Hi Emily, I hope you cut the leaves in half, that helps to keep them hydrated. If you see that the inside of the fish tank and bag are wet from evaporation that's good. If no air is getting inside then you should be all set for the foreseeable future, which should be about 4-6 weeks. The leaves should always remain turgid, no sun at all! The more light the better, and as far as the potting soil, they should be OK as long as there is NO fertilizer in the potting mix! Vermiculite would have been better, but I know it works in just about anything.

I am enclosing 2 pictures on my latest experiment, I had 2 tiny cutting, the tips that I had pinched out from other cuttings, and the stems were only about 1" so rather than throw them away, I thought I'd try them in a plastic coffee cup. If you can see in one picture, there is water beaded up on the sides of the coffee cup, that the way it should be, I have to mist this every few days since the straw hole is open a bit and the air is getting in. This may or may not work, since the stems are so short, but thought I'd give it a try. It's been close to 2 weeks already and I'll give it a few more before I peek.

Good luck and don't give up if you fail on the first try, try it again, if I can do it, anyone can. If you have anymore questions, just ask!!

Donna

Nope, didn't cut the leaves. I knew I'd miss something. :-) Which way do you cut them, sideways or longways?

As far as light, you're saying no sun light at all but regular light is good?

Thanks Donna!

Yup, Regular daylight is just fine, if you want to cut the leaves still, horizontally (sidesways) is the way. Good Luck!

Hi Hostarookie,
How are your cuttings coming along? I've tried several times without any luck. I followed Donna's method above and am now trying one in a mayo jar. Here is a pic.

It seems to be doing great so far. It hasn't even been a week, so hopefully it will work out.

Please keep us up to date on how yours are coming along.

Donna - how is yours doing in the coffee cup?

Hi Everyone, I had great success with most of my cuttings, but the ones in the coffee cup with the short stems are rotting. The short stems are the reason since it brings the soil like up to the leaves and touches them and then the leaves rot. That's why you need at least 2-3" stems. I haven't thrown them away yet, but it won't be long as the roots are just minimal.

Here is a picture of just some of my latest rootings.... take note of how great the one on the lower left looks.....you should see it now(!) We went away yesterday afternoon and now that the sun is lower in the sky, I wasn't paying attention and half of the leaves burnt to a crisp! I think the plant will live, but the leaves that burned are a goner! The weeds are still OK though.... there are many ways to kill a cutting......!

Donna

WOW Donna they look great. Sorry to hear about the sun burn, hope they survive.

3 of the six of my cuttings have died. They are about 3 inches long but didn't survive. One of the stems turned completely brown and dried out. The other two just "burned" up somehow. The other three aren't doing well either. Two of them have this filmy brown stuff around the stem and one of them had white mold. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. The only sign of life, is on two of them, new leaves are forming but still no roots? It's been almost 4 weeks, so not sure.

I hope the mayo experiment works out for me! : )

Mine attempt didn't work out either but I think it was the placement without enough light. I'm trying again and will keep you posted.

Emily

To all you would-be rooters out there.....If I could give a bit of advice.....At this point in the season, I'd wait until next "early" Summer to try again. The new growth, early in the year roots much more easily than older growth later in the season. That gives you much more time to grow your rooted cuttings so they can form a healthy root-ball and, the early summer is usually considerably cooler! They will literally root in half the time! I have one late-found variety (an unnamed dark purple that I found late this summer) still rooting and they are taking forever! Took the cutting 4 weeks ago....this has hardly been a friendly year to root with all this heat, everywhere! Don't despair, I know you will "all succeed" next year! Last year was much cooler (for me anyway) and it was a banner year for rooting, this year has been a struggle..... Last year, I was taking cuttings right into late September and everything rooted, I wouldn't even try that late this year.......

Donna