Have Passiflora "Purple Haze" established cuttings.

Hello everyone. I've been drooling over these forums for a year or so, but just began starting to trade this week.. That being said, I somehow can root passionflower cuttings in jars of standing water. I have 5 well rooted cuttings (been growing in soil for 5 months), three that I cut in May that I potted up a few days ago (fair root systems) and a bunch more still in water until the roots are a bit less delicate looking. I love these vines, been to Costa Rica a lot where they're like weeds and even in Syracuse I just seem to 'need' them. So I want to expand my collection, I'll take anything but Caerulea at this point, though there are definitely some varieties that I'd be really really grateful for, might throw in a black and blue salvia if you want to offer P. aurantia :drool: or.. has anyone tried P. 'Blue Eyed Susan' yet? I've also got a weak spot for Lady Margaret, I ordered one with Purple Haze, but she just perished about a month after arriving. So yeah, I'd love to have her.

Purple Haze blooms pretty easily for me, even in the winter in a W facing window. The flowers have more blue than most I've seen, and they do have a scent, it's strong enough that you can tell it's blooming before you see it if the flower is hidden.

Oh, yeah, and the water thing... All I do is change the water every day or every other day. I also rinse the stems periodically. They sit in the water for around three weeks and some will start roots. I get a success rate of about 60-80% I'd say.

Cheers,
Byron.

I have some lavender ladies rooting in water now...

Hm, I was afraid my method was already widely known and used. But I kept reading about how hard these are to root etc.. then figured it was a perk of this cultivar, etc. Certainly if you'd like to swap let me know when your girls will be safe to ship. I've seen the flower in lots of photos and a couple times in person, and I'd love to see more of her.
Thanks.

Man thatsa beauty and 1 more Passiflora that has eluded my collection. I too would love to trade for cuttings if you could swing it. I have cuttings ready right now of P. Caerulea, P. Constance Elliot, P. Lavender Lady,P. Blue Bouquet, P. Belotti and maybe 1 or 2 others I'd love to trade for.
I sure wished I could think of a way of doing some kind of rooting cuts school. Please don't think of me as bragging or the like. That's not the case at all, I just happen to have really good luck rooting these and would love to share my methods so everyone could trade cuttings readily.
After many years of trying many many techniques, I found rapid rooter cubes to be the fastest and easiest way of rooting these and it makes the handling of rooted cuts much easier. I'm seeing roots in less than 2 weeks most of the time and have cuts ready to transplant or mail in 3 weeks. I took a few pictures of cutting at various stages of rooting.
This is a picture of the roots sticking out of the rapid rooter cube at roughly 3 weeks. This is ready to ship or pot up at anytime.

where do you get "rapid rooter cubes"? i would be in heaven if i could root and passiflora i came by cuttings of.

Wow.. that's absolutely faster than what I'm churning out... also your roots... well I tend to get a big tight clump of short (1 cm maybe) roots at the lower part of the stems in water, yours look like.. since they have media to run through they get longer faster. Yeah where'd you get these cubes? Oh, and absolutely I would love a cutting of yours (or more than one.. if I've got anything else that would interest you [or if you'd like two of the purple haze that's no problem either])

Thanks for sharing your propagation tip!

Man I wrote up a huge reply to this thread answering all of these questions and its gone. Hmm.
Well here it is again. This is a link to the mker of Rapid rooter's.
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/rapidrooter2.html
And here is a link that shows pictures of the hmidity domes that you must have IMO or your cuttings will wilt or damp off before rooting. The tall dome is the 1 you want and is at the lower end of the page.
http://homeharvest.com/propagationflatsdomesinserts.htm
I was only able to find these at the 1 and only hydroponics store around town. I also recomend asking them for a rooting gel rather than using a powder form. It seems most everyone I know has better luck with the gel. My favorite brand is "Clonex Rooting Compound" is runs about 21$ per bottle but lasts a long time. Here is a link showing the bottle and brief description.
http://www.brewngrow.com/site/propagate/htmldocs/clonex.html
The rapid rooter cubes come with a hole already in the middle of them but I find the hole is too big to snugly fit the cuts I put in. I use a small stick or the like and poke a new hole off to 1 side of the provided hole. That way the medium makes full contact with the entire cutting.
I'd also like to explain how I take and prep a cut before putting it in a cube. I usually will pluck off a long vine and take off many seperate 3 noded pieces. This is usually a small vine with 3 leaves, 1 at each node. I remove all foliage from the very bottom node and use a razor blade to make a very clean and long angled cut directly below that node. Then dip that portion in your rooting hormone and place it in the cube about 1 inch deep. I try to never use the end of the vine with a new growth tip on it. I think by leaving the new tip on there, the cut wastes energy on new growth rather than devoting all energy to rooting. Shortly after you see roots, a new growth tip or 2 will emerge from the 2 nodes that you left above the cube.
Here are a few pics of cuts at various stages of the rooting process.
The cuts on the bottom left are about 1 week old and the ones in the 2nd tray to the right are about 3 weeks old and have new growth showing and are ready to be shipping or potted up. In the bottom center are 2 potted uo cuts that are about 1 month old and doing well with new vines growing.

Here is a picture that shows the cut prepped as I described and is about 2 weeks old and rooting well.

This picture shows 2 P. Belotti's that are approx. 3-4 months old and about to bloom.
The best part about cuttings taken from adult plants is they are themselves adults and old enough to bloom as soon as they're established. I have 1 of them in the small 3 inch green pots that has buds on it and is maybe 2 months old, probably closer to 1 1/2 mos.

Here are 2 plants from cuttings taken over winter. Both have been blooming for months. The 1 on the right looks rough as I just removed it from a pot that it was sharing with a P. Caerulea. The Caerulea almost killed it by over growing it and taking over. I had to cut it back to almost nothing but it is catching up fast and will be a huge bushy plant by next month.

Here is a table of cuttings and the one on the far left was a sucker that popped up in the lawn and I dug it up and potted it.
All of the small pots in the center are P. Lavender Lady and Blue Bouquet's that are 4-5 weeks old. 2 of them have buds on them that should bloom by the end of the week. I already have some of them planted arond the yard and they are 3 times this size with many more vines on them.
Hopefully I made some sense and you can follow what I'm doing with these rapid rooter's. I left out how I treat the cubes before putting cuts in them.
I soak the cubes in water with a little superthrive and or maxicrop solution. That is nothing more than seaweed extract and vitamins. I've used plain water and I don't really see much of a difference. After getting the cubes soaking wet, place the cuttings in the cubes and mist them with a spray bottle then cover with the humidity dome. I keep them in the shade outdoors or indoors under flouro shop lights. It just depends on what time of year it is and if the outdoor temps are warm enough. I ignore them except for a misting every couple days for atleast a week. I'll then water the cubes by pouring a little water in the bottom of the tray. This way the cubes will wick up the moisture they need and not water them too much. Over watering is where most people mess up. I've let the cubes almost dry out completely before watering rather than hovering over them and overwatering. In about 1 1/2 weeks I begin weening the cuts off the humidity dome and continue to mist them frequently. By week 3 they should be acclimated to life w/o a dome and be ready to pot up into a VERY LOOSE potting medium. I use tons of vermiculite and perlite to make sure the soil is loose and well draining. That allows the cuts to grow roots easier and keeps them from being too wet. After thay take to the new pot, you can do whatever you like. You can also ship them to friends before putting them into soil if you have plenty of roots showing from the cubes. Just place the cubes in a plastic baggie with a little moist perlite or wet paper towels and they're good to go.

Please let me know if I've helped at all or if I've left out anything. Please excuse my lack of editing too. I don't bother to re read, I'm not very patient when it comes to typing and my fingers(all 2 of them I type with) are worn out. LOL
Thanks all and good luck!
Jeff

Jeff, I just needed to thank you for your great method. I have had terrific success with passi cuttings since I started doing it your way in early spring. Joelle

Joelle Thank you so very much for letting me know its working for you too! I have a couple other friends here that are having problems but I know it has to be way over watering. I needed to hear this is working for someone else too so I thank you as well.
My hope is I can get many more people involved doing this, just imagine how fast and easily we all could share/trade our different plants to each other.
OH BTW. I've tried this same method with several other species of plants ranging from hibiscus to ficus trees and I have yet to loose a single cutting. I just knew all the tooth pic sized(and smaller) ficus tree cuttings would die as I figured those would be hard to root. Man everything is rooting! I can't wait to try my Hi$ japaneese Maple.

Hey Jeff,

I'd love a blue bouquet and a lavender lady. Would you take two cuttings of the same plant (all I've got so far..) or do you have other plants I might be able to tempt you with?

Well I bet you have several plants to tempt me with but 2 cuts of the same would be just fine too.
Your post is very timely as I have those cuts rooted and am mailing them out to others I traded with. Email me with your info and I'll get you some too.
I look forward to getting this Passiflora, I'm so addicted to these darn vines now, I don't know where I'll keep them all over winter with out a greenhouse. I'l find a way somehow;)
JD

JLD_II

WOW! You sure have provided everyone a lot of information!!!!

I am growing 2 Passifloras for the first time ever. I blew $20 each for my two at my HD. They were in, maybe, 2 gallon pots and fully growing up a 3D trellis of some kind. I got one that was maroon and one that was white with the lavender.

The foliage sure is different on these two! The maroon one is climbing all over my shed roof, but has not produced more than about 3 flowers. WHY????? It is in full morning sun and in a 14"-16" square planter nestled against my shed wall.

The white/lavender one had a pile of buds on it when i bought it, but they all fell off one after the other. I potted this one into a large plastic pot. It gets decent filtered light--but maybe not enough . The foliage on this one is dark green and all different. It is growing Ok, and has sone new vines on it with buds. It has also made new buds along the older vines, but only one of them bloomed. All the others looked OK, then they browned out and fell off. I moved it to more sun today. Maybe it needs a brighter spot.

I live in zone 7a (Baltimore). I have a bunch of questions from you more experienced people:

1. Do they need full sun or filtered?
2. How about watering..Do they like wet or dry?
3. Any favorite fertilizer? Bloom Booster??? General? 20-20-20?
4. Could they POSSIBLY survive the winter here? If I shelter them
and mulch them well. If I decide to leave them outside, should
I cut them back? How far? To the top of the pot???
5. If I bring them indoors, can they go dormant in a dark basement?
6. WHY are they not blooming??????????
7. What time of year should I take cuttings? Softwood? hardwood?
8. Never heard of those cubes! Do any regular nurseries sell them?

$40 is quite an investment!!!! How can I make sure I will have some next year??? I'd hate to lose them!

I also have a suggestion for the domes. Why spend $$$$? The largest Salad bar container would work just as well. Melt some air-holes in the lid with a hot nail for ventilation. Also, some of those high-domed Rotisserie Chicken containers would work. I am just a frugal soul!!!! VERY resourceful! I like "dirt cheap" stuff.....

Thanks for any help you all can give me. I will be watching this thread daily from now on.

Thanks, Gita

Here's a picture of the maroon one up my shed. the plant in front is one of my 6 Brugs:

Here's a picture of the white/lavender one. As you can see, it is nowhere near as tall growing as the other one......

Gita: try more sun. Mine are in full sun from around 10am until sunset. Even the ones that are root bound are blooming like there's no tomorrow. I water them once, sometimes twice a day, especially the rootbound ones. I typically use a straight 20-20-20 solution, augmented with some bloom booster type (8-14-10 or what-have-you) once every couple of weeks. I do not believe these vines appreciate wet feet, but once established they "drink" entirely too much for that to be a problem in any modest sized planter.

Insofar as winter hardiness is concerned, that's purely a matter of what variety of passiflora you have. Some are tropical, some are hardy, some are ... well ... somewhere in between! :o) Did you keep the labels that came with these? And as for the cuttings, I'll leave that to Jeff or someone else who has actually worked with passiflora cuttings ... all of my "cloning" work was in the closest, years ago, and involved metal halide lights, rockwool and hydroponics. I'm now learning a lot all over again ... without the worries I once had ... in another life ... nevermind, I'm rambling again.

Hey Gita,

Whew, that's a lot of questions ;). I'm a newbie in all honesty, Jeff will certainly be able to respond with more information (especially about what kind of cutting, ie, softwood or hardwood, but I believe the answer is.. well I don't know, my method is a whole lot messier than Jeffs and produces more random survivorship.. I'm switching slowly ;) ). I'll definitely agree with BogweedBuck on the watering, and Jeff sent me cuttings recently with instructions to be careful not to overwater.. but I think once they're bigger, yeah my one large vine.. I don't know if I could overwater it at this point.

I'm in a much milder zone but my plants absolutely would prefer full sun if they can get it, though that being said the best I've been able to give them (as far as seasonal location goes) is partial/filtered. But the leaves look great and I'm expecting blooms soon, I had it in full sun last year and it took a while to get going but once it did there was almost always a flower open somewhere.

Hardiness... None are hardy where I am, but I'm one of those people who loves a full house of plants to spend the long winter with, so I'm fine having them take on the role of living curtains for half the year. If you'd like to try them out I would choose a long vine from each and split it into cuttings (Jeff describes how he preps them above) and just see what happens. It'll be your call in the end but I wouldn't leave my only specimen of a plant outside to test for hardiness.. But if there were five of them I might sacrifice one.

Flowers are going to appear from in the new growth, but in my experience any transplanting or even moving them around.. Seems like the first reaction to stress is to skip making buds, and the second is to have buds fall off. And then it does take a while for new growth to come out with a visible bud.. Last year it took a few months for my vine to trail over a gazebo before it finally decided it was big enough to bloom.

Hope something here helps, good luck!
Byron

WOW that is a bunch of questions! let me try to digest them and I'll post what I can on them.
1 bit of advice is to try not to over complicate growing these vines. Keep in mind that almost all of our plants are considered weeds in the countries they originate from. I know from personal experience that the plants I try too hard with don't do as well as many the get neglected. Go figure huh?
I have a good example that is defying logic and I'm still not sure why or what is going wrong.
I found a new soiless potting medium that is very loose and well draining. I thought for sure my passion flowers would love it. I mixed in a bunch of composted soil, vermiculite and perlite. 85% of all plants potted in it are thriving but a handfull of my Passion vines are showing signs of stress and now I have white powdery mildew for the 1st time in my life My lavender Ladies that normally thrive in any place I put them are doing terrible and they're the hardiest of them all except for Incarnata. I don't understand at all, I'm going to take some soil samples to our local Extension office to be checked out and try to find out where I went so terribly wrong or if it's merely a fluke.
I'll get back to your questions ASAP.
JD

Byron and JD,

Thanks for all your perspectives on my questions. It is way too late at night to digest everything. I will re-read all your advice again.
I need to get to bed! It is approaching midnight......

I am NOT going to loose any sleep over this! I have spent way too many years dealing with plants and working in Greenhouses, and such. Plants are just plants! I love them to death--but if "death do us part"--it is not going to affect me in any particular way.
I am NOT a plant fanatic that has to save every twig and cutting! I do the best I can, and am experimenting with new plants--hence my questions. I have never had a Paciflora before, so I want to know all i can about it. If it gets too complicated, i will not buy one next year. it is as simple as that! If I can save the ones I have now--GREAT!!!!If I cannot--I will try again another Season.

I have worked in Greenhouses, and for Growers, and in two large "Home style" stores in the Garden centers, and you do, eventually, develop an attitude of "So What???" about plants in these kind of jobs. I still want to save everything--but, it is impossible! You can only "mourn" for so long....In th long run, it IS ashes to ashes--as they make compost from all the discarded plants and soils--and life starts up all over again.

Gita

I'm sure you'll be able to save these babies. I guess I am a plant fanatic when it comes to my passiflora's. I can never get as many as I'd like to have. The more I get, the more I realize how many I don't have yet. I know I drive my wife insane with them but she is also realizing that with out my passion flowers and the trades i get from them...Here variety and number of plants would be much smaller than it is. Hahahaa, I have her right where I want her!LOL I wish that were the case, it's a nice idea.
Let's see if I can answer your questions.
1. Some love full sun and others need some shade to thrive and bloom. You'll develope a feel for that after watching them. They'll all grow in full sun, some won't bloom in my gardens that are in full sun.
2. Well draining/very loose soil is the key, then you can water all you want. If you have water that pools up on top of your pots for more than a minute or so, it's not loose enough IMO. When I buy potting soil, I usually cut it with vermiculite and perlite by 1/2 to keep it loose. The plants root better and it prevents any over watering problems.
3. Fertilizer. In spring when they're putting on vegatative growth and not blooming so much, i use a general fert . 20-20-20 is fine IMO, I use the foliage as a guide. If it's dark green and thriving, you have enough ferts. After the days begin to get shorter and triggering more blooming, I use bloom booster on most everything. I like peter's 10-50-10 and Miracle grow makes a 12-60-12(or clos to that) that also works good. In years past, I didn't use hardly any fertilizers and they still bloomed pretty good. I say fertilize as much as possible with out burning.
4. The only ones that survive my winters are P. Incarnata and 1 Lavender lady that was planted on the foundation on the South side of the house. Sadly I can't get any others to survive my winters.
5. I've never seen dormacy personally. I'm no use for this question but I doubt they will go dormant.
6. I have some that aren't blooming much. I say that is due to some being younger plants. I also think it has a lot to do with the days just now getting shorter. I know with many annuals, they won't start to bloom until they see Ma Nature turns the days shorter which triggers flowering for many plants. I'm kind of clinging to that line of thinking as some of mine aren't blooming yet. I've had many bloom sooner in past years, I honestly don't know for sure but that's my best guess.
7. You can take cuttings any time of year and with any kind of wood. I like to take small green cuttings as they fit under my humidity domes on my cloning trays. I've also taken woody cuttings in the past and have had great results with both. many passiflora's are tougth to root. The only way I've been able to achieve 100% is by using rapid rooter cubes that I found this spring. it has made rooting everything a piece of cake. Otherwise they can be very hard to root. Here is a link that describes rapid rooter cubes and why/how they work so well:
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/
rapidrooter2.html
The only place I found them here was at a hydroponics store. They are also the only local store that carries the tall humidity domes I use.
I agree 40$ is outrageous for a passiflora, I hope it was huge. The only way to ensure you'll have it around forever is to take cuttings. I do that with every one I have just incase something happens to the original. This is also a great way of keeping them all inside over winter. Since cuttings can be taken so small, you can keep many more of them indoors over winter and start off with those every spring. I know many people that do that with several different species of plants. That is the only way I can keep my huge brugmansia's around.
I hope I was somewhat helpful. It's all personal experience and best guess'.
Goodluck;)
Jeff

i found them for $10 for 50 RR cubes. can't wait for them! can i start seeds in them, too?

Would love a cutting but dont have anything on your list. However I do think I have a few seeds for the lily you want but need to check when I get home

Wow that's 2$ less than what I can get them for. Your going to also need some sort of humidity dome for the 1st 2 weeks or so or they will wilt. If your using them in a greenhouse, that maybe different but I'm not sure. My cuttings always do best if the foliage is actually moist from condensation inside the domes. here is a link that pictures what I use: http://www.greenandclean.ca/id262.htm
JD

i think i'm just going to use 2-liter pop bottles with the bottoms cut off like i do with the rest of my seedlings/cuttings.

Thank you JLD and Byron!!!

My head is about to explode with all this new information! I have been re-reading a lot of it, and will try to take a couple of cuttings for next year from my Pssifloras. HOWEVER---I think the 2 I have ,are probably, very common ones. ( HD--you know!) Maybe by next year, i will be drooling over some for trades.

I have not partaken too much of any trading-- but some. Seems too much bother to package and keep track of who has reimbursed you--or not. I also do not like all the "greed" out there in the plant/seed exchange Forums. As soon as you say you have something, everyone wants it! I am glad that Dave allows us to do some trading just in Forums like this one.

I do have some more rooted cuttings of my Ric-Rac cactus (Cryptocereus Anthonyanus)--now over a year old and growinf well. Just today i sent some off to NC and to Mannitobia. Canada. See my post in the "Orchid Cactus" Forum and all the pictures.

I also have several Beefsteak Begonias I can share leaves from. They all root well. I am also growing 6 Brugs this summer. Last year I had 2. Brugie sent me cuttings this last year, which I rooted over the winter. They all are now between 5-8 feet tall!!!!. Only one has bloomed. I cannot imagine bringing those "trees" inside for the winter! I just don't have room!!!! So, I will be taking cuttings off of most of them. I am still a total novice with Brugs, but am absorbing advice from Daves like a sponge!

It has been EXTREMELY hot here for weeks now! Mid-upper 90's! I think I will get a show of blooms to die for from my Brugs in October. That's what happened last year! Maybe also from my Passi's.

Naien--I am with you on the "dome" thing! Those 2 liter soda bottles will do! Remember when they all had that removable, black base? That worked so well as the part you actually planted stuff into, and then just put the bottle part back over it--screw cap removed for ventilation. NOW--I imagine it will fit pretty good over a 4"-5" pot. Yes???

Thank you all!!!! I am NOT quiting here! Gonna "Watch" this thread forever! My brain is pulsating with all this new "knowledge".....Keep it coming!!!!

Thanks, Gita

Oh yeah I think that's awesome to find a use for pop bottles like that. Sadly it's not aqn opion for me. When I take cuttings, I TAKE CUTTINGS PLURAL...LOL I have 2 flat trays right now under domes and this round was just hardy hibiscus and I took between 10-15 of each kind. I can't imagine how many 2 liter bottles that would take. I was just trying to emphasize how important some sort of humidity dome was when taking cuttings. I have other friends that put sticks in the corners of pots to support plastic bags that make great domes too.

I know what you mean about the greed factor with plant/seed trades. I won't post in the trade forums, I keep my posts in this forum for vines and others etc. I've been extremely fortunate with trading so far, the people here at Dave's are just incredibly generous. I've had so many nice people send me plants/bulbs and won't give me their addy to return the favor. They just like to share what they can when they can on the premise of what comes around goes around. So I pass on the favors by giving away stuff and asking for nothing in return. So far so good IMO.

Goodluck friends, Jeff

heres my first rooted!

YEEHAAW! How long did it take and was it as easy as I said? I'm very excited for you and I hope this gets contagious amongst us all;)
Keep it comin!
JD

I just took about 8 cuttings each of my 2 Passifloras. I am posting this because I did something that I believe makes it easier for any cutting that you are rooting to survive the "transition".

In my thinking, one should NOT leave large leaves, or bloom buds, on the cutting. If you think about it logically, you are asking a small cutting to root as well as "support" the well being of some mature leaves attached to it as well as a potentially developing bloom wihout any means of nurishment (NO roots!). It is like asking a man with no legs to go jog!

What I did on my Passi. cuttings was trim all the leaves by about 2/3's. I have done this with other plant cuttings also. Would like to hear from some of you "experts" what you think about this--please!
I also stuck ALL the 8 cuttings (from each variety) in the same 8" shallow pot. I then wrapped the self-stick plastic wrap (which is opaque) around the pot and made a "tepee" out of it leaving the top open. These pots will be sitting in total shade outdoors. When, and if, they show signs of having rooted, I will transplant them to 4" pots. Do you think this is OK to do?

Your comments, please! See picture!

Thanks, Gita

JLD_II, After reading your success with the RR cubes, I just had to get some. I found this place close to home. http://www.4hydroponics.com/clone/cloneEquipment2.asp?ItemNo=rapidrc They were quite reasonable too, only $9.95 per pkg of 50. I talked with the owner and mentioned that I heard about the product on this site. Many of us were looking for this product and asked if he would give us a deal. He agreed on free shipping for orders over $50 - Just mention DG discount(free shipping).
I also purchased a humidity dome. Just wondering on which plants need the humidity dome. I want to take cuttings of flowering maple, princess flower, hibiscus, passionflower, and stephanotis and thunderbergia and begoinas. I already had some cuttings of these trying to root, but they are taking their sweet ol time so I'm trying the RR cubes. I purchased the clonex gel also. I was told that it had a shelf life of about 6 months and that I should be refrigerate it after opening to ensure freshness. Have you noticed any decrease in effectiveness over 6 months. I'll let you know how everything worked for me. Thanks for all your expertise.