ficus cuttings, low strike rate?

[Jamie]

thanks shan i have heaps of stuff to try now my hot water system is in my shed which is attached to the house, no windows its dark will that matter?



jamie

[Shannon]

That's a problem mate you need plenty of light but no direct sun, ie: lime wash green house.

[Jamie]

That's a problem mate you need plenty of light but no direct sun, ie: lime wash green house.

i thought that might be the case i might have to figure something out im sure i will come up with something!


jamie

[Graeme]

Jamie, you shouldn't need bottom heat up here, well not until 14 th August anyhow , Pup's suggestion of honey is worthwhile (and a hell of a lot cheaper than what your doing now) and try planting your smaller cuttings together in a tight bundle, instead of seperately. Have no idea why it helps, but it seems to. Maybe the little buggers get lonely ( )

[Jamie]

cheers graeme, i will try that to

jamie


edit- what happens on the 14th of aug?

[Jarrod]

You turn onto a pumkin

[Jamie]

You turn onto a pumkin

i thought that was midnight mate


jamie

[Jarrod]

You might be right, well then it could be because on 14 Aug 1967 the UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declared participation in offshore pirate radio illegal. Has to be.

In all seriousness I am guessing the date choosen is at random during the time when spring is coming but it is still cool.

[bonscythe]

Hi Jamie,
I just potted up a heap of Ficus cuttings that were layed down around 3 weeks ago. All cuttings were in between 50-150mm long, some were as wide as 15mm others were as thin as match sticks. All were angle cut with a good 20mm of cambium sliced, dipped in water then into a 3g/kg Rooting Powder.

The potting medium was 50% perlite and 50% vermiculite as I wanted to try something other than prop. sand, the 50/50 mix has worked a treat (better than my efforts with 100% sand). I used something similar to the colander method I have seen Pup use for cuttings. The only difference was that I used the grill/cover from the front of a standing pedestal fan with a couple of sheets of newspaper over the grill to stop all the soil mix coming out. Placed them in almost full-shade, just a bit of morning sun. [Edit: forgot to add to strip the leaves, only leaving one or two small ones at the terminal end, cutting larger leaves in half if needed, also made the angled cut on the bottom end just below a node]

About 95% strike rate. Only a couple got fungal-type problems and didn't make it.
Hope this has helped a bit mate.

[Greth]

Just keep trying batches Jamie, I propagate hundreds of cuttings a year and there are some things I just have to be patient with. There are some that drop leaves and look totally dead before sprouting too. I just keep doing more and take a lot of the ones I know are going to have a low rate. I dont use any heating, but my best success rates are in summer. Honey is an option, try without gel too, or even in a regular potting mix. look for cuttings with a heel, where you have pulled a branch away from a larger one (not sure why this helps, but seems to sometimes, maybe there's more cambium or there is more bud tissue ready for development)
Strip most of the leaves from the cuttings, they just provide a lot of transpiration area which the cutting can't afford when it has no roots. It will grow them when it needs em again!

[Jamie]

ahhh jarrod your a crack up


bonsycthe, cheers for the ideas mate, i will have to try for sure! (i have a lot of stuff to try now )

greth, thats pretty much what i have been doing, trying different things each batch, i think the reason why the ones that have been "torn" from a fork in a branchlet strike better it because of all the advetitous (not sure if thats right) buds are around in that area and it has more growth hormone? or something like that?

i am replying of no sleep since thursday morning, so getting a bit delirious again, sorry if my words dont make sense.


jamie

[Mojo Moyogi]

Jamie, I have it on good authority from an organic grower that if you are planning on using honey as a rooting hormone, you need raw honey that has not been heat pasturised, that way all the hormones in the honey are still effective. Try a healh food store. Also with regular proprietry rooting hormones, if you keep them in the door of your fridge they will last for ages, that tip was from a manufacturer. Clonex purple is a reliable all purpose gel that is pretty simple to use and is available at your local "you guessed it" hardware complex.

I hope this is of assistance.

I plan to do an article on propagation systems at some point as I have recently built a large and very effective automated unit. Oh and it was inexpensive too

Cheers
Mojo

[Jamie]

hey mojo


thanks for the info. i had used clonex purple from "that" hardware store and havent had as good results with it as far as larger cuttings go, and the purple is for the hardwood yes? or is purple the medium one? either way i have had more success with rootex, ohwell, i can always have both

i am interested in your very large automated system that is easy to build mate wheres the pics?


jamie

[Mojo Moyogi]

Clonex Purple is for medium wood.
I have found that most difficulties in growing cuttings arise from under or over watering, incorrect light, overheating, poor air circulation or unsuitable growing medium. I am not convinced that hormone is to blame for as many failures as people think.

i am interested in your very large automated system that is easy to build mate wheres the pics?jamie

Never mentioned it was easy to build, but yeah it was!!

I wan't to do a full page technical article on the old heating and mist system (which still works pretty well) and the new system, which was inspired by a $70,000 commercial propagation house.
The new enclosure is 4m x 1.2m x 1.5 m tall and cost less than $1000 for a 4500 cutting capacity. I plan to add a couple of things to it this year which will enable almost full climate control.


Cheers
MM

[Mojo Moyogi]

Oh yeah, I can use it for stabilising collected trees after they have been dug!!

MM