hey

i use plain fluorescent lights... have there been any studies about CFL's???? what the wattage on yours [ i see 65 watts]???

when i do seed and cuttings.. i try for about 2 inches from the plant .. with a bank of 4 three foot lamps ....

i am wondering if your one foot is not close enough with a bulb that is not powerful enough ..

all that said ... i dont see yellow growth.. i see young lighter green growth .... which may not have had time to darken.. especially if the light level is low..

i have no clue how to measure such ... peeps used to have photometers for cameras in the olden days.. lol ... [like a few years ago] ...

i am wondering.. why the plant on the right is leaning so heavily... that is usually an indication that it is leaning toward the light ... if there was sufficient light.. it wouldnt need to lean ...

can we have a pic of the whole gizmo???

in general... gently grab the cutting.. if it pulls straight out.. no roots ... if there is resistance.. or the soil starts to come with it.. that indicates there are some roots under the media .... just dont maul whatever roots there are in the media ....

ken

Hey Ken!

It is difficult to see in the picture, but the tips of the new growth leaves are turning yellow.

Trust me, the cuttings look much worse in real life ;-)

I found an old light meter, like this one :

{{gwi:839989}}

It shows no significant reading at 1ft distance. So you are probably right about low light level being a factor.

By the way, here is a picture of my setup.

{{gwi:839990}}

Patrick.

Yeah, Ken's right: Fluorescent is great light for plants but these bulbs don't have much "throw". They need to be close.

+oM

How are the cuttings doing?

I'm also wondering what you've stuck them in, and whether it contains perlite or something similar?

At any rate, good luck with these plants!

If you have not been fertilizing a mineral deficiency is perhaps your problem.

Ron, cutting soil NEVER may contain any kind of fertilizer!
It will make them lazy in producing roots.
The next step is to repot the rooted cuttings into another soil which MUST contain a fetilizer to continue furthur growth and a healthy colour...

Edwin, that's the way I was taught, and that's the way I do it.
Mike

Yep, no fertilizer until they have roots.

"Cool soils, low in initial fertility, are conducive to root growth..."

Josh

Need for nutrients does not shut down when cuttings are removed from parent plants and stuck in rooting medium, then start back up again after roots are formed.

@sluice

I moved the light closer to the cuttings and they have indeed started to grow again, but at a very slow rate and some leaves are still turning yellow...
But that's ok as long as new growth emerges, I guess.

They are in a high quality potting soil, but no perlite or something similar. I know this is far from ideal...

Enhanced later growth (of some other kinds of plants) resulting from slow-release fertilizer applications during propagation was discussed by C. Whitcomb in Chapter 1 of Plant Production in Containers (revised 1988 edition).

Yep, low in initial fertility is the key.
Obviously you don't want to burn or inhibit growth, but a light charge of nutrients should be
available once the plant/cutting can effectively make use of the nutrients. I almost always
include some Osmocote in my mix for that very reason: the nutrients won't be heavy up front,
but they'll be there when the plant needs it.

I wait approximately two weeks to begin fertigation after re-potting a rooted plant, as well.
This phase of low initial fertility apparently helps with the re-establishment of roots
in a new volume of soil/mix.

Josh

That's not the point I got out of it, rather that you don't want gaps in nutrient availability - including during the rooting phase.

"It" being various discussions of container plant production, not just the one chapter in the one book.