T wrote:
songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
All the ones I tried sticking in the ground, the leaves
died with in a day.

So a good sign, I guess. But no sign of any roots
yet. How long did yours take to develop roots?

were they mostly shaded and covered to prevent
excessive evaporative loss?

???

sounds like no to both if you have to water that
often.

these are very important parts of this process.
you don't want them in direct light and you
do want them covered to keep moisture in
especially in an arid climate.




did you take all but one or two leaves off?

1st attempt, about two leaves. 2nd attempt, about 10 leaves.
3rd attempt, about three leaves

how did you cut the clippings from what
plant?

Pruning shears. Same ones I use to cut off my eggplant
fruit.

I cut flat. Should I have cut at an angle?


what kind of soil did you put them in?

Back fill, chicken poop fertilizer, peat moss.
Same as the other three holes where these plants
are going great guns


did you keep them damp/moist but not sodden?

Watered every other day. They got soaked pretty good.
First time lightly so as not to wash off the rooting
compound


anyways good luck with the other approach.
....

I think maybe they need to be water every day.

Frustrating. The first attempt is still sticking
there. If yo shine a bright white light on it,
you can see the green in the trunk. Now you would
think that is a good sign, but it has been that way
since last fall!

no idea, if it is dead but perhaps that plant can
still have some green in it when dead. if it is
flexible that is another check. or a slight tug on
the twig doesn't move it (so there are roots there).
or you can actually moisten it well and then pop it
out of the pot and check for root growth.

what you describe above is likely too rich a
potting mix for rooting cuttings. and yes, cut
at an angle, but that isn't nearly as important
as keeping the cuttings covered and in mostly
shade.

a reasonable mix of starting soil for cuttings
if you can't just buy some cheap potting soil
and seed starting mix (i blend them to do cuttings
if i'm doing a lot of cuttings) would be to mix
peat moss and some of your subsoil with a little
clay mixed in there too. you want something that
helps hold some water. plain peat moss is ok, but
i think some mineral content is useful and of course
the clay.

nutrients you really only need to have when the
plant is actively growing. if you make the starting
mix too rich the cuttings may not do well at all and
they may rot or have odd fungal issues or other
disease problems.


songbird