cuttings

Ok.. I'm learning this whole procedure...
Do you strip all leaves off?


I'm trying weeping willow and wisteria right now.
I cut them on an angle, dipped in rooting solution popped into a rooting soil mixture from the nursery.
A couple of the cuttings, I placed in an indoor mini greenhouse I have.. They stayed moist... Then I read in a book that they were supposed to be in an outdoor greenhouse in the sun.
Now all the leaves dried and shriveled off. I cut the rest off. The soild is more than moist, and there's some condensation on the insides.

Was I better off leaving them indoors? Or should I place my greenhouse in the shade? (we've got warm weather right now).

[Newt]

Hi volkswagenmommy,

Oh my. Sounds like it all went wrong for you. Willows will root in water and also will help other plants to root if you water them with the water that the willows were in. Never strip off all the leaves as the plant needs some to make food. Just remove the ones that will be below the soil line when rooting.

Totally enclosing your cuttings in plastic without any air holes for circulation probably caused a fungal problem and/or rot. Putting them in sun with the plastic will cook them. Take a look at these sites. Oh, you don't need rooting hormone for willow. Many times you don't need it at all.

http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplo...ort/g06970.htm
http://www.landspro.com/
http://www.rooting-hormones.com/plntlist.htm

Hope this helps,
Newt

weeping willow does best in a container of plain ole water on the shade and wistera will do fine just stuck back in the ground ( in a bed you attend),,they will both lose the original leaves. you never really know a plant until u have killed it three times..............LD

[backyardgardener]

If you do a search on http://www.hort.net/lists/search.cgi you should find several threads addressing this issue.

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