Hi,
I have lots of plants and seeds to trade and I would love a start of a tropical hibiscus. I had one and my friend lost the gas to the greenhouse and didn't know it for 2 days, and it died, sniff sniff. I would love any bright color like a melon, apricot something like that. I would prefer a rooted cutting if that is possible, if not I will attempt to root it myself. Please take a look at my list and see if there is something you would like to trade for.
Thank you,
Kathy
Hi Kathy. I sometimes am able to find 6 inch guys at Home Depot- maybe I can ship you one of those. I think there might be a few seeds you haven't sent me yet ;-) I may not be out shopping until this weekend, but I will Dmail you. F4F
Jazz,
Oh thats ok, my HD will proly have them here too eventually. I just wanted to trade with someone for the heck of it, I like flowers from real people, ya know? lol Thank you for thinking of me though.
Kathy,
How impatient are you? This thread peaked my curiosity and I started looking up rooting hibiscus, most people advise using a rooting stimulent but I also read about some that just pop them in a glass of water. Humm... I have two fancy hybrids and access to most of the normal types. I think I will try rooting some just to see what happens. If they take, they are yours. Trudi
Trudi,
I have all the patients in the world, heheh, except for grocery store lines. Thank you, that sounds great, GOOD LUCK!!
kATHY
I have some seedlings but don't know what they will look like. Someone sent them as extras in a trade. Wouldn't you know it, the seeds I wanted did not do anything but the unknown Hibiscus have done very well so far.
Trudi, do you know how to air layer? I have found that with rooting woody cuttings the succes rate is never 100%, although with some things it can be pretty good. Air layering, however is easy and very very successful.
Jazz,
I have heard of air layering, but don't know the first thing about it. Can you easily explain it or should I go read up on it?
muah!
Kathy
LOL! Yes, dear, this one I know a bit about. You will need spaghnum moss, a clear space on the stem, and tin foil. You wet the moss, wrap it around a stem (2 to 4 inches), and wrap/seal that with foil. Keep misting/wetting the moss every day if necessary- sometimes the rain is a big helper! That's basically it, and you wait for roots to form- usually one and half to two months, although it can be quicker. Some folks probably can get more complicated than that- for example it's a good idea to put some rooting hormone in that wet spaghnum if you have it, and the ease to air layer depends on the plant. The rate at which roots form will also depend on the plant and the conditions (and how well you keep up with keeping the moss wet if you are a slacker like me), but you can generally root pretty much any woody this way. Some things are better to graft than air layer, but that is citrus and fruits and tree type stuff generally. Have fun!
Jazz,
by "a clear space on the stem" do you mean to strip the bark or just no nodes or branches on that space?
Kathy
Just no nodes or branches or leaves.
ok, thank you!!
Jazz,
No, I'll be honest, I didn't know how to air layer, I guess I do now ;-) I was going with the old fashioned, putting a cutting in rooting hormone and forgetting about it. . I am scared I won't have the discipline to check on the air-layering especially for 2 months! Not much gets that much attention from me. Well, except maybe my roses. Trudi
To be honest, I did some air layering last year and I forgot about them, too. It still worked, it jsut took longer because I wasn't keeping it consistently wet- which was fine because I didn't need them in a hurry. Your method works, too, but you'll get a better success rate generally speaking with most plants this way. It's just another option of propagation. In fact, I have a couple of things I need to air layer right now, but for me there's always too much to do and not enought time!
If you put the wet moss on it then wrapped that area in plastic to keep it wet, would that work?
Kathy
OK, I went to my Honey for this one. Yes, some people do, however, the light plastic allows can be inhibitive to the root growth. Getting more advanced.....going back to the peeling bark question. Dearest says with some woody cuttings, yes, you need to "nick" the bark. Hibiscus is one. Gardenia is not- go figure, they are both woody to me........Anyway, nicking means that "you don't go any deeper than the cambium", which is not very far. In layman's terms, scrape it lightly with your fingernail. And don't do this the whole circumference around the stem- just on one side or two sides, but not all the way around. That could be equivalent to girdling if you did that all the way around the stem and deeper than the cambium.
I know the foil looks tacky. You just have to visit a nursery down here and see it all over the place- maybe then it will seem normal!!!!! Have fun.......
Jazz,
you da bomb
