Just got 18 cuttings from a swap meet in Hawaii and all looked good@ the time. Less than a week later, 6 showed signs of impending doom---if you know what I mean. I'm going to cut and hack away to save what I can. Any hints about anti-fungal ingediants for my cactus mix potting soil? The coir people say their product has some anti- fungal properties--- anybody know? What is this stem rot anyway??? BTW I've been lurking for a month and you guys are pretty funny and sweet at the same time. I wish I had half the patience of Claire.
How 'bout that stem rot?
Hi Shubunkin! So glad that you joined us! Tell me about the six that look bad. Are they rotting from the bottom, or do you see spots in the middle of the cutting? I use Greenlight systemic fungicide, Schultz's All-in-One -- which is a miticide, an insecticide, and a fungicide -- and Neem Oil as my fungicides. A good one that you can add to the soil is called Bayleton. Here's a link which describes the product: http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page1922.html It also comes in granules. If you have rot coming from the bottom, recut until you see pure white wood. You should not see any brown or brown circles but clean white wood. Then spray the cutting with a fungicide, dip in a rooting hormone -- if it has a fungicide in it, even better -- and let the end heal over for a few more days. A calloused end will help to avoid rot. Then plant again in fresh potting soil. Note: some cactus mixes stay too moist so, if you can add perlite or pumice to the mix, it will drain better and dry faster. Then lightly mist your cuttings and water around the base of the cutting only very lightly. If you can root your cuttings in a warm greenhouse or in the house on a heat mat, that will help to root them. This is a hard time of year to root cuttings because of the cold weather. Sometimes, cuttings will just sit happily on a heat mat and not root until spring. The trick is to keep them from rotting until they root, and you do that by keeping them fairly dry by not watering; however, misting is beneficial, especially if they are being subjected to dry heat from a heating pad. I don't know much about coir other than it helps to improve drainage and is often used in some potting mixes. They say that redwood bark chips are supposed to have anti-fungal properties as well. A fellow plumeria grower mixes in redwood bark chips and coir into his homemade potting soil as well as pumice and some other things. Let us know how they do. Post a picture of the six if you can.
Most were squishy and brown on the bottom end. One had a soft brown spot in the middle and one looked contracted and shriveled in the middle for an inch or so. Actually that was in another batch, that last one, but he is still bravely flying a small little leaf. I would love to post a picture but I am just now at the limit of my hi-techness. I'm going to work on that tho. I'm going to HD to pick up that Greenlight Systemic and I'll check on that Bayleton too. Thank you, thank you for your quick response. Sorry I spelled your name wrong! Shub.
Hi Shub, that's okay about my name! It happens all the time:-) The one with the brown spot in the middle should probably be tossed or see if you can cut above it and root the top part. The brown spot in the middle could be a sign of a beetle, which isn't good. Chances are that it won't root. The other one that is shriveled or wrinkled in the middle should be fine and will plump up again eventually when it is rooted. The other ones that are rotting from the bottom should be cut with a clean sterilized knife until there is clean white wood. If you cut into rot, wipe the blade of the knife with a bleach solution or a sanitary wipe and cut again until you see white wood. Then let them heal over, as I said, for a few days in a cool dry place. Once the end is calloused, you can put the cuttings in a vase of water with some Superthrive or Vitamin B-1 added to the water. The water should only cover the bottom two inches. You can mist them with this same solution while they are sitting in the water. You can leave them in the water for several days and keep misting them. This will often help wrinkled and hurting cuttings plump up again. And then you can continue to root them in potting soil. While they are in the vases of water, you may see white cottage cheese type nubs forming on the bottom of cuttings. This happens with brug cuttings too right before they root. They are sort of a precursor to roots but not exactly roots either. In any case, don't remove them because they are good. Let us know how they do. A friend who lives in Louisiana just sent me some cuttings of his. They were made just prior to Hurricane Wilma. When he returned home, his original plants were intact so he sold the cuttings. Some of them are pretty soft and wrinkled, but I'm going to follow this same treatment, and they should be fine.
Whoa!!!!! I'm on it----THANKS....Shub