ficus cuttings, low strike rate?

[Jamie]

hey everyone, today i checked some cuttings i took from a willow leaf ficus about 4 weeks ago, well out of 25 cuttings i only got 4 to strike, which i find odd, as being up here with my climate they should take like anything.
i cant see i am doing anything wrong either, i am using a good propagation sand, im keeping them in a semi shade position, they are in a small "hot house" (not that its not humid enough here) for extra humidity, only watering as necessary,and rooting hormone gel that i have used to get rather large cuttings to strike (6cm so far).
oh the cuttings are only about 3-5mm thick, just twiggy branchlets basically by about 10cm long.

now does this seem rather odd or am i just having some bad luck as far as the smaller cuttings are concerned?
i am sure that the method i am using are alright, just getting a low strike rate which is bugging me, this is the second lot i have done with minimal results.


cheers for any thoughts and advice


jamie

[Jerry Meislik]

Hi Jamie,
1. Use a very granular mix.
2. Cuttings must be from very healthy stock.
3. Time of year when things are really growing.
Hope this helps.
Jerry

[Jamie]

thanks jerry,

the way i have done it is pretty much exactly like you said, the donor tree is very healthy and pushing growth. so its got me buggered?

cheers


jamie

[Jerry Meislik]

I with you Jamie, totally puzzled.
Have you tried cuttings of other plants in the same soil substrate?
Jerry

[Jarrod]

It might be that you are keeping them to humid and wet. What did the failed ones look like?

They need fresh air flow to keep them healthy.

[Jamie]

only of the ficus varieties jerry, i have tried with QLD small leaf fig aswell, same dif, on small cuttings, on larger cuttings, up to 6cm wide i have gotten to strike in the same medium as the little ones, it seems the little ones about 2-5mm in diameter just dont seem to take, i have tried shimpaku aswell but they take alot of months to strike root to, so i havent disturbed the green ones but have ripped out the dead brown ones.

jamie

ps.

jarrod, the failed ones seemed to drop there leaves all of a sudden after going brown first, it only took a couple of days to turn brown then they would drop.
the medium is only ever kept moist, never sopping wet. and the humidity tent they are in isnt much more humid then outside. i have tried outside before i got the humidity tent aswell with similar results.

[Jarrod]

I reckon you need a little tub of green paint. What you do is dip your thumbs in it before you take the next lot of cuttings. Will trick the plant into thinking you are a green thumb

Your having no luck at the moment. Just keep tryin different things.

[bodhidharma]

Jamie, if you are using the same rooting hormone gel it can get contaminated from previous use. You know how it goes, stick the brush in paint another one or dip the cutting in, then another one and so it goes. It is the one thing that i dislike about gel. It does not happen with the powder. I learnt this when doing an aerial layer demo and my teacher and Mentor told the audience about this fact. It was the first time i had tried gel and i have now gone back to powder form.

[Jamie]

thanks jarrod

thats interesting bohdi, i didnt think it could get tainted as such, i wonder how? i mean i have seen it get dirtyish before but i didnt think that would affect the overall performance?

very interesting bohdi


jamie

[Pup]

Jamie cut out the humidity tent dont paint or powder there bots this works for me.
The only time I use a humidity tent is in winter here. You dont get winter.
Also use honey this will stop any fungus paint that on as you did gel, nothing else just honey.

Cheers Pup

[Jamie]

cheers pup, that is worth a try for sure
so do you leave yours in part shade? i figure you dont use the hormone gel or powder as it might be over kill for the ficus since they readly root anyway?


jamie

[shibui]

Is it possible the strength of the gel is too much for the smaller ones? Not sure what brand you have but the one I use comes in green (for softwood), purple (for meduim wood) and red (much stronger for hard wood). My experience is that a strong solution will kill the bark/ cambium of soft green cuttings.
For those who haven't had much to do with propagation before, hardwood and softwood refer to the state of development of the stem, not what sort of tree it came from. Fresh, new shoots are softwood - they will bend double without breaking. Older, mature stems are hardwood and will break when bent. Older wood needs stronger root promoting stuff than soft shoots from the same species.
My tests under my conditions shows gel to give the best, fastest results.

Jamie, if you are using the same rooting hormone gel it can get contaminated from previous use

Also most solutions do deteriorate with time. Sunlight and contamination will reduce the effectiveness quicker. To check whether it is still effective use tomato leaves. Pull leaves from the tomato plant and dip the base into the root promoting solution/powder/gel then pot into cutting mix as normal. Also put in some untreated control ones. If the solution is good the treated leaves should have roots in a week or so. If theres no difference between treated and untreated the stuff is no good. (the rooted leaves will not grow on to produce plants as there will be no growing buds but stem cuttings of tomatoes are really quick and easy way to grow lots of tomato plants)

[Jamie]

hey shibui,

the gel i am using is a one for all sort of gel, it can be diluted down for soft wood, and medium to hard use un diluted, the cuttings i have been taking are of med-hard for sure, you can snap them if bent, the gel i am using is rootex, it seems that the gel, i have isnt new but its not old either, so it might be a contamination thing, the only way to stop this problem is to poour out a little and use.

thanks for the tips, i dont have a tomato plant or vegetable plants so im gonna have to just get some more, which probably wont hurt!


jamie

[shibui]

Yes, striking gel is pretty cheap for what it does.
I keep the old container, wash it clean then pour a little of the new stuff in and use it to dip in. Put the lid back on after each use and then tip out any that's left after a month or so or if it gets dirty or runny then start again with some of the fresh stuff from the new container. Store somewhere cool and out of direct light for maximum life.

[Shannon]

Hey Jamie the best advice I can give you is: Hard wood cuttings, straight diatomite , soak the cuttings in auxinone or similar, bag them ie: small green house and place them on top of your hot water system (all commercial propagation nurseries use heated beds).