LOL..Everybody??? Daisymae has a built in babysitter named Paul who is my hubby...and my kids when they come to visit...When the weather really warms up..I have to take a pic of her sunbathing on her side all laid out..lol...
My hubby does not like to travel period cuz all his life, he lived in so many different places..he never had a real home until he married me and we moved out here to live with my grandma...Been here now for 28 years...he is not about to bulge..lol..plus he don't like to mess with plants...just the remote to the TV is his favorite hobby..lol..
Nadine
Rooting Experiment Results
Hi guys,
Just got back today...good tail wind from Oahu to Houston ...we made it in 7 hours..which seems to be pretty good to me!
I brought back 2 australian fern tree...well..fern balls it looks like. Got to plant them tomorrow. I can't believe those garden sites try to sell seeds from Australian Ferns...harrummff
I also mailed myself back a sprouted coconut tree..knowing full well it probably won't last..but ..don'tcha just have to try it once?
My package hasn't arrived yet.
But then...a gardener doesn't put all of their eggs in a basket do they. !?
I'm pooped...
Rj
Barb
Very informative thread! :) I've read it twice!! lol! Thank you & the others for all of the ideas, suggestions, etc! Is everyone STILL having luck with rooting cuttings this way? I think I'll try it this year! One question though - that I didn't see in the thread. I may have missed it. How often do you have to water the cuttings? Have a good day everyone! :)
Mike
Yes, Mike, I enjoyed this thread too --- Will be picking up some orchid moss soon! ;-)
Mike, I haven't seen Barb posting here for a while. Last year, ZZsBabiez sent me some cuttings wrapped in moss. She said to water them when the moss felt dryish. Was that what you were asking?
Right on Mike! I too received starts and cuttings from ZZ in the moss and most were teeny tiny, almost more roots than green plant! They have gone on the grow well, some are blessing me with blooms right now. Thanks for finding this and bringing up the discussion. Lovely bloom you have there, too! ZZ, I'm having great fun and education with your kindness! (maybe you know, cause I post pics of blooms and pics on DG, I'm so proud of them..) Your generosity is enjoyed and appreciated!
Hi Mike. Bettydee was right about the watering issue. Just keep the moss moist - not dripping wet - and the roots should remain happy.
I am using the orchid moss as we speak to root some Hoya cuttings. I'm afraid I had to leave every one of my Brugs behind when I moved from north AL to north FL last February. Broke my heart to leave all those beauties behind, but no shade and Florida sun would have been a death sentence to them.
Thanks for bringing this thread up again. It brought back some really good memories!
Barb
Barb I have the last one you gave me that I never potted up or put in the ground. Left it in the pond all summer because of unfortunate life circustances. It is still healthy looking. I intend to pot it up and bring inside until next spring.
Thanks again.
Hi Jim. Glad that Rosamond is still "alive and kicking" for you. Maybe one day down the road she will be big enough for you to enjoy those big 'ol gorgeous blooms! Hope everything is going well with you and Bobbi.
Barb
This message was edited Oct 1, 2008 9:18 PM
Wonderful theread.. going to look for the moss when our new Lowes opens in 2 weeks and hope some great brug grower takes pity one me and sends me cuttings this fall, all my brugs struggles with spider mites this summer because it was so very hot and dry.
Thank you for all the wonderful information.
Tammie
Bettydee
That's what I was asking! And 'thank you' for the answer. :)
Barb
Glad it brought back some good memories! :) I've sent you a dmail! Hope you don't mind! And Wow - finding ANY kind of moss here in Arkansas is hard! lol!
Mike
I'm so enjoying reading this thread... I have a question, I hope hasn't been asked and answered, as I haven't read the WHOLE thread, yet. I have some orchid potting medium that I believe is made from coconut husks... it came in brick form and once you break it up and add moisture, it really fluffs out... it is more chunky and not so fibery, does anyone have any experience with it? Or think it would work as well as the fiber? I do think I will try it, at least on a couple cuttings... I don't have the orchid anymore, but trying to utilize what I have already spent $$ on...
I think Kell in her post on February 12 (above) shows the results of "coco grow." I don't know if that is the same as what you have Aunt_B. She reports a problem that the coco grow dries out really fast, but it seemed to have rooted well.
Jeremy
Thank you Jeremy.
AuntB, be careful that you rinse the cocoanut fiber several times to wash out the salts it is famous for containing. It is processed on the beaches in salt water and retains quite a bit of it, as I understand. I got a brick of it and added it to my potting mixture (didn't know to rinse it) and watched several brugs go downhill. To be honest, I don't know if it was the same as the fiber Kell used but I thought I'd give you a shout about a hard-learned lesson.
Barb
Barb, when Kell was using rockwool to start cuttings and seeds, I looked into rockwool and found out it needed to be "conditioned" before use. So I looked into coir, coconut fiber. Not all contains salt. Many of the ones I looked at claim there is no salt residue. I would still rinse in fresh water to be safe. Some manufactures claim some of their products are sterile, inportant when starting seeds.
Thanks, bettydee. I'll remember that (senior moments notwithstanding!). :)
Barb
Thanks for the advice, it's not a fiber... took it outside and got a pic this a.m., not sure it would stay moist, but I could rinse several times before and watch it really close, just hate to spend money on the fiber if I can work with this, I have 3 bricks of the stuff... thanks for taking a look and telling me what you think.. on the back of the brick, it says "Made in Sri Lanka"
Hmmm.. I've not seen that before, but it looks to be very similar to one element of the orchid mix I add to my potting mix to make it more chunky. Sri Lanka would definitely quality as a saltwater environment (lol), so rinsing would probably be good. I would definitely use it.
Barb
I agree with bjf - it is probably intended as a bark component of orchid mix (which is usually bark/charcoal/perlite/sphagnum moss and maybe some other additives).
Jeremy
looks like coconut shell chips to me... the outer part and the fiber part is the inner part shredded. I had some of both types at one time. those coconut shells sure do make a lot of different texture planting mediums.
Tammie
AuntB, once it's washed thoroughly, you could add some to your potting soil to lighten it up. It's usually used in place of bark with Phalaenopsis orchids.
Tammie, that's what it is except without the really hard part of the coconut shell.
Thanks, everyone, that's what I was hoping.. :)
Our Lowes finally opened and they had the Better Grow Orchid Moss! Just bought some.. can't believe how little it weighs.. put it on my postal scale 5.2 oz! practically nothing.. now I need some bug cuttings to start!
Quick question for cuttings. How long can one hold a brug cutting in water assuming that the water gets changed and aerated?
Thanks,
Juanita
Some folks overwinter cuttings in water all winter long — so for a few months. The trick will be to have a set up that keeps the roots of each cutting from becoming entangled with the roots of another. If you use the keywords bubbler or cuttings in bubblers in the forum search, you can set what others have done to accomplish this.
Thanks Betty Dee,
I kind of thought that it would work that way. I had to cut back some brugs to bring them in because they were too big and I don't really want to start them just yet in soil. I'm up to my ears right now in plants!
Juanita
I'm up to there also with plants, too. Fortunately, I still have a bit of time and have to use it to spray the Bermuda grass in the greenhouse to at least knock it back through the winter. It can grow year round in the greenhouse. Nasty stuff!
I took a few Brug cuttings about 2 weeks ago and tried hard to find the Orchid Moss to get them to root. I had no luck finding it but I did have some coir blocks on hand from AM Leonard: http://www.amleo.com/index/item.cgi?cmd=view&Words=wsb and used that to pack around the cuttings after I rehydrated the block. I gently pried 2 out of the red cups today and they have roots!
I can't tell you how many weeks it took me last year to root 1 stem lying on it's side in potting soil!
This message was edited Oct 22, 2008 6:39 PM
oh man..I feel bad... I can't leave brug branches on the ground here because they all grow.
rooting in a little bit of water is good, reason is that cuttings produce alot of hormones to produce new growth. From what I've read, it helps the other cuttings too. This is why a bubbler is so handy because your not dumping the newly produced hormones out, just keeping water infused with O2 and fresher. Back to Grandmas old fashioned cutting in the glass on the window sill.
rj
Hi..everybody, I still use orchid moss for all my brug cutting rootings...just keep the moss moist and you will get roots! If the roots get stuck to the moss..just plant it right into the soil..it will help keep the soil moist alittle longer when it rains.
Maybe I can post some new pics how I do this so ya'll can have some visual idea..
Having to work off my laptop isnt funny..until I can get my new wireless hub dept back in the groove to work...I have to do it on here...
Edit to say.I found my moss on sale at Wally world..
This message was edited Oct 22, 2008 8:09 PM
Ahh..Nadine...we can stick them in anything here and they root!! :)
Just read this thread again...I'm going to attempt to grow cuttings and don't have half a clue what to do:lol:
We have orchid moss here locally at HD and Lowes and a local nursery so that will be easy to locate.
Do have a question or two though--are the lights and or seedling mats necessary? I don't have either and didn't know if it was absolutely needed for sucess. I'm buying some from a co-op and I don't believe there are soft cuttings and all will be below the Y so I know I'll have to grow them out a bit before I see flowers.
Thanks for any help!
I have much better success with thicker more woody cuttings this time of the year... in the spring or summer the greener cuttings are a little easier to root.
I think I am going to Lowes and buy a bunch of that orchid moss...now if I can find someone with spare brug cuttings... just lost my job and need something to bury myself in.. like my plants.
Sorry about the loss of your job, Lhasa. I also turn to gardening for some peace of mind whenever the going gets tough.
Jeremy
Whew! What a lognthread, but filled so much good information. Onyl thing I didn't find out for sure wsa the orchid moss better for startng seeds and did folks get good germination using it?
I root them outside here where I live..it is cool at nite and hot during the day..I put my bucket out in the morning sun sitting on my concrete sidewalk against the brick of my house to keep them warm... The orchid moss can keep the rooted cuttings in the right moisture and also keep the cuttings off the floor of the containers which can split the ends of the cuttings....I use tall plastic containers that I have around the house like..straight side edge flower vases, handy wipe towel containers, tall plastic glasses, etc..I dont use glass- breakage or metal containers- rust...I do give my cuttings something called The Recipe by Ken and Maggi to spray on my cuttings as well to give them a boost to grow...lol..firm believer in that stuff..lol
Yes Randy..we can stick them into anything to grow here...lol..but I was taught by my mom and grandma to use orchid moss since they grew orchids long many years ago..before they passed away..They rooted different kinds of plants all the time in that stuff...I can remember my job was to fill up the Tupperware bowls with moss and water to get it started for them to root whatever they were doing that day..lol...
Do you use it for most or all cuttings? I always have a supersized bag of orchid moss on hand.
I think mabe I'll try the moss method on the Beaumontia vines.
Stay warm. it's way too early for a 40F night.