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andrew_scott77

Great Success with water rooting!!

Andrew Scott
13 years ago

I want to say the week of Christmas I discovered that one of my 'Lei Rainbow'/'Nebel's Rainbow' plumeria cuttings was rotting. I pulled it from the soil because I could see that the tips were beginning ot shrivel and the rest of the plumewria was getting soft.

I panicked and hacked off almost half of the cutting. I let it dry and then decided that my last resort was to put it in water with Vitamin B-1. I used a coffee cup to start. I filled it 3/4 full of water and then added about 5 or 6 drops of vitamin B-1.

The cuttings themselves had come from Mimi. for those who don't know her, she is the moderator of the plumeria forum. Her and I have now been good friends for oalmost a year. Sweet lady. I am convinced that her main priority is to provide these HUGE awesome cuttings to her members for as cheap as possible. I believe noid cuttings are $3 and $4 for named cuttings. The cuttings she sent to me were large like normal. The largest was well over 2ft tall with three tips.

The smallest cutting was my problem child. Defiant, not wanting to root, just giving me trouble!

I will admit that I didn't keep up with changing thwe water. This can be really bad, especially if you have a cutting that is suffering from rot!

In a matter of a few days, I noticed that the cutting had gone back to being nice and plump. I was shocked to say the least. New Years Day, I went into my room, plugged in my HPS light and checked the small cutting in water. To my amazement, it had roots. Not anything big yet, but there were roots!! So, I changed the water again, and dusted the cut end with cinnamon. I potted it up a few days ago. I don't know if this guy will make it. It still had a soft spot but it got smaller and smaller. I dusted it again, and potted it up in soil with no moisture.

I decided that the second cutting was going to also go into water. I put it into the a 1/2 gal juice jug. Both cuttings were in the jug for about 3 days. Two days after I potted the smaller one, I checked the largest and it too had roots! Now, this cutting has roots growing from the cut end! I cannot believe it!

I will never claim that my success was due to my tremendous knowledge with plumeria! I just figured this was the last ditch effort for the little guy and it worked!! I never expected that rooting would be so easy this time of year!!

Andrew

Comments (14)

  • labland
    13 years ago

    Congratulations! I am curious, why dust the end with cinnamon? Is it a natural antirot, anti fungal?

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    13 years ago

    Way to go Andrew!!!!

    It's good to hear some great success this time of year!!!

    Congratulations on a job well done!!!

    Hi Jen!!!

    Laura in VB

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Hello labland,
    You got it right. IT is an antirot, and I believe antifungal.

    Hi Laura,
    Thanks for the compliments. I really appreciate your encouragment. I just wush spring would hurry up and get here. It has been snowing here in western NY almost nonstop since yesterday, and we now have around 9 inches of snow. YIKES!!
    Andrew

  • jandey1
    13 years ago

    That's interesting about the cinnamon. I've used it on orchid spikes when I cut them, but I never thought to try it on the end of a plumeria cutting.

    I think I've figured out why my Makaha cutting hasn't rooted yet after 3 months: it looks like it's trying to put out an inflo. On the one hand I'm super excited because I've never had the cutting-with-inflo experience (or, truthfully, much inflo experience at all!), but on the other hand my precious cutting isn't rooting and the inflo is still so immature that I can't even cut it off yet without damaging the tip. The raw egg can't do much if it's putting all its energy into its tips.

    Andrew, two words: Snow. Yuck. I lived in New England for several winters, which is why I'm now firmly rooted back in Texas.

    Jen

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Hi Jen,
    I truly envy you. Especially this time of year. I can't say that I totally hate our winters. I still like the first snow fall, the first time we get snowed in, a white Christmas but after Christmas, I AM OVER IT!!!

    I had disc replacement surgery almost a year ago now. It was the weekend of Valentines day. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The worst part was the staples in my abdomen. I have seen improvement but the winter is always the hardest on my back. Today I had a nasty fall on the sidewalk when I went to go get my mail. Hurt myself pretty good but nothing serious, I HOPE!!

    The cinnamon really works!! I tried it as a last ditch effort to save the first Nebel's/Lei Rainbow cutting. I have it potted now and there are tiny leaves emerging but they are growing pretty slow. The larger cutting didn't really need the cinnamon on it. I just did it as a precautionary measure.

    I just potted the larger of the 2 on Thursday. The tiny roots were maybe 1/4 inch long. I waited till that got that large because I thought they would have the best chance at growing. I have seen some clear(what looks like water) drops at the tips, so I am hoping that all is well. They are both still nice and firm.

    Good luck with your cutting! I hate the predicement your in! I was in the same situation last summer with multiple cuttings. What made it even harder for me was that besides my Dwarf Singapore Pink, I had never had a plumeria bloom. Now I was faced with either letting the energy go into forming nice and healthy roots, or into the inflo. Well, I did remove them and I was glad I did. I had the roots form and then they did bloom! First year cuttings that rooted in less than a month and bloomed maybe a month later!! I swear by the egg method. I repotted my Celadine from last summer and there was hardly anything left inside the egg!
    Andrew

  • labland
    13 years ago

    Andrew,

    How did your disc replacement surgery work? I had a fusion of L5/S1 over 20 years ago, followed by a laminectomy of L4/L5 a year later. I was fine the first year, then things went downhill fast. In addition, I fell 5 years ago and fractured the T12 vertebrae. I have no discs left at any level,and a lor of damage, but Kaiser ( HMO insurance in California) say that disc replacement has not done that well. Not that I want any further surgeries. Curious to hear how things have worked. By the way, if you haven't tried the Back2Life back machine, it has really helped with the stiffness and pain in my lower back, that is saying a lot!!

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    HEllo Labland,
    They actually removed the disc. They cut my abdomen open and put in this synthetic disc. I cannot remember the name of it but I did have some relief. Winter is what makes it hurt the most add to it that I fell on my a** trying to get the mail on Friday, and today I am pretty darn sore!

    I have never heard of this machine before. The crappy thing is if it isn't FDA approved, workman's comp would never allow me to use it. It is worth asking about though and I really appreciate it!
    Andrew

  • labland
    13 years ago

    I am so sorry it is work mans comp. Takes forever to get anything taken care of. No the Bakc2Life is not FDA approved. It simulates the back exercises the PT have you do, but you are lying there relaxed, so it doesn't cause spasms, like it does for me when I do them on my own. Apparently they even sell It at Costco in some states. It has REALLY helped with spasms, and the stiffness.

    Good luck. From my experiences with Workers Comp, you spend more time jumping through hoops. This last injury I had to use the W/C doc, and he had me doing stuff just so he could bill for more money. I was glad when that was all over. Not I feel I have my life back. NEVER AGAIN!

  • lekennedy4
    11 years ago

    I just got back from my honeymoon in Hawaii and brought home a plumeria clipping. The guy I bought it from told me to soak it in water to get the roots going. It has been soaking in plain ol water for about 3 days now and the stem looks like it's starting to wrinkle. It's still pretty firm, but Im afraid it's rotting. Help! Note: the cutting had already rooted a little bit in the bag but during travel the roots fell off a little bit.



  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    IS the cut end soft or mooshy? If it is, it is rotting. It would be stinky too from the rot.

    If it isn't I would put it back in the water but I would add Superthrive. That will help the roots to grow..it's also better to use rain water instead of tap water. Some tap water can contain chemicals that could hurt the cutting.

    If you know that there were roots on the cutting, and the roots were healthy, I would just pot it up. In my experience usually if I have a cutting that has rooted, and the roots have broken off, I just pot it up because those roots will grow right back. That's exactly what I am talking about in the above post.

    Good luck with your cutting and keep us posted as to how well it does!

    Andrew

  • lekennedy4
    11 years ago

    Thanks Andrew. It has actually firmed up and grown roots. Im going to pot it today. Is plain ol' potting soil fine? What kind of sun does a new cutting like this require?? Are fertilizers a must?? I'd prefer not to go to the nursery today but will if necessary.

  • elucas101
    11 years ago

    Congrats on the roots! I would get some potting soil (not moisture control, that's too wet) and some perlite and mix them about 50/50. You don't need to worry about fertilizer just yet, but you do need as much sun as you can possibly get, especially at this time of year, they like a lot of sun.

  • DelWH
    11 years ago

    Yes, this time of year, with the sun not so strong, they should probably be in full sun. In the summer, I had some in full sun and they got sunburned trunks pretty bad.