does anyone else notice the difference in the roots ?
Monika's roots are big not a bunch of little ones
i wonder if the cold does this ?
i wonder which ones will adapt best to soil ?
i'm always wondering :-)
Dick
Rooted Cuttings in water
Water roots are different from the hairy looking soil roots .
Water roots will eventually die off in the soil while the new soil roots are growing.
Hmmm , didja ever wonder if old plantz have grey roots Dick ? lol
Funny, Scoot. LOL
From my experience, the roots dont die off. The tips of the roots must always point downwards when potting in soil. This is very important.
I pot the cuttings at the end of March. Within two weeks, they have a strong and healthy rootball. I dont use any hormones or other chemical stuff. My mentor was an old gardener. He died in 1983. He tought me the 'grandfather's tips' of successful propagating and growing out of a time, when hormones and chemicals for plant treatment were unknown.
A thought has occurred to me. Since the "bubbler" keeps the water clean and fresh only requiring supplemental water as it evaporates, might that lead to a lack of "nutrients" that monika's method supplies?
I was planning to start adding small amounts of 20-20-20 in the next few weeks.
Interesting Monika about the tips of the roots pointing down. I've never heard that, but it makes sense. I'll certainly be mindful of that when potting up. My grandmother could have taught me a lot when I was a child (if only I had been more interested at the time).
Monika ,
Hmmm, maybe it have too many roots ?
Should I trim the rootball before I put the water grown cuttings in soil. I could not possibly get all those roots straight down.
Have you ever seen cuttings rooted in a cloner .Fantastic hairy looking roots on those.
lhughes;
Obviously, that question also occurred to me i.e. what to do about it?
But I was thinking along the lines of a traditional "root stimulator" which is more like 4-10-3
OMG - scooter - I love that. Could you please explain more fully - ya know "rooting brugs in a cloner for dummies"?
What exactly are we looking at Scoot? Looks like a floating raft of some sort, but what is in the cups? The roots look great. How are you going to get them out of the cup without damage?
When I pot up water rooted cuttings, I usually put just a small amount of potting soil in the bottom of the pot in a mound, then hold the cutting in the position that I want it to grow and add more potting soil slowly to fill in abound the roots (almost the same way you plant bare root roses) then water in well to get rid of air pockets.
Before potting, I dip the cuttings in water and then shake the moisture off. I put a small amount of soil in the pot and place the cutting on top of it. Then I fill up the pot with soil and lift the cutting into a higher position. It will bring the root in the right position. The soil around the pot edges has to be pressed slightly to stabilize the cutting.
This way of potting should bring the long roots of your plant to point downwards Shirley. If the roots are too long, you can cut them.
I dont add fertilizer because all of my cuttings have gone dormant. Hydrophonic fertilizer is better suited for water rooted cuttings.
I have always just put my cuttings in jars and the larger ones (coming off the same bush/tree) in 5 gallon buckets with water. I rinse and refill when needed. Mine are outside in the greenhouse which is cool. Some have more roots than others and it might have something to do with the individual brug. I pot mine up like Monika does. We each have to try different things and see what works best for us. I have done different things and always come back to just sticking it in a jar or bucket because it works for me.
My cuttings have been mostly 2 to 3 in canning jars, with 2 tsp of H2O2 added per gallon of water. They have all rooted well, but in the last several weeks I've seen soggy decay at the base of a few.(They are ready for potting,but I need more pots and space). I am going to try the idea of lifting them off the bottom with toothpicks. Should I trim the soft base off?
I want them to stay fairly dormant until April.
Polly, I've trimmed the soft/mush off some and I've left it on others, all of them have rooted. I like the toothpicks. I use smooth river rocks on the bottom of the containers to keep them from tipping and they secure the toothpicks too...
Thanks to everybody for this thread.....my little brain is trying to absorb as much about this as possible. LOL I do have a couple of questions. Which root easier, the greenwood cuttings or hardwood cuttings? Are the greenwood cuttings usually from above the "y" and the hardwood from the juvenile stage? Or is that not always the case? Do smaller cuttings root easier than larger ones? Thanks in advance ~ Jackie
Good questions, Jackie! This brug game is a tricky one! Everything seems to have totaly stagnated right now, and I've been freaking. A wonderful DG brug friend resolved my Jessie Noel problem, though! Can't remember which one of you it was, but you were absolutely right - SPIDER MITES! I used some Schults Bug Spray on them and Ms. Jessie and is doing great now!
These people are a storehouse of knowledge - and lucky for those of us new to the "sport", they seems happy to share their expertise! (Of course, it is only fitting since they are the ones responsible for getting us hooked!!!)
The easiest to root are the hardwood and semi-hardwood cuttings. Greenwood will sometimes root, but for me, most of them don't. Up until this year I've rooted almost everything in soil. Now, I'm enjoying playing with rooting in water.
Cuttings 4 to 8 inches with 2 or 3 nodes are the norm.
Greenwood is young growth and can come from any part of the plant.
Hardwood is the barky-looking older stem material of the plant.
Hard wood is less likely to rot but it can.
Personally I don't think the space a tall cutting uses is worth the trouble,
Unless you have a huge basal shoot and you want an allee tree.
JMHO
EDITED sorry brugie , I was typing when you posted , I didn't mean to post on top of you.
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This message was edited Feb 4, 2005 11:40 AM
Thank you thank you thank you.......I hope that I can retain all that I'm learning here! At least I can come back now and reread as necessary. I'm going to try to find some cuttings to root myself. That will be the true test.
As for who addicted us? Aghhhhh.....ALL of YOU! (And we don't regret a single minute!)
Jackie
bump
Haha, yes it soon will be time to start again.
bump
Anybody ever try rooting cuttings in willow water?
The last 4 brugs that I have put in water to root I have used distilled water, and no bubbler. They have rooted without any problems, don't know if it is the water or the time of the year.
Hmmm will look into that. I use a CPAP machine to sleep with and have plenty of distilled water. Thanks
Water rooting of hardwood cuttings was not much of a succes for me last winter, so I potted what was left of them up and got nice roots on many of them ... but it took a looooooong time compared to rooting them within their season. I will probably stick with that method again, but it is fun reading about waterrooting anyway :)
I'm no good at rooting in the fall. In the spring I have great luck though. I've been very envious to see all your good luck and skill with rooting in the winter.
I am no good at rooting period. I do much better from seed, even though it takes forever to get a bloom!
I am just salivating over all these wonderful photos. I have about 8 brugs, but so far no blossoms. Hopefully next year will be the charm!
I'm debating on whether or not to put mine in the ground. I read an article in our local paper about someone having them in the ground here. I'm afraid it wont come back. I know I'll need to take cuttings before I do just in case it doesn't come back. IS this the right time of year to put it in the ground? I counted 12 flower buds on it so I will most deffinately wait until they are done. For those of you that cut yours up. What is it exactly that you do? Take it out of the pot, cut the stems up and discard the root ball? I have never done this as I keep putting mine in a bigger pot each spring. I can't keep doing that.
(1)
You can root prune in the Spring and refill the empty space that resulted with fresh potting mix.
This way you can keep the same pot size every year.
( 2)
Only root prune your brugs in the Spring when the growth hormones start to flow again.
(3)
Cuttings can be just trimmings or from heavy cut-back. Normally we cut back so we can fit the mother plant in the house for the Winter . Then you will have plenty of cuttings.
(4)
Soft green cuttings will usually rot so I suggest you try some semi hardwood cuttings . They look like the soft green pieces but are beginning to show the formation of brown bark.
(5)
I would not advise planting your brug in the ground this time of year.
Spring would be best so it gets a chance to establish a good healthy root system to withstand the rigors of Winter.
Good Luck ;)))
Thank you scooterbug. I will hold off planting in the ground. I will have to try cuttings though. Will all this info I can not fail! Thanks again
Dawn
Scooterbug is right on!
Add 1 TBL of regular H202 to one gallon of rooting water, and root lots of cuttings to put out in April. Next fall, in our zone, wrap those plants to overwinter in layers of bubble wrap up to 18 " or so, and pile high with mulch. You'll see little sprouts along about mid June (they are cautious returning) - you'll have blooms in August. Your indoor over wintered plants will be blooming by June.
Polly, you leave yours out? Do you cut your down? Are they in full sun, type of soil...?
Thanks,
Dawn
They have some huge trees - my neighbor's Gum trees (hateful), way up overhead. I sever what cuttings I want, and leave only about three feet of "trunk" above ground; it dies back to the ground under the mulch.
I agree with Polly .
It is wise to leave the 3 foot tall trunk above ground otherwise.............
if you chop it off at ground level ..................
water could possibly get into the rootball and rot it.
Hmmm. I used to leave mine about 3 feet, but they looked so awful that I now leave about a foot, which is fine for my area and zone. Since I have many brugs that are visible in viewing area from the windows, I prefer a shorter cut and I've not had problems, tho I still consider myself a novice. I would say that water would definitely get into the root-ball unless the cut limbs were stuffed with something or spraying them with the stuff put on tree wounds (forgot the name of it). My limbs hollow out, where ever they are cut and leave a direct route to the root-ball. But, I live in SE Arky and it has not been a problem. I do mulch HEAVILY, and I do not cut off to the ground, and only leave about a foot showing. Good luck. I'm not sure we are having winter this year, so I might be considering a season that will not arrive...
Sequee - most of my seedlings produced white blooms and absolutely nothing to brag about. I'm tossing all of them that don't bloom for me before frost. I think they know my intend because several have set buds.
Judy
Darn lil stinkers eh Judy?
Brugs seem to know the year is over and set buds just before the 'end'.
So many buds and seed pods in the trash can every Fall.
Today was chop-chop day . I dug the main trunk and potted my favs that I am keeping.
Not going to keep hundreds of cuttings as usual ya know 'cause of the big move next Spring ;-))
DayDreams goes from glorious to chopped up in less than a minute......... lol
'Tis a sad thing!
hmm.. Scoot.. got any of that chop chop left over? Ack..what am I saying.. no! ignore me!