Curing and grafting

Since MGs bleed when you cut off a cutting, I was wondering what was the proper way of "curing" these cuttings. So far none of my cuttings rooted in my fountain, they tend to get mushy after a couple of days...

Grafting experience

PS. Has anybody ever tried grafting MG cuttings on let's say a sweet potatoe or another MG? I recently read that this can be done, so, of course, I will be trying this till I am successful. So far my grafts on the new plants are somewhat limp...but I haven't given up hope completely. I should add that I have taken a citrus grafting course and have found out how they do it here in Morocco (mainly bud grafting). Only one out of the 10 grafts that some local farmer did on the bitter orange trees in front of our apartment took, but I attribute this high failure rate to the heat and their tinkering approach...

Martin,

I had some Ipomoea albivenia cuttings root in water. Others have rooted I. nil. I didn't cure the cutting before putting it in water. Maybe the hot sun is cooking your cuttings if your fountain is outdoors? That would be way cool if you were successful in grafting Ipomoea. Good luck!

Joseph

Martin - Rooting MG stems is covered in the FAQ's someplace but trying to root the cuttings in intense sun is usually not a good idea,because the sun tends to dry out the leaves quicker than the open stem can absorb water...keeping a few small leaves on the stem helps the cut stem to stay alive...but leaving too long of a length of stem in the water usually results in decay...

The cut stems do not need to be cured (in MG's)...the stems are best rooted by placing the length of stem in well oxygenated distilled or rain water...carefully use a very sharp instrument to make clean cut as bruised tissue contributes to rapid decay...

I like to place the stem to be rooted into a humidity chamber e.g., a fishtank...the lower portion of the root placed into a container of water, very moist sand ,sphagnum moss or other appropriate rooting medium (placement can be more horizontal than vertical) and the upper portion of the stem with the leaves experiencing relatively high humidity to keep them hydrated...achieve and maintain relatively high humidity by keeping the fluorescent equipped cover over the top of the tank and the ambient humidity high by water evaporating from off of the bottom heaters...

Alternatives and / or supplements to the above include using liquid or gel rooting compounds (which usually work better than powders) and the use of a fine grade aeration stone placed into the rooting water (powered by a small fishtank air pump) to maintain high levels of oxygen in the rooting water...actually the stem to be rooted can be placed inside of the plastic water intake tubes (which are about 1" to 2 inches in diameter) as commonly used for external fishtank water filters with the airstone bubbling up into the plastic tube...this allows the stem to be kept very moist with a maximum amount of oxygenation...

Since the buildup of decayed matter from any of the stem will increase the population of organisms that feed on that exact matter..A good rule of thumb is that generally frequent water changes (as may be indicated ) are in order to prevent and remove any buildup of decay causing organisms and trim off / clean off any slime or dead organic matter from any of the stem that has turned brown....

Hope that helps...

TTY,...

Ron



This message was edited Jul 11, 2008 3:12 PM

An airstone is good idea...Ron. Should I use a tiny bit of bleach in the water or will this be harmful to the cuttings?


Martin

Go Fast......... Here is my opinion..... I think cuttings in water is the wrong way to get rooted cuttings of mgs. Here are some of my rules.

1. Don't use the fast growing vine tips. They need to be old enough that they are what I call "hardened off", and ready for rooting.

2. Use the layering method instead. I use a small plastic cup, and drill a
12 mm hole in the center of the bottom. Then I use some heavy scissors to cut the plastic cup from the top rim, all the way down the side to the bottom, and across to the hole. Now I have a clamshell type of cup to hold the rooting media in.

3. Now I find a place where I can bunch about 5 or 6 vines in my hand.
DO NOT SEVER THEM! Tie them together so they are easier to work with. They should have 25 to 30 cm long tops, and be past the succulent stage. This varies with your situation. It is also important to have a group of leaf axils together, say within the same 25 mm , above the point where you tied them.

4. Snip off all the leaves above the tied point for about 3 cm.

5. Now stretch open the clamshelled plastic cup, and wrap it around the stems you have tied, making sure you don't snap any stems, getting them all nested into the center hole, in the bottom of the cup.
The tied place should go just up inside the hole.

6. Now moisten some potting media, with a tiny amount of dish detergent for a wetting agent. This also help if you shold inadvertently let them get too dry. The wetting agent will help it accept water the next time it is watered. A wetting agent with a neutral pH is preferred, maybe something organic if you have it. When I am doing this I always use hot water, it speeds things up for me.

7. Now get some duct tape and tape the open side of the cup shut, so it will hold the potting soil and developing plants.

8. Now secure the cup with the vines coming up through it to something that can bear the entire weight once it is filled with soil.
We don't want any stress on the vines we are rooting.

9. Now pack the potting mix into the cup and shake to help it settle into the bottom. When you are satisfied that it is well packed, soak it with warm water until it runs out the bottom. When you soak it, soak it with very warm water each time. The heat on the stems in the cup,
helps to stimulate root development, even on an intermittent basis.

I just finished doing this on I. acuminata vines in a pot, and I just potted them, and wow. 100% on 7 cups, and I used tiny 3 oz cups. The 3 gallon pot I started with them now is bigger than the parent plant and has more vines growing up out of the soil. I let them go for a month so the slowest vines could root too, and got a tremendous amount of roots going around inside the cups in some cups. I noticed also that as they rooted, they would suddenly have a spurt of growth, of about a meter. I had roots within two weeks, but not enough to transplant with.
I did this in the house, not in direct sunlight at a temp around 70 degrees F. I also foliage fed the vines while they were rooting.
When you think about this method, it has a lot to offer. No severed cuttings, no trauma to them or stress. Best of all, no die back on the tops of the vines you are rooting, since they are still connected to their orriginal root system. Hope this helps, Frank.

Hi Martin - A small amount of peroxide (not more than 5% total of 3% dilute solution) added to the rooting water may help to oxygenate and prevent microbial decay...

Franks method may work well too,especially for hard to root species...

TTY,...

Ron

Hi fchilders,

Thanks Frank for the detailed description. I have a hard time imagining it all without seeing a photo or two...

I may try both methods suggested to see what works best here under the local conditions.

Thanks to both of you.


Martin