It's Alive! How long till I can separate them?

[Elmar]

I have seen many people here just pop out and grab cuttings with the only reason being that they are in a growing phase (seemingly) ... so I went and did the same thing. Encouraged by the sprouting seed post of two types of Casuarinas recently, I thought I'd have a go. Seemed easy enough and I needed to push thru that 'Chicken-poop' phase I was in anyway!

Armed with my branch cutters, we drove the streets of Hedland and looked for Casuarinas which there are many. Not sure of my success, I grabbed a variety of different branches and found that a thickness 5+mm seemed to take better than smaller or larger branches. (NB: I did have owners permission!)

We shortened them, put on rooting hormone and planted them in my "swamp", as my daughter like stop call it. So far I have a 50% success rate...

It's Alive 1.jpg

It's Alive 2.jpg

It's Alive 3.jpg

SO, my question is, How long do I now wait until I can separate them into individual pots? they're about a month old now ...

[Boics]

What are these growing in Elmar?

Seasol water mix?? I'd be interested as to the theories behind this...

I would have thought that a propagating mix using seasol might yield even better results?

Really if they have taken and this can be deceiving at times then you will be fine to separate and plant.
To clarify sometimes tree's push buds and growth via stored energy and haven't created any roots..
These will more often than not fill one with hope but die shortly after.

[Elmar]

G'day Boics,
The 'swamp' is a raised bed with premium potting mix that has maybe 10% mature cow manure thru it. The original plan was to plant colanders in there but haven't had the success rate in transplanting to have trees remaining alive in the colanders to utilise that bed for that purpose.

There most certainly would be some seasol in the mix, but that would be negligible...

I realise that stored energy is an issue (lost 50% already) and have waited and extra fortnight and I am happy to wait longer but am starting to wonder how long do I leave them? Is there such a thing as a 'sure time frame' after which you can safely repot them individually?


Cheers
EZ
Via Tapatalk

[Wayne R]

I think your daughter is very perceptive. Your swamp is not an environment I would consider appropriate for cuttings, then again I am battling to get up to a 50% success rate with my regime so what do I know!

I would suggest you sacrifice one of the healthy looking specimens and gently remove it from said swamp so you can better check root growth.

[Elmar]

Hehe thank you Wayne, not sure if that's a compliment or not.

It filled up with water in the last rain and brought another 'dead' tree back to life, so I've kept it that way ever since. Keep in mind we are in the hot part of our summer right now (mid to high 40s every day, nights low to mid 30s)...
I'm not sure it's the Swamp or the humidity that is doing it! For now, it appears to be working - I guess ill have to keep on trying and just record what's happening to make sure.
I have looked into some YouTube videos of people in similar environments and found a bloke in the US that uses sphagnum moss exclusively to keep the moisture up to the trees ... I'm really just trying to keep mine alive I need to master that before I can do any real learning about styling and what-not...


Cheers
EZ
Via Tapatalk

[Boics]

Hello Elmar.

There is "keeping the moisture up" and then there is drowning tree's in a swamp of stagnant water.
To my knowledge very few tree's like to be submerged in water.. If they do like it they usually like this water to be flushed and refreshed.

Personally I think you would experience better success with a wider variety of species if you significantly improved drainage.
Sand is a very common component of propagating mix and I think that a heap of this in your mix and some more drainage holes will help.

My only disclaimer is that I think some species of Casuarina may very well like the extremely wet environment you are providing.

[treebuilder]

First question should be ,when were the cutting taken and planted(Ah, no I see- one month ago-sorry)? You can probably wait until more shoots emerge and stat to grow before thinking about transplanting, especially if your temperatures are still high. 4 weeks is not really long enough for callousing and root formation, but like Wayne suggest you could take a peek . This may ruin the cutting tho.

[Rory]

When I used to grow cuttings I would leave them for a year, regardless of the species. 1 month is definitely too soon. But now that I'm older and less patient, I can't be bothered with cuttings.

[Elmar]

I appreciate the saving input from the others - lets assume that there is an overwhelming response in regards to "Stagnant water" and its negative effects on plants; lets also assume that I have drained the 'swamp' and will continue to drain it (as in completely removed the plug) so that future water will drain thru the soil and drain right out again...

Lets further assume that I feel 50% is a very low success rate and so don't want to sacrifice those that appear to be growing; and that I am trying very hard not to get too excited about those that I have shown above in case they die (used all the energy stored in the trunk to grow leaves), can we now get back and focus on the question posed in my first post, please?

How long do I now wait until I can separate them into individual pots?

Thank you Rory and Treebuider, thats more the info I was looking for...


N.B.: After being upset and embarrassed initially for pointing out my flaw, I grew up a little and took the comments to be for my benefit! So if I have ticked some of you off with my response, accept my apology, please I am here to learn to build trees and not my ego!

[dansai]

Cuttings are usually planted in a mix of perlite and peat (or fine coir fibre as substitute) or sand. Keeping humidity high around them greatly increases success rates. Professionals use things like bottom heat to encourage roots and misting or fogging in a controlled environment (green house). Although some plants may develop roots in water, most like moisture and lots of air. I would be surprised if your cuttings have roots, but an easy way to tell is to give a light pull and see if there is any resistance. If none, pull the cutting out and see if there is any sign of callusing or roots. If there is resistance, it may have roots. The usual practice would be to check the bottom of the pot for roots emerging out drainage holes, although may be hard in your situation.

There is lots of information out there on how to propagate from cuttings so many do some .

By the way, when you say you have had 50% success, do you mean you have managed to get roots on 50% of all the cuttings you have tried, or 50% of the cuttings you are referring to still have leaves?

[treebuilder]

At this stage I'd suggest not changing anything , like draining the water. Your cuttings are doing something! So give them more time and wait for second and third flushes of growth and then you'll know they're alive and well. What is there to lose, you can start over next Spring and do another round of fresh cuttings.
There are quite a few trees , plants etc which don't mind wet conditions, being landlocked and then getting stagnent is just part of the deal. It's still just water. http://www.acs.edu.au/info/hobby/landsc ... lants.aspx . have fun

[Boics]

The answer to your question is that when a tree has taken and rooted it can be safely removed by taking the surrounding soil and planting in a new pot.

[Elmar]

By the way, when you say you have had 50% success, do you mean you have managed to get roots on 50% of all the cuttings you have tried, or 50% of the cuttings you are referring to still have leaves?

Good pick-up, I meant this lot of cuttings.

[Elmar]

Ok, so my initial excitement has been tempered by time, and so it seems my results!

I am down to just a quarter of cuttings that are showing signs of life, with one clear winner (if it were a race). This lots has continued to grow while the others have died off (as predicted) but I can see that more are slowing down... sad as that is I have learned that my swamp is not a great environment... unless I can take care of the 'Stagnant' aspect...

Initially the idea was to keep the moisture and humidity up, with little or no thought to stagnation!

I'll keep trying...