I will soon be taking cuttings from my white brug and have some questions. I read somewhere on a thread that you can just put the cuttings in a bucket of water and forget about them until spring. I tried that last year and within 2 weeks the 3" sections that were in water turned a nasty green and started getting all mushy and smelling. What's the secret? Is it better to take cuttings and put them in potting soil?
Also, I remember reading this past winter that you could take a cutting that only has one node and, using a particular method that I don't remember, root it on one side and it would grow on the other side. Now I can't find that thread. Does someone remember where it is? It had great pictures and everything, but at the time I didn't have but a couple of already rooted cuttings and didn't want to take the chance.
Taking Cuttings
Pins I think this is one you're talking about...not sure of the other. Hopefully this will help some...it did me
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/407953/
Here's another helpful one:
http://www.americanbrugmansia-daturasociety.org/brugcut.htm
This message was edited Sep 10, 2004 3:43 PM
Last week I lost the top part of a big seedling to a wind storm. Its a cross that has yielded some gorgeous blooms out of the same pod, so I thought it worthwhile to salvage what I could of it. I cut it into 4" sections and stuck those (HORIZONTALLY) into regular, moistened potting soil, barely covering the cutting with more soil. I put the entire pot into a ziplock bag and sealed it, placing the bag on the east side of my porch in the shade. Within several days I had leaves sprouting, at which time I removed them from the bags. In my honest opinion this makes a much prettier plant than starting a cutting vertically. And, it works really well for me :) Gretchen
BA, thanks for the link. That's the one I was looking for. How can I save it for future reference? I think that what I did wrong was not using distilled water and clean jars. I'll be more careful in the future.
Gretchen, that's exactly what I was looking for. So, you just barely cover the cuttings? Do you think we should do this with the fall cuttings, or save them in water until spring and then lay them horizontally to make babies? That sounds kind of risque, doesn't it?
Yes Pins, I just barely cover them and keep them sealed up until they sprout, then keep them moist, but not wet, until they have several leaves. I don't know about waiting until Spring. I'm going to do mine like this and grow them all winter in my GH. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try, but I would think it would be better to root them vertically, as they probably will already have roots by Spring.
Pins your welcome. I save it sometimes by copy and pasting the words into notepad or either Word...wherever you want to I guess, and you know you can always 'Watch thread' feature that Dave provide's. It's a handy feature. I would copy and paste it though so you won't have to keep looking for the thread if it gets old. Another thing is you can go to the Search feature here at Dave's and type in ummmm like 'brug cuttings in water'? I think that's what I did to find it. Good luck dear, I think I'm going to do the water glass method over winter and probably do as Gretchen does with her smaller cuttings. That's pretty neat huh? :)
Have a blessed day!
Julie/Brugaddict