Hey all,
What is the minimum size of cutting I should take? Will a larger cutting result in a larger plant? Will it root easier? Is there a max cutting size? What about cuttings from very green growth vs older, woodier growth? Is one preferred over the other? If so, why?
--Emily
How important is the size of the cutting?
Hi Emily. There will be others here shortely, this is just my opinion.
Alot of folks have trouble rooting the fleshy green on the brugmansia. and they would rather do wood cuttings, naturally , a wood cutting results in a larger plant, yes, the larger the cutting the larger the plant will be. The larger around the cutting is, the larger the plant will be also. The size of the cutting depends on the grower, how experienced they are, circumstances of the growing conditions they are in. For instance, if your in l00 degree weather, i'd want to take a larger cutting. for fear of rot, you can always pull it out of the ground and cut off the rot and start again with a larger cutting, i've done this myself. I've also had good luck with log cuttings, if you have a very nice brug and can't take large cuttings, take 2 to 3 in cuttings and lay them longways on top of the soil, just putting pressure on it so it will be about half into the soil keeping it moist, and you'll have a shoot pop up eventually. I've always gotten a smaller plant doing it this way though. I prefer to stand the cuttings up on end. and I usually do 6 to l0 in cuttings depending on how stingy I want to be LOL. If I do have a special brug, I've often taken smaller cuttings, just to have them available to trade/sell etc...
yes, seems the woodier cuttings root easier, they don't rot nearly as fast as the fleshy, green cuttings do. If your having fall weather, it would be a really good time to root the fleshy, green cuttings.
Me, I usually cut the green fleshy first, and root it, as it takes a few cuttings to get down to the woody part and i'm not going to waste a perfectly good cutting.
Hope this helps some.
kathy_ann
Kathy_ann, thank you so much for your reply. I was going to send out fleshy green cuttings but I know better now. A couple of my brugs only have very green growth above the Y since they only Y'd in the last month.
--Emily
Wait a min! I send out fleshy green cuttings all the time. The person your sending to may do just fine with them, I receive fleshy green cuttings all the time too. I thought you were wanting to root some for yourself or trade. not to send off. Folks send off fleshy green cuttings all the time. More than wood cuttings. if it meant I wasn't going to get any cuttings I'd definitely take the fleshy green cuttings. Sorry to confuse you there. It's just a little harder to root them if your new to rooting the brugs. is all.
kathy
I tired to root a green cutting and it split and I would cut it off and it would do the same, I just couldn't get it to root. I have rooted others but not the real green.
Ruth
me neither....green cuttings and me just dont mix....I have pretty good luck with woody ones though.
Like Emily, I only have new green growth. Can someone advise about when sending cuttings to someone, should the ends be wrapped in damp paper towel & plastic wrap? I have gotten cuttings twice, once with toweling, once with nothing at all. They all rooted fine for me, but since I will be sending some out myself for the first time, I really want to do it correctly.
Oh, and since most of my cuttings will be green, do I still take off all the leaves like the hardwood cuttings I received?
I find the fleshy green cuttings rot very easily and sometimes very quickly--however I have rooted some for myself this year. I placed them in very shallow water is how I managed to get it to work. The thicker cuttings ARE better but unless your plant is very large you might not be able to do cuttings like that. For me, I have to cut mine to right above the ground and protect over Winter (mine grow from new wood every year, the old stalk is just dead wood so don't need much sticking up--just enough to locate the plant!! hehehe) or dig up and pot so I have woody cuttings every year but quantity depends on how big the plant got that year. For instance this year most my Brugs were from small cuttings and did not even get big enough to flower, but my Dr Suess that I got as a medium cutting 2 yrs ago grew 5 separate stalks each 6' tall so I have LOTS of cutting for it this year and most of them will be thick woody stem cuttings!! VERY good to start with!! And they root quicker that way too!! The Dr Suess cuttings I cut last week end are already about halfway or more to rooted!! Bonnie
As for removing the leaves--they will usually wilt anyway. Taking them off will help the cutting root as it will not be trying to feed leaves while trying to root. i always remove all but the very tiny ones at the very tip.
If your sending woody cuttings it should be just fine to send them dry, but the green flesh cuttings need to be wrapped in moist, (very moist) paper towel on the end that you cut, and then wrapped in saran wrap on that same end. I wrap them up in newspaper after that, and put them in a big box, not a small box to where they'll be cramped, I sent some out a month or so ago in l00 degree weather and the lady (who is here on Daves) said they arrived in wonderful condition, lots of green fleshy cuttings . She said they weren't wilted, I did remove all the leaves except the very top few and if they were big leaves I removed them also.
I haven't had much bad luck rooting the green fleshy brugmansias. they usually do quite well for me. Every once in a while i'll get a stubborn one that has a few of the cuttings to rot for me. But not that often.
Wonderful! That answers my question. :~) Thank you very much for the info. I would feel bad if they arrived dead.
I never give it a 2nd thought when I do cuttings for here, cuz it is usually just the long branches that invade the walkway & I chop them off, strip off the lower leaves & toss them in a laundry soap bucket I keep in the shade half full of water. I don't even change the water. It gets all green and gross, but it is as if the cuttings sense that I do not care one way or the other if they root. LOL They always do though. Then I am stuck finding a neighbor to pawn it off on. LOL But you can bet if I NEEDED one to root it would be a different story. :~)
I know what you mean by that. I'm so trying to root the mountain treasure, I've had a few of the cuttings start to rot on me. It's a little difficult to root this one. I've done it though, I had the cuttings in the full sun and I don't think that was helping, so I've moved them. This is one that I really want to root , it's giving me a har time. but good ol frosty pink, stick em in the ground and they take off. LOL