vermiculite v potting soil

I have rooted cuttings happily thriving in vermiculite. Can I grow them on in this medium or must I transplant them to potting soil? What is the reason for transplanting to potting soil?

Hi, vermiculite probably isn't nutritive enough for the plants. Unless you're growing hydroponically, you probably want to switch to a potting medium suitable for your cuttings. And some plants (cordylines come to mind) do better rotted in the same medium they are to be grown in.

Thank you, bbinny.

But...what if one regularly fertilizes the vermiculite? Is there still a good reason to transplant to potting soil?

I'm in NJ, not NY (lol). That would depend on the plant. Vermiculite would have to grab onto and release all the nutrients the plant needs; for a heavy-feeder, like a rose, no not good enough. For bromeliads with small roots, yes, and they often are fed with foliars anyway. Sorry there is no one answer for you.

Actually, I am propagating Impatiens. They are rather heavy feeders, when grown in containers. I have rooted cuttings in both potting soil, like MiracleGro, and also in pure vermiculite. The cuttings in vermiculite rooted very quickly, and are now in full bloom. They seem SO happy in this medium, I wondered why I couldn't continue growing them on this way. They seem to be receiving all the moisture they need, and obviously the course vermiculite allows plenty of oxygen for the roots.

I was hoping someone could give a good argument as to why they should to be transplanted to something like a peat-perlite mix, such as MiracleGro, as is traditional.

I guess because they are heavy feeders and vermiculite won't supply them with their nutrients or hold onto enough. I rooted hydrangeas in a mix of peat moss and sand (and I know of nurseries that root hyds in just sand), they rooted very well but can't be sustained in the peat moss- sand mix (hyds are not heavy feeders). You could try an experiment with 2 impateins cuttings rooted att he same time in verm., transplant 1 to potting mix and leave the other in vermi. and see how they do, everything else being equal.

bb, that's exactly what I'm doing - leaving some in vermiculite and transplanting some to MiracleGro potting soil.

But after an exhaustive search on google, I think I've finally found an argument for transplanting from the vermiculite to potting soil. It seems vermiculite can become too wet and too compacted over time to allow for good oxygen levels and strong root growth. This info comes from a thesis on grape vine propagation!

Kevin

Good info to know, I didn't know that about vermi., don't have it myself. And the argument against peat moss would be that if it dries out, it's h*** to rewet (been there, done that). I'm switching from peat- sand in fact to more perlite mixes because I got sick and tired of spending time wetting the stupid peat moss.