water every so often?

Owen

Yes Poppysue, inquiring minds want to know.

This is the most clever idea I've seen in a while. I'm going to have to try it. Thanks for sharing!

The ones I checked recently did have lenticels forming. I need to check the rest of them but I haven't yet. I haven't had to water them - in fact I squeezed a lot of the water out when they were left in the rain. The moss stays nice & moist.

So then you take them out & pot em up?? With just white nubbies or longer roots??

Oooo - they are starting to root in the moss!

Neat!

Wow, that's great, and so much cleaner than potting soil.

They look tastier than sushi all rolled up like that!

I have one question, since this looks like such a brilliant idea. Once they're rolled like this and are wet, what do you have them sitting in? A bucket? How often do you water and do you drain the water once it has run through the roll?
OK-two or three questions.

I'm wondering how long they could stay like this??

Liz - I've had them plopped up in big plastic tubs. They were outside for a while but I stuck them in my greenhouse when we started getting a lot of rain. I haven't watered them but I did squeeze some of the rain outta them when I thought they might be getting too wet. They aren't sitting in water... Just the damp moss. I don't know how long they'd survive like this but I'm sure I'll have some of them hanging around for a while.

poppy, did you have takers for all your cuttings for postage??

No. I have a ton of them!! I'm saving a few for Brugnanny and I still have to mail out to Dee.

just wondered, we have a few newbies. what did you have left?

These are just the seedlings tiG - so it's a gamble. I haven't cut down the bigger brugs yet.

I have a brug roll of insignis pink cuttings on my porch thanks to poppysue for posting this method. I've only had them rolled for a few days but now I'm going to have to unroll to check..I'm so impatient! Thanks for the update poppysue!

I just went out and made another roll of unknown white cuttings. (Ya'll don't beat me for propagating an unknown, I'm an enthusiastic newbie =)) I had made a mistake on the first one too - didn't leave the bottom open, I had just cut slits in the plastic for drainage. While I was fixing the first one I noticed they had some lenticels forming - YAY! I'm wondering too, how long ya reckon we can leave them in the rolls? This would save massive amounts of space if they can go ahead and stay in the rolls for a while.

I think they'd be okay for a while. Once they start to root I'd imagine they'd get hungry. A bit of fertilizer would probably keep them going.