"Sue" wrote in message
. ..
Hi again,

There seems to be quite a few desert roses being grown in the gardens
up
here. I would love to propagate one of these. I am thinking that if I
can
get a cutting from some mature (brown/hard/older??) wood, sorry unsure of
the term, I would place it into a pot with potting mix. Would this be the
best thing to do? Or do I need to let the cut dry for a period of time as
I
would with a frangipani or dracaena?

Thanks to everyone who gives me advice, the help that I receive from
this newsgroup is really invaluable to me.

Happy gardening

Sue Karratha WA

I'm not sure what a Desert Rose is, I assume like a "normal" rose, just a
variety? Not sure, but if they are grafted then don't bother as the cuttings
will not have a good root stock.

If they aren't grafted then try the following.

Take the cuttings from the older wood. Wood that is about a pencil thickness
or bigger.
Remove all the leaves if it has any.
Make the bottom cut just below a node, the top cut just above a node. It's
not totally necessary to make the top cut angled, just as long as you
remember which is the top and bottom of the cutting.
Use a cutting hormone (liquid or powder) on the bottom cut.

From here you can go 2 ways.
1) Just put them into a propagation mix in a pot. The prop mix can be seed
raising mix, or your own mix you make (4 parts coarse sand, 1 part peat moss
is good).
Keep the soil moist, not too wet. A kind of clear cover over the pot will
help too. You could make that either out of a cut off soft drink bottle, or
cling wrap plastic. Keep them in filtered sun. Actually, full sun may be ok,
but filtered sun to be safe.
OR
2) Get a foam box and put a layer of peat moss in the bottom. Wet it, then
lay all your cuttings in it. Put enough peat moss on top of the cuttings to
cover them. Cover that with newspaper and keep moist. That is a way of doing
hardwood cuttings, known as a callus box. Keep check of it until roots just
start developing, then pot up.

For experimentation try different bits of wood. Even semi hardwood, but only
do them in post as cuttings, not the box. Even try them in different areas.
Full sun, shade, on a window sill.
One thing I've learnt from taking cuttings is that you don't have to do it
exactly by the rules.

Good luck

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