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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help with rooting mulberries - stage 2
« on: March 30, 2023, 08:06:22 AM »Quote
Great write up! Thank you.
Do you wrap cuttings in parafilm to prevent moisture loss?
I mean right now it’s fine, but in the summer we get brutal heat in South Florida.
I was talking more about fall cuttings to get them propagated inside to be ready for spring planting.
Nope, stripping off the leaves is sufficient to halt transpiration. I don't cover them or enclose them for fear of roasting/steaming them in the summer. I just put their pots in full shade and water the pot twice a week or so. Starting them inside or pruning while they're dormant for winter starts would be fine. I might be tempted to use a heating pad under their pots.
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One way I have done them not mentioned is to cut the ends diagonally
and place 4-5 cuttings in a glass of rainwater. I put them on a southern
window ledge. In a month or so they begin to root. Change the water every
3-5 days Once I see some roots I put in a one gallon pot.
I wish I had better luck doing that. Even if I change out the water and add 3% hydrogen peroxide to the water jars, my plants usually don't root in full water and succumb to rot. So, I tend to stick to soil or vermiculite. For harder-to-root plants, I like to make cuttings at second year growth and then use a much stronger rooting hormone, either Dip-n-Gro or Hormex #16. Hormex comes in several different strengths and #16 is their next-to-highest concentration of indole-butric acid (sp?), recommended for difficult woody plants and tree clones. Dip n Gro is a liquid concentrate and can be mixed for higher dosage dipping. The only thing I hate about dip-n-gro is the very short shelf life once it's mixed up with water. I don't use it unless I have a crap ton of cuttings to do because of so much wasted product as it only keeps for about an hour after it's prepared.