I've DISCOVERED the SECRET!!

I have been trying to root some clematis cuttings in water...and nothing but new growth!!..Then I added my "Bubbler System"

And I had ROOTS in 6..yes you heard me correctly...6 DAYS!!
This will work on any plant..roots quicker and faster!!..Jeanne

I've read a lot of discussion about what to put in the water. do you add anything. I like your pics because it makes the whole bubbler thing look easy and worth pursuing. Up to now I was discouraged by too many steps.

PLMK

Congrats!
-T

Please explain how your bubbler system works. It looks like it is very easy. Where did you get it?

Usually they are small aquarium pumps and hose-- it delivers oxygen. Some people also add Hydrogen Peroxide H202 which also delivers oxygen along with root hormone (super thrive).

Thanks yall..Marle..it's nothing but a cheap Aquarium pump that I bought at Walmart for $13.00..I put the clear tube hose onto that and put an Air stone on the end of the hose and dropped it into the water...that is plain ole tap water..nothing added...I did add water to the cup as I saw the water evaporating to keep it full....Jeanne

Do you think that would work on cuttings other than clematis? I've never heard of doing this. Is it suppose to speed up the process or just improve the chances? I've heard that cuttings rooted in water are brittle. Anything to that?

Debbie..yes, it will work for any cutting...no ....water cuttings aren't brittle..it's the most common form of growing cuttings there is IMHO..and yes it does speed up the process...I think cuttings sitting in just water can sometimes be destroyed by bacteria that forms in the water..the air circulation aides in keeping the water clean and the oxygenation must somehow speed up the process...that is just my take on it!!...Jeanne

Fantastic! I know that the bubbler system works with Brug cuttings, but I never thought to try Clematis. Great news that it works!

A couple of more questions: Which part of the Clematis vine did you take the cutting from? Are certain Clematis vines easier to root than others? Can this be done at any time of the year? Which Clematis are you showing us? Can you walk us through the steps?

Thanks so much for sharing this great news with us!!

I'm off to Walmart tomorrow! I was going to start geranium cuttings this weekend. What timing! Do you buy the tubing separately? What's an air stone? Do you think you could put several cuttings in one container?

Pat (not Debbie)

Jeanne,

I am going to try your system on some croton cuttings. Those guys take forever to root and I usually lose 90% no matter how hard I try. I am grateful for your tips, if I can ever be of service, let me know.

Shirley...being my first time having success with this method..I can't say which pruning types are easiest to root...so far I have only tried pruning group 3!!...When I went out to prune back CbD and VV to get them ready for their second bloom period..I must have had about 4 foot of vines!!..What I did was prune away and take the middle section of those...at the bottom I pruned right at about 2 inches below the leaf axil and left the cutting about a foot long...at the top..I pruned about an inch above a leaf axil..I pulled all the leaves off the bottom section, so that none would be in the water..the clematis that rooted was "Comtesse de Bouchard"..I had placed the cutting in water on May 1st...at the top leaf axil it started growing new vine BUT NO ROOTS..I kept changing the water but nothing!!..So, on June 16th I put the bubbler in and checked it yesterday June 22nd and saw those ROOTS!! It is nothing but plain water and all I did was add more water as it evaporated...
Debbie...I bought the clear plastic tubing,air stone and pump at Walmart in the section where they sell the Aquariums and Fish...those items were all on one shelf next to each other..that area at my Walmart is a couple aisles over from the Dog and Cat Food
I have three cuttings in that plastic glass
Dale..You are very welcome hon...goodluck with your Croton Cuttings and PLEASE report back on your success..this has been so exciting for me!!...I plan on being more scientific with this and take cuttings from different pruning groups and see what the results will be....I hope everyone that tries this method on any plant will report back...Jeanne

Thanks for the tip Jeanne, I now will way to many clematis, but I quess it would be great for sharing different one's with out DG friends. Do you leave it running all the time?

Yes Andrew!!...The bubbler stays on always!!...Goodluck..Jeanne

What is the logic behing pruning the top of the vine piece?

Jeanne, that is awesome. Whatever made you try that in the first place?

Human ingenuity is what makes the world go 'round, I swear :)

Pat...I don't know the reasoning behind why I chose the middle of the vine..I just did..LOL...
Meig..I can't take credit for the bubbler system..A dear friend of mine had had great success Rooting his Brugs with it so I thought...Why not try it on Clematis!!....Jeanne

This message was edited Jun 23, 2006 8:50 PM

Thanks for all the info! I'm stopping at my local pet store tomorrow & getting the essentials!

After we all get set up with Jeanne's rooting system, we will all have to start trading with each other. I know that jeanne and shirley have some I don't and that I would love to have and vise versa. It would be fun and save us tons of money. If everyone one want to do it I'll list what I have and would be more that happy to trade or just send some for postage.

Gary

Would it hurt to take cuttings from newly planted clematis (new this year)? Do you really need a foot of vine for it to root? I like the idea of trading, especially with someone like Shirley who must have an awesome collection. Fire up that bubbler, Shirley! This probably means I need to load up my plant info into Dave's. That's going to take awhile.

Pat who is NOT Debbie (but if Jeanne calls me that often enough, I'll probably start answering to it!)

Pat said...." Do you really need a foot of vine for it to root? I like the idea of trading, especially with someone like Shirley who must have an awesome collection. Fire up that bubbler, Shirley! This probably means I need to load up my plant info into Dave's"
No you don't need a foot of vine...you can use a piece from this years growth...having the leaf axil in the water is important I think..since that is where most of my roots are at...trading sounds like fun..let's all get these buggers fired up and a bubblin' away..and who your results pic wise....Jeanne

The Wal-Marts across America are selling all their aquarium pumps!!! I know I'm stopping after work to get one!!!! Let the cuttings root and the trading begin!!! We should have some well rooted cuttings in plenty of time for fall planting!! Oh, this is soooo fun. I love this website.

Debbie

How big do you let the roots get before you pot them up? And what kind of potting soil should you use? I'm guessing you wouldn't want to use anything with fertilizer in it like Miracle Grow. Maybe a seedling mix for awhile? Or maybe rose soil? I wonder if one of the pros on the propagation forum would know. I wonder what Debbie uses.

Debbie, what have you been using to pot up?

I always use top of the line potting soil, no fertilizer for the 1st month. We have Lamberts (from Canada) that I get at HD, good stuff, works well in my earth box for my winter tomatoes too.

Personally I never fertilize a newly planted clematis..Much less a cutting..I only use a couple handfuls of Bonemeal..when planting in the ground...I put a layer of composted cowmanure at the bottom of my planting hole..then a layer of just compost, then a layer of soil and then my two handfuls of bonemeal and plant that baby 2-4 inches deeper than the pot it was in!!..I'm Like Dale ..I don't use my Rose Fertilizer on it till a couple months later...Jeanne

I took pics of my cutting this morning..I wanted to leave it in there a few more days to get bigger roots!!..And it has!! So, today I shall plant her...what da ya think??...Jeanne

Are you going to plant directly in the garden or pot it up for awhile?

I just received a lovely little Integraflora from Brushwood yesterday. It had one bloom on it that mysteriously disappeared overnight. I left it sitting in my kitchen sink. Also a big chunk out of one of the leaves. I think a catafourpawsapide must have gotten at it. Whenever I have plants in the house, these wily pests seem to come out of the woodwork, or, at least, out of wherever they are taking a nap, LOL. I think if I get into this bubbler business, I need a strategy to foil these guys. I have an old crate with slates down in the basement. Do you think something like that would block out too much light? I think there is about an inch between the slats.

very impressive. I'm lurking and taking notes. walmart here I come!

Never heard of a bubbler system for rooting! It could be the answer to our prayers.....I'm definitely going to try it! Thanks for posting JeanneTX.

I just read an article posted by Gallaping Gardeners about willow cuttings accellerating the rooting of cuttings. Also 3 asprins dropped in the cutting water. Now I wonder what would happen if these were added to the bubbler system! Rooting in a few days????

I have my bubbler system set up. I added T connectors and I have 4 tubes going. 3 are bubbling quite nicely. The forth is bubbling, but not with as much vigor. Which brings up a question. How fast should the bubbler be going? Does it need full speed?

I'm going to go now and take some geranium cuttings. I have several I'd like to propagate. I also plan to try some varigated lantana and, of course, some clematis. Can't decide which to try first Diana, Charles, Venosa Violacea, Claire de Lune and Ramoma seem to be growing nicely. I also have Fujimusume, Warsaw Nike, Pope John Paul II, Ruutel, Blue Angel, Bell of Woking, Jackmanii, Miss Bateman, Nelly Moser, Candida, Elsa Spath, Konigskind, Engelina My Angel, and some others. Don't know what I should start with. Is there any that would be better than others for trading? I suppose on the new plants, I can't take too many snips this year. I could do tons of Jackmanii, Nelly or Miss Bateman. Do you think you could cut the end of a vine and make two or three cuttings out of it? Or did someone say you shouldn't take the vine tips??? Can't remember. I feel like a mad scientist with all the bubbling going on.

So much excitment over propagating Clematis! It's terrific!!

I stoppped at Walmart today & found a small pump & plastic tubing, no air stone though. I'll check out K-Mart tomorrow. Don't want to look in a fish store, probably way to expensive! Where does one find "T Connectors"??? Are they in a hardware store? Would a big box store carry them?

Please show us pictures of your set up Pat and/or Debbie! I would love to see it. Don't forget, it is only June and your Clematis are going to be growing for several more months. So even if you can't take a cutting right now, you might by the end of the Summer.

Once I get my bubbler system up and running, I think I'm going to take cuttings from "Victoria", "Elsa Spath", "Henryii", & "Sprinkles" to start.

Here's a picture of "Victoria" which is currently in bloom.

Home Depot, plumbing section has an entire section of little bits and pieces 'connections'! Take the pieces you want to connect to as its vital to get the correct dimentions!

Not just Clematis. I'm going to try Passifloras!

Here's some pictures. This one is a long shot of the set-up.

Pic of the 4 containers bubbling away. I only have cuttings of Geranium regal Royality White so far. Lost the tag for the next one I was going to do. It must be here somewhere!

And this is a pic of the connections.

Those are great pictures! Now, here comes all the questions! What are those blue thingies in each cup? You cut the plastic tubing into how many parts? How long is each piece? How many "T connectors"? How many "air stones" did you buy? Will it work without an "air stone"? Can you tell I'm not mechanically inclined???!!! :~)

Passifloras would be excellent to try propagated this way too!

For some reason, I always thought that Geraniums would root easily in just water. I guess they are harder, huh?

I wonder how long it actually will take. Remember Jeanne had hers in water a good long time before she added the bubbler. Everyone who is doing this should keep good records. Also, I think I've run into my first problem; keeping the bubble stone down. I'm going to add a few of my decorative pebbles to see if that will do it. They use gravel in the aquariums. I don't know if it's a real problem or not, but I found the one with the cuttings floating near the top instead of the bottom.

If this works well, I probably will expand the operation. They had a larger pump for about 20.00 that accomodated 2 air tubes. I don't think I'd go any more than 4 bubble stones on this pump.

No, I don't think they are harder. I'm just trying to speed up the process. Also, my goal this summer was geranium propagation, not clematis. I thought if I tried clematis at all, it would be just one little cutting to see how difficult it would be. Little did I know....

To answer your questions:

1. The blue thingies are the bubble or air stones. The piece you couldn't find. And no, I don't think it would work without the stone.
2. The first cut was about five inches. I attached one end to the pump and the other end to the air flow valve.
3. I then made about a 3 inch cut. One end got attached to the other end of the air flow valve and the other got attached to a T connector.
4. Then I cut 2 more pieces each about 3 inches. Both these pieces are attached to the T connector in step three. You now have two tubes.
5. I attached a T connector to each end of the 2 tubes,
6. I then cut about an 18 inch (or maybe 20" I didn't measure) piece of tubing 4 times. I connected each piece of tubing to the T connectors in step 5. There are now 4 tubes.
7. I attached a bubble stone to the end of each tube and dropped them all in a glass of water for 1 hour (those were the instructions).

After that, I plugged it in and all the glasses started bubbling, 1 less vigorously than the other three. Not sure if that's going to make a difference or not. Or maybe it's the stone. I think I'll try switching them around and see if the problem moves.

Since then, I've added some marbles to the bottom of the glass with cuttings and the bubble stone seems to be staying down better. Not sure why because the marbles aren't really on top of it. Anyway, seems to work better with something on the bottom.

Now my only problem is the cats. I have two of them sitting on either side of the set up staring at the glasses. I wish I knew what was going through those pea brains, so I could anticipate their attack strategy. I'm going to have to block it off somehow.

chiming in a little late, but now I am having trouble containing myself. I have to wait to get off work (night shifter here) to go to Wally world aand get me a pump. I have white crepe's acorom I believe (spelling is off) typing to fast but break is almost over. and geraniums, and lambs ear, and hibiscus 2 types, gardenias and cork screw willows, and other cuttings that seem to be taking forever to root , OH! and clematis too. some in water and some in soil.

Got to try the fish pump, wish me luck

calvin