Wallaby with her "rotting tips" made me think of yet another secret I've been keeping under wraps. And now that I have something to report, it's time for the unveiling:
My nepalense var. concolor stem rotted this summer at the soil line. Buds had developed maybe one-eighth normal size. No sighs of sympathy, please. Because . . . would you believe there is a silver lining?
So I had this long stem of fresh healthy plant material, and I decided to try the rooting method that Maxine talked about last year (or was it two years ago). A good portion of the stem had no leaves at all. I opted not to even try that part. (I don't remember why.) I had 8 cuttings total, about 4 inches each. I divided them into two groups (4 each), alternating up the stem so that both groups had an equal number of lower stems and upper stems. One group received no rooting hormone, the other group's stem ends were dipped in .01% IBA talc. The medium is sharp pool filter sand. Then closed up in a clear bag, and kept in as much light as possible, yet without direct sunlight.
Untreated cuttings faired better in all respects. Four stems callused; three of those were untreated. One untreated callused stem developed no further and eventually died. The other two of the untreated callused stems grew roots; one subsequently died, but one is left and is actually growing !!!
On the left side in the pic you can see the healthy cutting with its two original (large) leaves that look like they are fading. The nice green are new leaves. That little one all by its lonesome seemed a bit odd, so I carefully dug to observe its connection to the mother stem. It appears to be connected simply by a long petiole, rather than a stem. Why it decided to travel so far horizontally is a mystery. But I have to say this finding isn't infallible, as the leaf is so dainty that I was afraid to remove too much sand for fear of injury.
Across the divide is (was) the other group of treated cuttings. There is one left. No callus, no roots, original leaves dead, stem dead above the sand, but you can see some tiny new growth. Unfortunately, experience tells me this cutting is doomed, but I always let things go until they actually die. The one callused, treated cutting succumb.
You can disregard the powdery blue cutting. It is just a Salix candida piece that happened to break off recently.
It was dusk when I took this photo, consequently my new camera in regular mode had a tough time focusing accurately. I should have thought to turn on the infrared focusing. It would have been a great opportunity to try it out. But the camera is still very new to me, six days, that's my excuse, and I'm stickin' to it.
