SOS!!!!Quick!!!

I recently recieved a very special cutting (to me any way). My problem is not in rooting it, but it is dying from the top down. The bottom is still very firm and no signs of rot. Day before yesterday it had turned brown down about 1 to 2 inches, today it has turned brown down about 5 inches. If it keep going I'm not going to have anything left to root!! What should I do?
Melanie

bump! don't do anything until we get someone here who knows, melanie!

i would think cut the brown soft/mushy part. here's a helpful read about "log cutting" also.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/169385/

best of luck!

Oh Melanie......... sometimes I fear the disease is already thru the cutting and you can't save it. But to try, and I am no expert so do not feel you have to take my advice....... I would cut below real solid plant matter. Make sure no brown is in it at all andeven go lower for the rot could be already set in and you can't see it. . Do not be afraid to go far enough down. You need to get to all healthy tissue.

Then SEAL the top!!! In the past I have used rooting hormone powder. Most have a fungicide in it too and it helps!!

Lately I use a special sealer but you have to send away for it so it will be no good to you. Even the black tar stuff would help I would think that you can buy at HD. You must use the sealer IMMEDIATELY upon cutting. If you wait, the wound can get infected by whatever is around and hten you seal that in.

If you have a fungicide, I would dip the whole cutitng in that too!! (before you use the rooting hormone). I have used Physan 20 for this in the past. But again, I send away for this. But HD sells fungicides. I imagine it would be fine to use those too!

Then pot your cutting up in soil and put it in light, not direct sun but good light. I would keep it on the cool side too if you can. If it is fungus, fungus hates cool and light! It likes dark and moist! Only water when the soil is just about dry.

GOOD LUCK!! If you fail, post the name of your cutting and maybe someone has an extra one!!

PS: I always wash my hands well when I handle my cuttings. I think it cuts down on germs getting into the cuts. A lot of times I wear those disposeable gloves and toss them between plants too. .

The part that is dying is not mushy. It's like it is just drying up! But the bottom ( which I have in a bubbler) is just fine. It has nubbies. The top "eyes" are also drying up. Somewhere I read latex paint was safe to use as a sealent. I do have that on hand. And by the way Kell I do think that you are one of many good experts here. I have gained so much good info from your threads. Thanks so much!!

This message was edited Nov 16, 2005 6:48 PM

I have to go now for a few hours , but post a picture if you can and someone else will help!!

It sounds like I would still do the exact same thing. If the entire tissue is dying and not just the little growth tips, you have a problem! Often the little growth tips from the nodes do turn brown and die off but will resprout when you get roots.

Is it brown or blackish brown?? A friend of mine just got a cutting in the mail that obviously had SB. It was blackish brown but not at the top, it was kind of in the middle from what I remember. But it was not mushy, just brown black lesion that was spreading. But it could start anywhere.

I

Hmnn...did Kell leave to get some Dungeness Crabs?

Melanie-
Good old Elmers glue makes a fantastic sealer, and most every household already has some.

I picked that tip up from a rose book last winter. It suggested using it on every cut when pruning roses. It also suggested it was a great all-purpose seal for any other plant, too.

It dries clear and once dry, it is waterproof.

The first time I used it on roses, I noticed 0% dieback. I was impressed! Now, I use it on everything I prune(even trees!).

I also "sterilize" plant material all the time, to make sure mold spores, fungus, etc. are killed. I've done this to brugmansia cuttings, many times. You might try soaking it in some diluted bleach water, and then make the snip, and seal...at least that is what I would try...

I hope your special brug makes it!
-T

I have no explanation for this, but I have (reasonably often) rooted cuttings on which the tops died back down to the top node on the cutting and then the die back just stopped and the plant was fine after that. I don't really think this was rot, since I don't recall that it got soft.

'Hope this is all your problem is.

Kay

Is it possible that something was spilled in the top of the plant?? One time I spilled some kind of chemical that did something like that...

You know what Seedpicker, you or someone else just mentioned that a few weeks ago and they loved it too! I meant to file that in my mind and try it next time. As I vaguely recall, a few other neat ways were mentioned also. So much easier and cheaper too! Maybe now that I have heard it a second time I will remember it!!

Did you know doctors use super glue all the time on people? They can use it to hold a wound closed and also to hold in hair transplant plugs, the ones that tend to fall out. Also to plug a bleeder!

You have the prettiest pink rose against a white fence!! I so enjoyed that picture!!

LOL Annapet, i wish!! I had to make a showing at work. I am going to try your recipe though as soon as I can. Maybe even this weekend!! YUM!!

I found it. What a short memory!! It was Brigitte who shared that she used white glue. And she uses it on her roses also!! Also latex paint is good to try. I need to remember this. I was going to buy tan paint in a spray can. LOL

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/551071/

OK now I have cut it back to what looks like fresh green matter, It has been given a bath in fungicide for about 15 minutes. I used the fungicide that my husband uses on his tomatoes. I dipped the end in a rooting hormone the sealed the end with latex paint...... Let us pray... Anyone have an extra cutting of Everlasting for postage? I really don't think this little guy is going to make it.
Thanks for all the help and information
Melanie

Kell-
I learned it from a rose book last winter. The Elmer's is wonderful because it dries clear. After it dries, it becomes waterproof.

The first time I used it, I couldn't believe there was no die-back! Now, I can cut much closer to the bud(or node in this case), and not worry about die-back killing it.

I always wanted to cut that close before, but couldn't. It always bugged me that I had to leave a little extra, so now pruning doesn't "bug me", lol...

Superglue...ah, yes...good old superglue...Yes, I knew doctors used stuff like that, lol...
I worked along side many of them over the years. Most of them are still "men" you know, and would use duct tape if they could, lol...

This first time I witnessed this sort of thing, I was in my very early twenties. We had a patient whose implant screw was loose. The Dr. I worked for at the time, couldn't get it to stay tightened, so he told me to go into the lab and pull the locktite out of the junk drawer! lol...it worked, and the patient never knew, but that always bothered me...

I could tell many other stories, but I think that was just the most impressionable, since it was the first. Besides, this isn't the medical blooper forum, is it? lol...

By the way, thank you for the compliment on the white fence/roses. I have a "thing" for white scrolled wrought iron...A few years ago, we constructed a "garden room" out of old fashioned metal porch supports, and and old balcony(which I use as the "fence"). That picture of 'Tiffany' rose, was taken in front of the fence/balcony piece...

Melanie-
That isn't one I have, or I surely would send you some...hope you find one!

I love wrought iron also. Sometimes I see it for sale at antique shops and it is so expensive for the older more decorative stuff. I love the look. Your garden room must be so special.

Hey, I am a nurse too! So many nurses are gardeners I find. Though I rather have been a gardener for income than a nurse. I had no clue growing up you could make a living at gardening. What a nice life that would have been!

Poor Melanie. I don't have that one either anymore. Maybe it will perk up. You sure have tried!! I would boil your cutters too for 5 minutes just in case it had a disease.

I'm with Kay.....if it's not 'mushy' but just sort of 'shriveling' and dry....it's likely OK.....it's happened to some of my cuttings and also to some plants that I've cut back.

Melanie-
How is it coming along?

Kell-yes, we'd not have been able to afford it, had I not found it at a flea market. My hubby brokered the deal with a guy(he drives a hard bargain! lol...) and as we were loading it up, the wife of the guy ran up, asked how much he sold it for...he told her, and she flushed red. She was SO mad at him! She said for the whole bunch??!! I could have gotten that per piece!"
Bet it was fun around the dinner table at THAT house that night, lol...(or week, lol...)
-T

What a deal!! I never seem to find them. I am the fool that pays top price and then husband and wife go out ot a fancy dinner on me that night.

I was just reading about taking adenium cuttings and the guy who wrote it said he dusts his new cuttings with sulfur dust and waters them with fungicide in water. I never thought to do all my watering with that! I am using H2O2 though.

This is sure getting complicated. LOL

Kell do you want to hear something to make you really sick. Last year my grandmother was put into a rest home at the age of 94. In her back yard she had a set of beautiful wrought iron furniture. Similar to what you see now days but the real thing. A love seat, two chairs and two tables. I remember helping my grandfather paint them every year during my "week with Grandmother." When shutting my grandmothers house down, I told my aunt that I wanted it, but she had already PAID someone to take it away. Talking about someone having bad luck. I left in tears.
As far as my Everlasting, I really don't know how it's doing. It's so hard to tell with everything that's on it You can't say I haven't tried to keep it going. ..... worse than when the kids were sick when they were little.

oh, melanie. too bad it just went to someone else.

all the wrought iron talks reminded me of another thing i am fond of, and can't have at the moment.

this is part of the garden room at hubby's aunt's house....i want more elaborate iron work though, and better room period. lol.

How sad. I am sure you would have looked at that furniture with great love for years. I am so sorry!

We recently emptied a house and it was all so sad. We also paid someone to take treasures away. What a deal they got!! I took very little and now am wondering if I made a huge mistake. But I have to keep remembering that was their mementos of their life and I have my own. I still feel guilty though letting strangers take it all. The things I find I am enjoying the most now are those with a cross over history between both of us. Like that furniture would have been to you, it was your grandparents but you had it in your childhood memories too! It was mixed up in your love for them during all your visits. Those things make you feel like the person is still near you when you look at them.

I hope you did not finish it off with too much kindness! I can do that!! Give it a few days and do not water until it is almost all dry. Let us know!!

Gosh Annapet, no wonder I am on here all day. You think it really took me 13 minutes to type that post out (the difference in times of our posts)? My mind did travel a bit as I typed it.

I think that room is just a great idea. I can see a delicate lacy vine or 2 on that perimeter fence.

now i want to be a wrought iron garden furniture designer when i grow up. lol.

I just wanted to thank all of you for all the help and advice for my poor little guy but he didn't make it. I guess that it just wasn't meant to be. Like I really didn't try. My DH said I smothered it! LOL But all the advice and hints were good for all of us. I learn something new here everyday. Who would have thought of glue!!
Thanks again,
Melanie

Sorry you lost it, Melanie. There'll be other cuttings next year.

I have a piece of Everlasting I can send you, Melanie.
DMail me please. Margo

Thanks Margo. I know that I have learned several things from this. I really do thank each and every one of you for helps and hints. Everything suggested I will use next season!
Melanie