Hi Vettin, thanks! I'm happy you're finding the blog and cutting wrapping interesting and useful! You know when a climber or a polyantha forms the wood at the end of the cane which carries all the flowers? In the link below, it's the photo on my blog of the Shadow Dancer cuttings, enlarged for best detail. Notice the branched cutting to the right of the center of the photo. It's the one with the actual root sticking out to the right of the bottom of the cutting.

The ends of the branches of that cutting carried the individual flowers in the cluster. If you are familiar with polyanthas, think their actual flower clusters. It's the wood which holds or carries the flowers. These are rooting faster and easier than actual stem or "normal" cane types and are generating growth from invisible buds.

This address will show you growth from a flower cluster cutting.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kqFwNC_LFu8/TfZYYrvC0_I/AAAAAAAAAF0/J73QHnJOO8w/s1600/shadow+dancer+wrapped+cutting.JPG

Once they callus or form roots, I use my potting soil of choice (I hesitate to suggest a brand because our conditions are likely very different. Whatever holds moisture for you without being soggy, until you can conveniently water it) and plant the cuttings deeply, leaving only the top few growth buds exposed to the elements. You want to keep them damp, cool, moist and dark as light and heat simulate growth and flowering at the expense of rooting. I'm sure with any experience, you'll find cuttings breaking into growth and blooming without forming roots, then completely collapsing. Keeping most of the cutting buried in the soil is like heeling in a bare root at planting time. Keeping it cool, dark and moist triggers the plant to grow roots. Slowly uncovering it when you see new growth forming at the cane ends allows the wood to absorb light (to stimulate photosynthesis) and to heat up which stimulates growth and flowering.

What I would have said about watering when I lived in the mid desert is very different from what I now practice living one ridge inland from the ocean. It all depends upon your rate of evaporation. As with any potted plant, you want them moist to keep them growing, without being soggy, causing them to rot. Same goes for soil type. If I used the moisture control soil I use here at the beach, they'd probably rot due to staying too wet. Here, I need that extra water holding capability. We're having "June Gloom" now, with heavy overcast, damp, cool mornings then clearing with high seventies air, much hotter in the direct sun. Light soil, like something very sandy or a seed starter type, would need watered almost daily. When it heats up even more, which should be shortly, light soil may not hold a day, particularly when the winds hit and humidity drops to single digits. You have a much better idea what soil type and brand to use in your climate and microclimate than I would. Same goes for water schedule. Don't let them dry out fully, but don't drown them and rot the forming roots off before they get going.

If it's cloudy, over cast, foggy, cool, damp, misty, rainy you can get away with what would be sunny to full sun. If it's getting sunnier and warmer, you're going to want filtered sun or early morning sun with protection from the hot, burning sun, until they break into growth and can shade their wood with their foliage. HOT will dry them out faster than they can absorb water through their immature root system. It can also heat up the pots to the point of both drying them out and even cooking the tender roots. I am using 16 oz foam cups with holes poked in the bottoms for drainage. They are readily available; inexpensive; easy to poke holes in; disposable; light weight; insulated so the soil warms from the surface and not "cook" from the sides where the sun may shine on them; and something I don't mind handing to someone if I give a rooted plant away. They are reusable as long as you don't write on them or otherwise damage them. The ones I'm using right now have had four sets of cuttings run through them, so they certainly are inexpensive and durable enough for the purpose. I use the cups for portability and ease of sliding out the soil ball in one piece to check for root formation, too. If I can see roots infiltrating the soil ball, I know it's time to pot them up into larger pots. If they were in the soil, unless they are where I intend them to grow, how would I know?

I know others have found fertilizer already incorporated into the soil may burn new roots. My soil is Miracle Grow Moisture Control which has time released food in it. So far, I'm not noticing any problems with it. If I weren't using a fertilized soil, I would wait until a decent root ball was formed in the pots, then begin feeding with a dilute solution of a water soluble type. Probably at quarter to half strength, after a good, thorough watering. You can always add more fertilizer to a pot, but it's hard as heck to take some out. As with us and most animals, smaller, more frequent feedings are better than huge ones as in feast or famine. As long as you water sufficiently so the plant has all it needs, you can't burn anything with a light feeding applied at more frequent rates. If it says feed a tablespoon full in a gallon of water every two weeks, consider giving a quarter tablespoon every week in a gallon of water. Just make sure the soil remains moist and not soggy and you water well before you fertilize. It's the same logic you're probably already using for your established plants, only massaged for smaller, less mature ones. Think "baby" and "baby food". You might eat a steak but you won't feed your infant one.

I think I got it all...what else? Thank! Kim

Here is a link that might be useful:

Fantastic! Thank you again for sharing your knowledge!

You're welcome! My pleasure! Besides, one of these days, someone out there reading this is going to hit upon some way to make this even easier and more efficient. I can't wait! Kim