Jasmines are usually grown from cuttings, but I don't think plain water will give you a good chance of success, so why not go for the rooting hormone or better yet, rooting gel, which seems to work better and is easier to use.

Finally, don't worry about the mother plant, sambacs usually respond to pruning with a flush of new growth, so she'll bounce back; but if the leaves on the broken branch aren't withering, then it can still be saved if you splint it so it doesn't break all the way.

Let us know how it does!

Jim

the branch seemed fine for a while, but now it's starting to wilt. it was attached by a thin woody strand, so I detached it and popped it in water for now to see if I could at least perk it up. I'm almost certainly going to lose the buds on it though :\

So what rooting procedure would you recommend? I've only got powdered rooting hormone.

Ria

I tried to use this rooting gel, but didn't work at all. Not sure what kind it was though.

I have heard of people taking willow bark, soaking it in water and then using the water to root plants, but never tried this before.

psh, I've tried that, too. with a little honey in it to disinfect. I've had my best success with plain water, to be honest :\

I recently rooted a bunch of Grand Duke of Tuscony jasmines in soil. No rooting hormones. I just stripped the bottom leaves and any buds, put them in moist soil, stuck the pot in a baggie and sealed it. I left it in a shady area and they all had roots in about a month. I don't know what zone you are in but if it's cold I'd just do it inside on a seed mat.
Karyn

Karyn1's technique sounds right; if you use rooting hormone, just remember that too much is worse than none at all, so dip it once and tap the shoot to knock off the excess, then pot it and cross yer fingers!

I haven't used the rooting gel either, but it seems like a good "stick it in and forget it" method -- anyone had experience with it?

Jim

I've used the rooting gel and it was ok but I like the powder with an added fungicide better. The gel sticks well but it doesn't keep well in the container. At least it doesn't look right after a short amount of time. Maybe it was the brand that I was using but it was originally a light green color with little white spots and after a month or two it turned to a weird olive green color with some brown so I tossed it. I also couldn't find any of the gels that contained a fungicide.
Karyn