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Old 03-12-2007, 02:08 PM posted to rec.gardens
Stephen Henning Stephen Henning is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 176
Default growing cuttings

Jackie wrote:

I have several cuttings growing in a plastic tent-like apparatus. I have
forgotten how long they should remain in the tent until I can bring them out
of it. Should there be a lot of leafy growth? I gave them a new shot of
air today.


What you are doing is rooting cuttings, so you wait until the cuttings
have roots. It can take a couple weeks for some things and forever for
others. The standard test is to tug on a cutting and see if there are
roots. If there are no roots, then wait another month or two. If there
are roots, then if they are well developed, you are done. If they are
not well developed, then wait another couple weeks.

When the roots are well developed, then as you mention, start venting
the plants to air a couple more hours each day. Never let the media dry
out, but don't keep it too wet. It needs to be well drained for most
plants.

There are basically 3 general types of cuttings: herbaceous, evergreen,
and deciduous. Herbaceous means the branches of annuals or perennials.
Evergreen means the woody stems of flowering evergreens or conifers.
Deciduous means the woody stems of fruit trees and shade trees.

There is a man in South Carolina named Mike Creel that can root just
about anything in 'dome pots". He uses most any clear container for a
rooting apparatus. Here are links describing his techniques:

http://www.rhodies.org/newsletter/2006december.pdf

http://azaleachapter.com/CreelWay122006.pdf

http://www.azaleas.org/downloads/CreelWAY05a.pdf

http://nativeplants.wcu.edu/2004/pre.../CreelProp.pdf
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