Howdy folks...
A couple weeks or so after the Kentucky RoundUp I rec'd some cuttings of two kinds of Gardenia's from Ellen/Elena. I've done gardenia cuttings before but this time had my best success rate of all!
In only about 4 weeks these babies took off and developed roots! Yay! (Purty thangs, eh?)
I'm gonna enjoy these. Thanks Ellen!
Shoe, what was you method of rooting them?
Howdy Ruth/Y'bird!
One good thing is that Ellen sent them in moist potting soil. They arrived in excellent condition!
Altho I took a couple days getting around to setting them up I kept them in water.
I just used regular potting soil, trimmed the stems back a little bit, and stuck them in the soil. Did NOT use rooting hormone (not sure it is needed in many cases) but did trim the leaves in almost half with scissors to cut down on the transpiration.
Once in the soil, I watered them in, put them in plastic grocery bags (no need for clear see-thru bags) and put them on my heat mat. If you don't have a heat mat, the top of the fridge or water heater should do, however they do need a bit of light, not much.
Every other day or so I'd open the bag to let in some air and also wiggled the bag to let the excess condensation fall from it.
I still haven't re-potted these into bigger pots yet (gotta clean off the table!) but will check back when I do and let you know the final success rate. So far it looks great!
What a delight to see those pictures! I usually throw my gardenia cuttings and many other great cuttings in the compost (and hate doing it every year) because I am not set up for raising that many cuttings. (My daughter has a big one that she has to trim too.) Shoe, you are a miracle worker!
I am going to continue using the sterile, dampened seed starting medium when I send cuttings from now on. I just put it in a small baggie and wet it and let it soak up the mositure. Then I made it into a ball and squeezed out the excess (only what I was afraid would run out of the baggie), stuck the cuttings in the ball, tightened the baggie around the cuttings with a twist-um- tie and shipped it. I used the bigger blow up bubble pack sections at random spots to support the plants. I have used these before and often tape them to the inside of the box to keep them from floating around. I like the big bubbles rather than newspaper as I think that the newspaper also dries the leaves out. I think all of that makes a huge difference in the condition of the cuttings when they are traveling. Often I get cuttings from folks and they are just wrapped in barely damp paper towels. Since they don't have roots they can't soak up any moisture from a damp paper and the leaves are often dried and crisp by the time I get them. Sometimes I salvage them but very often I don't. I experimented with my new method when I sent them to you and am glad to know that it seems to have made a big difference in the condition of the cuttings.
Shoe, I know where you can get cuttings every fall from now on. LOL! Thanks for posting those pictures. I willl be watching for more reports.
This message was edited Nov 14, 2003 11:33 PM
