Plant Cuttings

[lisa]

I'm thinking Carolyn is a good person to ask this question...................can you tell me how to take cuttings from plants (fushia and gerranium) and then grow them? I did try a while back to grow a gerranium cutting by firstly putting it in a cup of water then planting it in soil but it died!

I've got a couple of really strong plants and want to mulitply my stocks!

Expert advice needed please

[Carolyn]

I haven't done fuchsia cuttings, but I am fast becoming an expert on pelargoniums!

First, you root something in water, you've made "water roots", which are weak and don't last long in soil most of the time.

So what you do is, you either get one of those little dried peat plugs (called torvbriketter) probably spelled that wrong as well, and you put it in water to swell up or you can also get a small container to put some potting soil in. I've actually been using some really nifty plastic snaps cups I found at Konsum, about 50 for 24 SEK, I think it was. I punch a hole in the bottom so it doesn't get waterlogged. Then I put potting soil in that up to the rim (don't pack it tight).

Now for the cutting. Pick a healthy shoot on your "mother" plant. If it's brown, it's woody and doesn't root as well. You want one with fresh growth on the top, a minimum of 3 leaves and a minimum of 3 nodes. (Those are the little bumpy bits where stems come from).

Getting a sharp knife or razor blade or scissors (some say no on scissors, but I've used them), you want to make the cut along the stem just ABOVE a node. Then when you have the cutting free from the mother plant, trim the stem to about an eighth of an inch below the next node up, and pull off any leaves or (I think they're called stipules, the little triangular bits of leaf that kind of fit over a node). With your finger or a pencil, poke a hole into the potting pellet or potting soil and put the cutting in the dirt, so at least one set of nodes is down in the soil, two is better. Sometimes, tho, you get plants with long sections between, so you can't always do that.

Anyway, once you've done that, don't pack the soil tightly around it, but put a little extra around it and water it in and the water will set the soil around the cutting. If the dirt sinks a bit, then you can top it with a little more potting soil. Then label your cutting, if it has a name. With the little snaps glasses, I just use a stickly label I can put on the side. Also a benefit of the clear plastic is that you can see when roots have worked their way towards the light and know that it's time to move the rooted cutting into a slightly larger, opaque container.

Then I put the cuttings in a warm, indirect sun place (no problem at the moment), and in a week or two, you should either start noticing some roots or, if you have a peat pellet or other container, you can very gently pull up on the cutting and if you meet with resistence, you've probably got roots.

Now this is critical, DO NOT OVERWATER. These plants are very sensitive to root rot and HATE to be left in soggy conditions. What I've found works really well, especially with new cuttings, is I have gotten a spray water bottle, such as you use for laundry, and I put it on a thin stream rather than spray, and direct the water right at the base of the stem.

it's a trial and error system really, and Mimmi here is much better at it than me, but this month is considered to be prime for taking cuttings and getting them rooted and some that have been sent to me through the mail are rooted within a week, which I think is incredible.

I don't know about fuchsias, but hopefully Mimmi will see this and give you an answer.

Oh yes, during the winter months, you need to let your pelars basically dry out, only water about once a month. They'll really look dead or dying, but you'll be surprised come spring and you start watering and cut back by about 1/2 to 2/3rds, how incredibly they will spring back into life.

When are you coming to town again? We should have fika.

[lisa]

Carolyn, just the kind of detailed advice I love
I think perhaps my first attempt at growing a cutting failed because I put it in the green house, much too sun Good idea too about the clear plastic, I think we have some of those cups around here somewhere.
I will give it a go again tomorrow. I never knew that about letting the pelars almost dry out, another great tip as in past years I've just emptied the pots and thrown them away, not this year now!

This week I'm busy getting ready for the first visit here from my sister & nephew along with my mum who has been here a few times. They're staying next week and then straight after that I start SFI, should be fun ;D I do plan on coming to Orebro once I know what hours I'll be tied up with SFI, I'm assuming it'll only be a couple of hours each day so I'll give you a call to arrange something probably in a couple of weeks or so, but don't hold me to that!