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michelle_co_gw

Buddleia likes soda bottles and coir, too

michelle_co
17 years ago

So what else have you rooted in pop bottles or baggies?

I decided to propagate some of my buddleia to mix into a new rose bed, and treated it exactly like rose cuttings. WOW, did buddleia root fast (~10-14 days and roots are coming out of the drain holes). I am trying honeysuckle vine now, but it does not look happy. Was able to root russian sage earlier this summer.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Michelle

Comments (3)

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Is Buddleia the same as butterfly bush? I spotted a large one with white blossoms, hope it has yellow centers, it got very cold last night and is about done for this year, at a house where the people have given me rhubarb and otherwise helpful, so I think they would be open to letting me take some cuttings in the spring.

    Did you use a flower stalk, cut off the flower? How long a stem, how many leaf sets stripped, how many left on? I presume you used your plastic cups with two holes in the bottom. I use 16-oz Solo cups, when they do root, you can easily see them, great!

    I enjoy reading your posts about your experiments.

  • michelle_co
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, buddleia is butterfly bush. I didn't use a shoot that had flowered, I think it was a sideshoot. Not sure if it matters. I am not sure exactly how many leaves I left/stripped, but the cutting looked almost exactly like a rose cutting. They really took off! The honeysuckle still has not decided if it's happy or not and is still in a pop bottle.

    Well, I hope we figure out some more things to root. :-) It's fun.

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm eyeing my neighbor's dogwood tree, it's pink and a little different from most, but I've read you need a can't remember how long hardwood cutting about the size of your thumb which would be a larger branch off his little tree, it's been there for years and stays pretty much the same size. I wouldn't take one without asking, and one isn't likely to break off.

    I found out this most unusual rose I remember as a child is still growing on my farm. In the spring, I'm heading down and try to get some photos for an id. I thought maybe it was something similar to a rose, but no, my second cousin who farms the place says it is a rose and there are several there among some brush. When young, I noticed brownish discoloration (think some fungicide might handle that) on the pink blooms, and it seemed to bloom on tall shoots that may be thornless and come up individually right out of the ground, not bushy like most roses. My memory could be fuzzy, I was just a kid. So I want to try that.

    One of the roses that has rooted, and there seem to be 5 or 6 that have rooted of that particular one, came from the bush on a vacant lot that does have an owner. I just helped myself to the cuttings but did ask if I could dig some lily bulbs this fall. The wife got suspicious when I asked about the rose and is worried I might dig it up. I told the go-between that I would not do that and meant it. I was thinking of giving her a rooted cutting if it grows into anything that would survive in her yard, but she might get mad and could call the police on me, so I won't offer her one. The go-between advised me not to dig up the lilies even though the husband said I could. I asked if it was because I was white and they didn't like me. No, she saw me "doing something" to the bush (she lives clear around the corner). I was poking through the brush to answer a question here about growth habit one time, and another time I was photographing the foliage for the same person (on one of the forums here), but I did snitch the cuttings. I can't say that I feel guilty about that because the rose is doomed if they don't do something to save it, and they don't have a clue. I'd be glad to help them with what I have learned, like I noticed there are several suckers, but why bother? I'll just buy some lily bulbs or someone else will share some with me.

    Yeah, I'm thinking of other things to propagate by cuttings, too. I rooted a geranium, those are easy, as are African violets and begonias, but I want something different. If I come up with any novel ideas, I'll track you down :-).

    There is an unusual pink lilac, was told it was Queen Isabella, it's not like another pink lilac I saw out in the neighborhood, blooms later and foliage is different from the common lilac, not like Japanese tree lilac either, would love to try to propagate some of those.

    I've been wanting to try propagating for years, wasn't sure how to go about it, tried a mulitflora rose in 2003, but it cooked in my sunroom. Now I know why, and it is an invasive thing anyway. Pretty though.