For those interested here is my 2 week update on cuphea shumannii[orange cuphea] Be patient IM showing from the beginning so you can see how they advanced.



How puny they looked in the beginning.









My main cuttings on 1-10









My cuttings from cuttings on 1-10









main cuttings on 1-21









small cuttings on 1-21









after pinching back seems to be branching nicely 2-03









closeup of sucker that will soon be another cutting 2-03









these small cuttings have been rooting for about 3wks and appear to be crying out to be potted 2-03











Steve

Martinsville, In

Heat zone 6

Sunset zone 35

Steve
Very well done!

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Thanks Penny

My experiment seems to be a success and in the next couple of days I will be potting the small cuttings and see how they do.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

There is still plenty of time to make more if you choose. It has been so cold on the porch that moma David Verity is just sitting there. The nine cuttings taken a week or so ago are probably beginning to root. It doesn't pay to start too many DVs early. They grow too fast.

Ward-- I suspect that I may be forced to take more cuttings the way the cupheas root and grow quickly. It wont be much longer though that I will have to move these cuttings as I will be starting my seedlings in about a month.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

I am way behind. Hope to start cutting this weekend & get my new lights on a pulley system. Standing up on a chair just waiting to fall off....not good!!

Good job so far, Steve!!

Joni
Elwood, IL
Zone 5

Steve,
These are pictures of black and blue salvia cuttings that I made last year. The cuttings on the right were put on a heat mat, the ones on the left were not. It was the first time that I had done cuttings with heat and I was amazed how much more lush they were. I'm going to try more this year because I was so surprised at the difference.







Carol WNY
Amherst, NY
Zone 5

Joni-- Be carefull now you dont need to have an accident.

Carol-- That is quite a difference. Are you saying those plants are from cuttings or from seeds, at any rate I have a heat mat also , glad you showed those pictures.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

The nice thing about bottom heat is it makes the whole process more predictable. Taking notes really helps too since they can be used to set up a schedule for the following winter. And as you see it allows Carol in her northern zone to grow guaranitica in amounts that would normally be out of most of our price ranges. Guaranitica Blue Ensign was to be my grow out guaranitica this year. Unfortunately the porch has been extra cold this winter and the plant, presumably alive under the soil in the pot, hasn't started to grow yet. Maybe by March it will be up, and with bottom heat a lot of ground can be made up fast. I could have skipped the whole winter on the porch pot thing and just bought a few for March delivery, the results would be the similar. When all things work correctly there is a jump in the rooted cutting population at a time in April when they can spend most of their time outside in the shade. This relieves the population explosion inside and gets the plant hardened off for planting.

Steve,
The plants in the pictures were cuttings. I posted this last spring- this is the link to that thread.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/439743/thread/1209847779/Rooting+Black+and+Blue+salvia+with+and+without+heat+mat

Ward,
I wish I was better at record keeping. I often start off the year with good intentions but then slack off. What would be the lowest temperatures you think I could leave the black and blue rooted cuttings outside at? You are right about the overcrowding inside in the spring.

Carol WNY
Amherst, NY
Zone 5

Nothing below freezing and no frost. Around here there are lots of days by April, most days actually, when temperatures stay above freezing. Mine go next to the garage door and if things look bad it is a short trip to shelter. Another advantage is that they can be repotted into larger containers and so make bigger transplants.

Just potted up all my little cuttings and surprisingly they look sorta perky as opposed to droopy like I expected and the sucker on the one plant is going crazy. Also all the cuttings have beautifull white roots so I expect those to do well also.

Steve

Martinsville, In

Heat zone 6

Sunset zone 35