Passiflora?

Does anyone know how to propigate Passionflower? I am growing a healthy one outdoors which will come indoors before frost...but I have no idea how to propigate it (I assume it seeds but haven't seen any pods?). Thanks, Susie

You should be able to do it by cuttings or by air layering.

I have received rooted cuttings but have never tried it myself- I betcha if you post this question in the vines and climbers forum you will get much more knowledgable responses than mine!

This is how I propagate cuttings:

I use a 50/50 mix of peat and perilite as the rooting medium. If you do not have any rooting hormone, go to the garden center and purchase a rooting hormone such as rootone-F (the F means there is a fungicide in the hormone and this will help prevent the cuttings from rotting.)

Take cuttings that are approx. 4" long and contain at least two nodes. One of the nodes needs to be in the rooting medium as this is the area most likely to produce roots. Remove the leave(s) from the node that will be below the surface of the medium.

Using a sharp scissors, remove approx. half of each remaining leaf (if you use your hand as an example, you would remove your fingers and leave the palm of your hand). The leaves lose moisture and since the cutting doesn't have any roots, you need to reduce the moisture-losing surface area of the leaves.

I use a clear, plastic, low ball (a short, squat-looking) Solo® cup as the container to root all of my cuttings. Fill the cup with your favorite rooting medium that is just damp, but not wet. Dip the prepared cutting into the rooting hormone and tap the cutting to remove the excess hormone (if using a hormone with fungicide you need to use care as the fungicide is toxic).

Then take a pencil and poke a hole into the medium and insert the cutting, making sure one of the nodes is covered. Don't push the cutting into the medium as this will scrape off most of the rooting hormone. Gently press the medium around the cutting so there is good contact between the cutting and the rooting medium. Repeat this process for each cutting. I typically put 4 to 6 cuttings per Solo® cup.

After you have all of the cuttings inserted into the cup, then water very carefully to make sure the medium is in good contact with the cuttings. If you see water in the bottom of the cup, tip the cup carefully to let any excess water drain out of the cup. You will need to support the cuttings to make sure they don't fall out of the cup.

Then take the cup and cuttings and put them into a ziploc quart or gallon storage bag. I add a small amount of water in the bottom of the bag for extra humidity. Don't put any drainage holes in the cup or the water in the bottom of the bag will keep the rooting medium too wet. Almost seal the bag and then blow some air into the bag and then seal. Put the bag under fluorescent lights or in a window that gets bright light, but NO DIRECT SUN. Direct sun will cook the cuttings.

One of the nice things about using clear cups for rooting is that you can see when the cuttings have rooted. After you see roots, open the bag slightly to allow fresh air to enter the bag and allow the cuttings to harden off.

If any leaves fall off during rooting, be sure to remove them since you don't want anything rotting in the bag. (It's common to lose a few leaves during rooting.)

I have rooted cuttings of conifers, trees, shrubs and tropical plants using the above method.

I hope this helps.
Mike


This message was edited Sep 18, 2004 10:12 AM

Thanks to both of you....Mike you get the Propigation in Detail Award ;) What do you mean by "node"? The section of the plant which has another branch or leaf come off of it?

susied,
Yes, the area of the plant where the leaves attach to the stem is called a "node".
Mike

Mike, this newbie to gardening and newbie to this wonderful site (this is my first post) and recent transplant from Michigan to Florida will be eternally grateful to you for taking the time and trouble to write the above post. I second the motion of Susied for the Propigation in Detail Award which has your name on it!

I'm off now to follow your instructions for my Passion Flower (Incense) cuttings that my dad cut last Thursday (yikes!) and were driven to Fla from Michigan, which lay, even as I write this, in a big bucket of water, with me now standing over it, unwringing my hands and breathing a sigh of relief because now I know what to do with them, thanks to your post :) Hopefully I won't be too late and will be able to save them... (I just wasn't sure whether or not to put them in the ground here in zone 9 (a or b, Im not sure which Ocala is in), or what. I was fixing to put them in this HUGE and I mean huge planter -- like the kind you would plant a tree in!) and almost fell outta my chair when I read 'I typically put 4 to 6 cuttings per Solo cup'. LOL)

Oh, since I'm writing this, I might ask what I should do with the 3 green lime-sized pods that were also cut and sent. I'm wondering if seeds are in there, and if they could possibly be 'good' and if I'm told yes, I'll go read about drying seeds and such...I added a pic here. Or maybe I should also post it in the vines / climbers forum...

Cheers, Kate of 2NicePeople