help propagating lantana before it dies!!!!

I bought a lovely variegated lantana in a hanging planter at a spring garden festival - not bothering to ask anything about its care. (I have non-variegated plants in the ground all over the yard so didnt think I needed any advice). Within a week of hanging from a tree in my backyard, it dropped all of its flowers and most of its leaves. it wasnt overly wet or hot, but Im thinking it may have been shocked by the cold night(50's) if it had previously been in a greenhouse. Anyhow, I brought it indoors, protected from drafts, light is bright and indirect, and the house stays in the 60's and 70's. it is still losing leaves.

I took a few cuttings, used rooting hormone and stuck them in damp peat/vermiculite blend and put them in a large terrarium to protect from temp changes. all the cuttings have failed. I afraid the whole things is headed for loss. Any suggestions?

I don't think nights in the 50's should have bothered it that much even if it came from a greenhouse. If temps were in the 30's then that might cause problems, but if your nights have been that warm I suspect it was something else. I know people have posted before about starting lantana from cuttings, so if nobody comes along right away with advice for you, you might try scrolling down the other threads here or do a forum search and see if you can find the previous threads.

Lantanas, even variegated ones, need full sun, so I wouldn't hang it under a tree-it will not bloom as much, if at all. The fastest way to get a lantana to drop its leaves is to let it totally dry out-thats the #1 reason why it would drop its leaves. Not sure if that happened here, but I know i have done it! lol

Lantana cuttings take a few weeks to root, but they don't like their leaves to stay wet/moist while they are rooting. I root mine in a soiless mix that I wet down once/twice a day. The leaves want water on them but not to stay wet all day. As the cutting roots, then I water just once a day, depending on if the soil is dry or not. After the first few days, I move them to full sun in the grhouse. Light helps a lot with any cutting. I also remove the bottom leaves of the cuttings, and I keep the cuttings fairly short-just the tops and 1 node below that. The roots come out of the bottom of the stem of the cutting-not the node, like so many other cuttings. I think the terrarium might be too moist.

If it were me, I would stick the plant out in full sun, make sure it doesn't dry out too much, but don't keep it soaking wet either, and it will grow back its leaves, unless the roots are dead (fungus). It will take a few weeks to grow back the leaves.

Thanks for the tips on the moisture and the sun. I wasnt sure if variegated lantana wanted full sun There are still almost a dozen stems on the once full plant so will try a few more cuttings with your tips - thanks so much. Its a beautiful plant - I hate to lose it.

I've found that sudden change (light, temperature, humidity, etc.) often causes leaf drop. If your plant had been grown out in full sun and was suddenly moved to a more shadier spot, that might have caused it to rebel. If you leave it in the shady location, it will probaly leaf out again, but with "shade leaves". Moving it to a full sun exposure after it leafs out again with shade leaves will result in sunburned leaves---and leaf drop again. You might want to put it out in a sunnier spot now before the new leaves emerge, where it will develop sun leaves that can take (seem to enjoy?) the punishment...

ac,

My first thought was that maybe the HB had just been planted with Lantanas from, say..., 4" pots, or something like that, just so it could be sold as a full HB for a lot of money.
If that were the case--it may just be going through transplant shock.....

Just my 2cents worth.....Gita

You've seen this too, eh, Gita?!! Especially from the "Big Box" purveyors! (who also follow "chancey" watering schedules...)!

Thanks for all the thoughts.

As an update, I moved it back outside and then gradually back into the full sun. It stopped dropping leaves on Monday and has begun to put out new leaves on the few remaining stems.

It was definitely an established plant when I bought it, I do believe it might have dried too much when I initially took it home - as the basket is small and the plant was large and the medium dries quickly - this is our dry season so full sun pots need daily water. I guess I was hesitant to water it too much in the shade for fear of drowning - and ended upp doing the opposite. I havent tried to propagate any more yet as it is coming back to life and I have only six full stems left.

Again, thanks for all the info

Just have to throw in my two cents...lantana propagates quite easily. Hates too much water, and loves full sun. I have some in my moon garden, which is farthest from a water source (hose, if no rain) and gets the full afternoon sun.

I had the same problem. I almost lost a lantana. A friend told me that all I needed to do is break off a few good stems and stick it in the ground. I put them in a full sun place in what i call my mulch bed. I jut added some dirt and the stems and covered them up with a little mulch in full sun. I haven't done anything since. Its doing great. It took about a month before I noticed any growth.

I would repot the whole thing with some decent soil. I find that many plants from commercial growers look great whe you first get them,, then in a few days, they start to look awful. They ship them to the box stores in a weird soiless mixture to be light weight
So many states do not allow soil to be imported, this is another reason besides the weight that I ship all my plants bareroot.

Whatever you do, don't repot the thing in soil. Soil doesn't have sufficient macroporosity for root health. You want a soilless mix. Commercial growers favor soilless mixes with higher peat content. These are great for short-term plantings but can compact over time. I favor a soilless mix which is mainly pine bark fines...good aeration, good water holding capacity. Tapla's sticky threads on the Container Forum discuss this mix in detail. But if you are growing the plant for only a season, a peat-based potting mix, same as the commercial growers use, is fine.