I have some 6" long cuttings that I am rooting in water. I got to thinking is there a good ratio of cutting size to rooting depth that offers the best sucess?
I have realized that I have my cuttings rooting about halfway down the stem. I am now thinking I should have perhaps only rooted 1/3 of the stem.
I also know that sometimes I have rooted Brugs directly into soil and for those I had just stuck the cutting in pretty much as deep as it would go down into the potting soil.
Any thoughts?
Jill
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9a
Sunset Zone 24
AHS Heat Zone: 6,7,8
Inland San Diego,Calif
In my opinion, the more roots you have, the better. I generally do mine in soil, mainly because I don't have to watch them as close for rotting. They either will or won't. LOL!
We root almost all of our cuttings in soil too. For depth, I'll put them in as far as it takes to hold them up. For 6 inch long cuttings, I'd put them in 2 or 3 inches. I don't think there's really that much difference between a third and a half on a shorter cutting. If I'm rooting a cutting that is longer, say, 18 to 24 inches, I can get it to stay standing with only 4 or 5 inches in the soil, and that seems to be enough.
Lynne
USDA Zone 9b
Heat Zone 10
Bradenton, Florida
I root mine in soil most of the time - sometimes, if I break a limb and don't have the time to pot it right then, I will put it in water until I can. It is amazing how quickly nubbies begin to form. I am so impressed with these plants being so easy to propagate - they certainly have a desire to continue. I,too plant them deep enough to be sturdy in the soil.
Odd ball here I root mine in water with a bubbler, I try to keep at least 3 inches of water in my jar. Not that I think this is the best way it is the way I was told to root the first ones I was given.
The tall ones(tree size) I put in a 5 gal bucket in a room with on heat and check when I think about it, I don't use the bubbler with these.
I start most of mine off in water. When I see the white nubbies I pot them up.
I also plant them only deep enough to hold them in place.
I make sure there is room under the cutting for the roots to grow downward. If planted too deep to the bottom of the pot the roots have nowhere to go and will grow sidewards instead of down.
The reason I start mine in water is because this latest batch of cuttings came through the mail and I really wanted them to re-hydrate themselves quickly. Secondly , I really wanted to see the roots forming - I really needed the confirmation that they would make it! And thirdly for me it is easier to "baby" them in water on my windowsill before I put them outside in soil and run the risk of forgetting to water them.
With cuttings from my own plants I am much more relaxed about getting them started in soil from the very beginning.
Jill
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9a
Sunset Zone 24
AHS Heat Zone: 6,7,8
Inland San Diego,Calif
I like to start mine in water. Once I see a few nubbies starting to extend into roots, then I'm comfortable with potting them up and losing sight of the roots. I like to put them in styro milk shake "glasses"...nice and tall to encourage the roots to go downward. From there to a 1-gal pot is an easy transition. I probably baby mine too much; starting them indoors under fluorescent lights. Too many things can go wrong out in the real world when I'm not looking.
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
When rooting in water, I find they're much less likely to rot if I put them in no more than 2" of water, no matter how long the cuttings are. I root tree-sized plants in five-gallon buckets, with about 2" of water.
When rooting in soil or when planting in the ground, I always plant them as deep as possible. They're like tomatoes---everything uunder the ground will form roots.
