Propagation: first attempt at growing hibiscus from seed, 1 by starlight1153

starlight1153 wrote:
I've thousands and thousands of cuttings and woodies are the hardiest to propagate. I've trie d lots of different ways, but the best way I have found and is what I did on all of the above is take the cuttings making sure I have two nodes at least at the bottom and just one or two sets of leave s at the top.

I then take the few leave s that are left and cut all of them in half so that there is only a little piece of leaf left attached to the stem. Then I stick them in a mix of peat, pine bark and pertlite in thos e little 6 packs that annuals come in. Makign sure no fertilizer at all in the mix if I use a bag mix.

I them put them under a mist system. They get a 5 second mist every 5 minutes for anywheres between one month to two months. The cuttign of the leave s while looking bad, actually increases the photsynthetic area and forces the plant to produce roots instead of leaves. Also with havign such a small leaf area, the water does not stay around to mold or mildew and the roots are kept on a constant damp

You can build a real cheap mini mist system from pvc pipe. Ya just build a small bed with 2 x 4's for a frame on the ground, lienit with some weed mat, run a water hose to pvc pipe using an adapter.

Ruin a lenth of pcv pipe down the middle of the bed on the ground, and evry two feet make a pvc riser with a mist sprinkler head which ya can get from Lowe's. Cap of the one end and at the other just attached a timer. Timer the most expensive. You can find a decent one for about 40 bucks.

Lily Love... Thos e Thunbergias were stated way back in the end of Nov. Onc e they rooted, they spent the winter sittign in front of a bedroom window and rotated every couple days til the outsid e temps got up to at least 50F during the day and then came in at night til the temps stayed constant. It was a pain dragging flats of fowers in and out and in and out everyday, but very worth it in the end.

Smockette.... The orginals tiny cuttign came from that well known tropical and unusual place out there in CA. Can't think of there name, but a little two inch rooted cuttign was like 15 bucks. It is the T. grandiflora. I am the worsted picture taker. Just got a camera and only know how to pres s the button and just learne d hwo to download. I have no idea what the other buttons on it are all for. It wants to vine and I keep them apart, so that they will spread out a bit so folks can get a stronger stock and then put them where they want to grow them.

I also have the Bengal Clock vine. Had lot s of cutting s of it but only 6 survived. It one that drives me crazy trying to root. It fussier than all get out. Have tried many different ways to root it, but it doesn't seem like like anything and took almost months before I could even get the first roots on it.

The best way to think of Seale, is find Phenix City , AL. / Columbus, GA. I kind a in the pickle of both cities. I've been to Mobile once. Take s me almost 5 hour s to get there.

Mike... You hit it right on the nail. I am lucky in I have ha d some well-known mentor s to answer my thousand and one questions and tag along and get my hands into the " dirt" so to speak.

Their motto is " Take care of the roots and the top will take care of itself." How true that is. The wrong soil, the wrong nutrients, wrong enviromental contitons and once the root s gone the plant itself gone.

One of the things I do when I have somethign new to propagate or if I try and it don't take is I go to google and I type in the words,

" propagation of ( name of plant) " then I start looking at all the university sites and reading through them. I have foudn some of the best information that way and alot of things I didn't know. Of course reading it and actually doing it are two different things. LOL I just keep trying until I find the right combo that works for me.

LOL your story brings back memories of having to hitch a rid e in a cement truck everyday to work one time when my vechile was broke. Can't blame the car to much cuz poor thing 24 years old, gues s it getting tired. Think next time somebody come s to take me to town, gonan get a tire on my son's bike. Gott a be better to try and learn how to rid e it than walkign 20 mile s to the store and back every few days, but thank goodnes s for legs. : )

I like everybody els e have problems with plants too. Got these Digitalis that I have no ide a what they want. They just don't want to grow up. Nic e healthy plants but they just sit and sit and and dare me to touch them. In two an a half months they have only grown about 2 1/2" . I am stumped.