First, about the water.

I used to try elaborate concoctions I read about here and there with sugar, superthrive, VF-11, alcohol, soap, etc. I kept seeing this reaction from more sensitive species where they would look worse when I took them out than when I put them in. I have a lot of theories about why this might be, and I'm not blaming it on any of the components, but until I can study their effects more systematically, I've been simply soaking my cuttings in water with a little Palmolive.

Second, about the sp. Palawan.

Yes, just stick that little nub in. Bury the node as much as you can while keeping the leaves mostly aboveground (it's okay if you heap some medium loosely around the lower leaves and petioles - that won't hurt them). That node doesn't have to be completely under the soil, of course, just in contact. I would stick a little stake in and clip the cutting to the stake to get it to stay in place.

Third.

Congratulations! They look great and you chose some really nice species there. :)

Oh and I usually do 30m if they haven't traveled long and 2 hours if they have. 2 hours is really hitting the outer limit of what people recommend, so maybe 1 hour is Goldilocks perfect.

I soak my cuttings in RO water for a few hours. My thinking is that first and foremost, these cuttings need to rehydrate. The best way to do that is by soaking them in the purest water possible. Pure water creates a high osmotic pressure that forces water into the plant cells. Adding dissolved solids to the water (like sugar) reduces osmotic presure and slows the flow of water into plant cells. If you were to add enough dissolved solids, you could actually reverse the osmotic pressure and cause the cuttings to dehydrate even further.

Once the cuttings are hydrated, they should be capable of growing and producing their own sugar, so I see no need for adding any supplements. A rooting hormone may help speed things up after the cuttings have soaked, but I've never used them and have not found them to be necessary. Once the cuttings have rooted, you can start fertilizing.

As for the small cutting, it should do fine if you can keep the stem buried with the leaves above ground. You may need to water a bit more often or mist the soil surface until the roots grow further down into the soil. Another option is to place the cutting into a rooting chamber. I use a small aquarium with some damp Sphagnum moss on the bottom, and a light over the transparent lid. The high humidity will cause aerial roots to grow which can then be buried in a pot once long enough.

-Chris

Oh, Chris. Sometimes your posts are so delicious. Thank you for explaining why complicated concoctions backfire and RO water is so helpful.

Thank you. I'm always wary of potentially unnecessary complications, and IMO this is a case of less is more.

-Chris

so when you soak them what do you do? do you put them in a sink with water or a bowl or something like that and submerge them all the way? or just the stem?

I completely submerge them in a bucket, leaves and all.

-Chris

I've also read that soaking them in pure Distilled water is another option for those that don't have access to RO water.

Great post Chris, thanks for the info.

Golden, those are some very nice cuttings. Good luck getting them all rooted.

Thank you all for your replies...got them soaked - unfortunately I didnt have RO water.. soaked them in some super thrive and then added a bit of neem oil to the water incase there were pests... potted them all up and added them to my aquarium with bottom heat...

Looks FABULOUS Golden...I think you will have rooted cuttings in a few weeks! Lots of luck with them...

Golden those all look great. The GPS 9057 looks like it will root very well the way you have it potted.

On the topic of soaking cuttings. If your cuttings arrive and they look just fine then they don't really need to be soaked. Soaking them in plain water will not hurt them in any way so why not do it anyways.
When I was suggesting to soak cuttings for longer and with the addition of a small amount of sugar it was specifically for very stressed cuttings. When I first started to import from Thailand the cuttings were spending 20 days in the mail and they looked terrible when they arrived. I had many cuttings that literally looked like paper, completely dried but still holding their leaves. I would soak these cuttings until they rehydrated and looked plump, as long as 24 hours. The addition of sugar was from an old orchid growing manual and was also used for very stressed imported bare root orchids. I agree that all of this is overkill for a cutting that is still looking fresh. Healthy cuttings only need moisture where you want roots to form, light, and good humidity.

Mike

It is certainly very situational. Most people reach a point where they don't always reach for the same procedure. I always thought it would be interesting watching someone who propagates Hoyas professionally at work. To observe what their eyes see.

For whatever reason it feels scary to soak a plant (cutting or rooted) for such an extended period, but in certain scenarios it truly is all they need to get their feet under them.

And I do think that with stressed cuttings, continuous humidity while rooting trumps any soaking procedure. Of course, Golden's cuttings are about as solid looking as cuttings get!

is there a larger success rate with rooting them in soil then in water?

Oxygen diffuses very slowly through water. As a result of this, roots grown in water develop a greater percentage of aerenchyma, which is a spongy tissue that allows oxygen to diffuse from the stem, where it is plentiful, to the roots, where it is needed. This aerenchyma makes the root more fragile and poorly adapted to soil growth. When transplanting to soil, the water roots will most likely die, resulting in the loss of all that expended energy, plus the need to expend more energy growing new roots. Starting the cutting in soil will result in faster, stronger growth.

Another technique is to allow the cutting to grow aerial roots in the humidity of a rooting chamber. These roots should be much more adaptable to soil conditions, but roots allowed to grow in soil will always have the greatest advantage since they have no transition to make.

-Chris

Beautiful explanation, Chris. I was just thinking I wanted to read up on the technical difference between these types of roots the other day.

So, maybe you can tell me: Is this why cuttings rooted in semi-hydro, then transferred to soil seem to handle the transition pretty well? Because semi-hydro roots have characteristics more similar to those of soil roots?

My preference is to root in soil, but it does seem that very stressed or fragile cuttings will root more reliably in semi-hydro and those roots are enough to get them over the hump and in a position to persevere.

Roots grown in s/h should have plenty of gas exchange, so I'd imagine they would adapt well to soil. In fact, s/h probably provides even more gas exchange than the soils that most people use, so that is probably why you have better luck rooting sensitive cuttings in it. People could also have great luck rooting in soil if they were willing to use extremely porous soils, but the trade-off is having to water more often. Once a substantial root system is formed, gas exchange in soil is not as much of a problem since the roots are removing excess water that would otherwise slow gas exchange. Your practice of rooting sensitive cuttings in s/h and then transferring them to soil sounds like a good one.

-Chris