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greentoe357

rooting long cuttings (and other questions)

greentoe357
10 years ago

My SRQ cutting bundle order is in! Yay!

I only noticed Joni's printed instructions insert after the whole planting project was done, and I did not do two things she mentions:

1. I did not re-hydrate them "for a few hours or overnight", or with Superthrive or MSU as she suggests. I plumped them into a bucket of plain water right after getting the box but got to working on planting the cuttings one by one right away. They did not appear wilty or dry to me at all though - they made it from Florida to Brooklyn very well.

2. I did not always make a fresh cut on the bottom of the stem as she suggests.

How much of a problem is not having done the 2 things above? I did put the little pots with cuttings unto a rubbermaid container, covered with plastic and stuck it on top of a heating pad and under a light, so I am hoping the rehydration process can go on in there.

It is 79 degrees and 90% humidity in there (at the top of the soil level), although things may still be settling. I can easily change the temp of humidity - or are they just right?

As for not making a fresh cut on the bottom of the cuttings, I guess I can still do that. Is it worth it? The rooting hormone will probably be totally disturbed if I do.

I also have several questions on specific cuttings. Here they are one by one.

Hoya sipitangensis IML 1603: Joni says on her site (http://srqhoyas.com/CUTTINGS/QZ/HoyaSipitangensisCuttingBrIML1603) to "root by laying the cutting in medium horizontally". Oops. I cut this in two (I think) and stuck both parts vertically. I really wish I knew a day or two in advance which cuttings I was getting in order to do this research. Shall I redo this one and lay it horizontally? Submerge all the stem and aerial roots, but leave the leaves above ground?

Comments (18)

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    micrantha iml 1442 (ignore the label in the middle, it is incorrect): this vine starts as one, then separates into two long ones. The longer of the two is 47 inches long. As of now, I cut all this into three (still long) vines, removed the leaves from the lowest node and stuck them in vertically. Should I do something else instead? Maybe cut the vines further in order to have more cuttings, or lay them all horizontally instead?

    Long stretches of this vine do not have any leaves. When cutting the vine, should every peace have at least one leaf above ground? What's the rule?

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. vanuatuensis IML 0266: another long one. I cut it in two with roughly the same number of leaves in each, but the top of the old vine had a looooooong leafless stretch, which I am holding here. Shall I keep it as is, cut into further pieces or plant in a horizontal loop instead?

    By the way, when planting a hoya vine horizontally, how does it grow from there once it roots - a new shoot from some/many/every node, or continues growing only from the one growing tip at the end of the vine. When repotting, how do people deal with that stem ring with roots at every node - replant it forever like that, or the stem can be cut between the nodes at that time?

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. dasyantha iml 1658: I think I am supposed to cut off the two leaves on the lowest node and stick it so the node is under ground. Look at those leaves though! They are huge and gorgeous! Is there a better /another way of getting this one to root? So far I kept the leaves and stuck the bottom part into the mix as far as it would go, but the node is well above the ground.

    I thought of wrapping long strands of sphagnum moss all around the node and keeping it wet (kind of like air layering, which I understand only theoretically), but even if it roots like that - what's the end game? If roots are only growing from the node, then looks like the leaves have to go. :-(

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I think I am done with questions for now, but here are the rest of the cuttings one by one. I got a 12-pack on sale at srqhoyas.com.

    Hoya limoniaca IML 0092. I planted this one vertically (as well as all others, at least for now).

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    duplicate, sorry.

    {{!gwi}}

    This post was edited by greentoe357 on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 1:29

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    leytensis iml 1287

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hoya memoria IML 0107

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. pottsii IML 0022

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. retusa IML 1324 (the IML is wrong on the label, but no problem, I figured it out from Joni's site.)

    This post was edited by greentoe357 on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 1:27

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. sipitangensis IML 1603.

    By the way, all these are 10.25-inch dinner plates for your reference.

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. sp. 3759 Haruku SRQ 3043. (what a romantic name!)

    Several of these cuttings have peduncles on them, but this one has buds! They look dry though, but what do I know! (Really, not much.)

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. sp. aff. pubifera SRQ 3085.

    This post was edited by greentoe357 on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 1:32

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. wayetii SRQ 3112.

    I actually already have this plant (even two). The leaves on the cutting are 2-2.5 times smaller than the leaves on my plants. Don't know why. Any ideas?

    I actually hope that either this one or my plants are mislabeled - would be nice to have different ones.

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    H. vanuatuensis IML 0266, already pictured once above. This is how it looked right out of the box.

    This post was edited by greentoe357 on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 1:31

  • Jimmy
    10 years ago

    Hi...Nice cuttings!i think you will be ok without soaking or re-cutting the cut stem.Does your heat pad have a temp regulator?Mine didn't and i rotted some of my cuttings .i had under a bell jar to create a terrarium effect.got way too hot and humid. 79 deg sounds fine....mine was prob much higher.The light above,depending on what kind it is can also jack up the temp inside to container.The cuttings chould get some air flow ,maybe by having the lid off when the light is off, or by having some air come in from the sides.To high humidity may rot the leaves and stems that are up against the plastic container.it will be hard to lay your cuttings down horizontally on the containers shown in the 3rd pic.You could possibly try to wrap the longer cuttings into a smaller circle,similar to the last photo,so that you will have 2 or 3 wraps around next to the cut stem.then place the cut stem and and the stems close to it all under the soil and hold them down with a hair pin or something simillar.that way you will have multiple sections of the stem under the soil,for a better root growth, and still be alle to use the smaller containers.picture little circles of hoya cuttings setting on top of the pots.you can also ues some wooden skewers or the like for support if needed to keep the cuttings upright.Hope they all make it!

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    >> Does your heat pad have a temp regulator?

    No. I'm actually using a drugstore heat pad intended for lower back pain and such. I put a blanket between the pad and the plants because even on the lowest temp setting it was too hot. I had experimented with the blanket thickness for days before the cuttings arrived, so that the temp is not higher than the lower-80's. But now that the ambient temp happens to be higher, so is the temp on top of the heating pad - to the point where I turned it off for now. Definitely need to monitor this setup often.

    >> The light above,depending on what kind it is can also jack up the temp inside to container.

    I use T5 bulbs. Two 54W bulbs are 30 inches above the bottom of the pots (not too close), and the lights do not produce a lot of heat in any case, so I think I am good there.

    >> The cuttings should get some air flow

    There are small holes in the plastic cover on the rubbermaid container, and I plan on opening and venting the cover every day for a few minutes to a few hours. Or shall I keep the cover peeled an inch or two? So far I was going to go by the smell inside. It smells humid but not musty right now - musty stale smell would be a sign to reduce humidity a bit. Over the last couple of days humidity has been between high-80's to a high of 99% and the temp has been 73 low / 81 high. Actually, I think this humidity may be too high now that I look at the numbers. What do you think?

    Vine Master, thank you for the reply! Considering there is not a lot of activity here, I emailed Joni these questions directly. She called me back minutes later - I am really impressed with the transaction, with her service, with the cuttings themselves, of course and with her ROOTING (haha pun intended) for my success.

    For the benefit of everybody with similar questions, I am going to summarize the advice she gave me in my own words.

    The long vines can be cut up into 2-3-4 node pieces and stuck into the pot in order to fill out the pot sooner, she says - I like that and will do that, I think. She says make each cutting so that there are at least a couple of leaves on each, as in absence of roots the plant can only take in water through leaves. Longer leafless stems can be cut off and discarded, especially if they have no nodes on them. I think my leafless stems do though, so I'll probably keep them.

    She does not recommend cutting off the leaves on the bottom node, as roots can grow from the stem below the lowest node.

    She does not recommend planting any cuttings horizontally in my case. She says she might recommend doing that if a cutting arrives in a bad shape, but that is not my case. Burying stems horizontally will increase the likelihood of some rooting somewhere on the stem, but it's not necessary in my case, according to her.

  • Denise
    10 years ago

    GT,

    It sounds like this is your first time rooting? Kudos for taking it on with such enthusiasm! As we go into fall, it can be a little more challenging to root them, but I wouldn't worry. I don't bother with a heating mat. I don't bother with soaking them unless they're dehydrated. I don't bother with a light (I just set them in a bright spot out of direct sun.) And I don't both with rooting hormones. And I can say barring mid-winter rooting, I have a very, very high success rate. I think the most important key is just keeping the humidity high. I do have a rooting aquarium, but they root just as well in my rooting domes, which is just those propagation domes (I'll attach a photo). I open the vents just a tiny bit, keep a bit of water in the bottom (not enough for the plants to soak it up - just a very, very tiny bit to create humidity...) You can also buy one of those grid diffusers made for florescent lights, cut it to fit in the bottom of the domes so you can keep more water in the bottom. It's a cheap way to fix up a little humidity house for cuttings.

    Anyway, I just leave them in there until they are solidly rooted. In the summer months, that can happen within 2-3 weeks. This time of year, it will probably take longer.

    With the dasyantha, I would just cut the stem a little shorter so you can secure the bottom leaves down into the soil slightly. It'll root fine at that node, and those leaves should remain on the plant for a long time. (I love that species, BTW - I've had mine a few years and it grows nicely...)

    Best of luck with your new babies!

    Denise in Omaha

  • greentoe357
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    > It sounds like this is your first time rooting?

    I've rooted other cuttings before, but never a hoya until now. Hoyas are special to me because of fond memories of one plant in my parents' house many years ago. It's actually a reason I got into the houseplant hobby a couple of years ago. I am not normally a nostalgic kind, but I had a very vivid dream of that hoya (including licking the nectar, which I used to do as a kid) and decided I just had to have something similar when I woke up. I did not even know the name of the plant, had to google "long vine with sweet nectar flower clusters" or something like that. :-)

    > As we go into fall, it can be a little more challenging to root them, but I wouldn't worry.

    Me neither, not so much. I have a heat pad and lights, so they may not even know it's fall.

    > Best of luck with your new babies!

    Thank you! I've planted them into clear plastic disposable cups, and it'll be fun watching roots grow.

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