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katrina1_gw

best potting soil for newly rooted ROS cuttings

katrina1
17 years ago

Most of my Rose of Sharon 'blue Satin' cuttings have rooted. The roots are not very long yet, but the starts do hold when I test by using the slight tug method.

I would like to wait 2 more weeks before transplanting them. Is that a good idea? If not when would be a better time to transplant them? Most are currently rooting in straight sand and one that I started in mostly Vermiculite and a little sand has a small but healthy looking web of a few roots which seems to have branched.

Also, after I transplant the rooted ones, how should I handle them? Put them outside in steady dappled shade, or keep them in the house at a constant 77 degrees F. with indirect lighting?

By the latter weeks of October into November, in past years, the chance for temps to change rapidly from comfortable 60 F. degrees and quite chilly light freezing temps in a 24 hour period has been common. With that in mind, by the second week of October should I bury the pots in a pile of sand and let the young recently propogated shrubs struggle with that kind of cycling temperatures. If not what about putting them in the garage for the winter? If the garage is the best place for them to be wintered, will the low light levels in the garage be a problem for them, especially during the daytime?

Comments (3)

  • georgez5il
    17 years ago

    I would waiy 2 more weeks to transplant... use any well drained soil with organic matter included..... again delay several days thenset outside in the shade. I would overwinter outside. burry the pot & later cover the bare stem with straw or leaves or.... The key to survival is that the soil be damp when it freezes & if thaus during the winter must still be damp when it refreezes.......
    also protect from mice, rabbits etc......

  • katrina1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hey thanks for the response georgez5il. I had begun to wonder if any one would offer me futher advise.

    No mice or rabbits are seen on my property, but there are two squirrels which play and scavange under my four mature, acorn producing oak trees.

    Still yet it is a wonder why my late May recently planted hosta's display so much leaf damage. It certainly looks like what one would expect to see rabbits cause.

    Thanks for your heads up about that. Maybe, I should cage the buried pots and even bury the sides of the cage well enough to prevent any ground preditors from tunneling under and up into the cage.

    Since your IL z5 has much colder winters than we do here in zone 6b/7, that gives me more confidence that following your advice should give them a good chance to pull through till next spring.

    Since they are to be wintered by covering them with straw or leaves, and since our winter cold temps take so long to really entrench in, do you think it a good idea, for me to first put down a little bit of mulch, and then later secure a removable wind and cold temp shielding cover over the cage just prior to our predicted light freeze times, but later to only cover the plants completely with leaves and mulch or straw just prior to our first predicted hard freeze? If I do not do it this way, what can be done to prevent them from rotting if I cover them completely from the start of our night temps, only, dropping into the mid to low 30s?

  • cobretti
    16 years ago

    Fox Farm makes the best potting soil hands down. It's enriched with worm casings and sea kelp. Awesome!

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