Rooting
Here is my way of rooting my hoyas.
Get your cutting
These are my cummingiana cuttings I recently received that I'm going
to use as an example. Ideal cuttings are ones with at least two
series of leaves, not new or very old growth. If you have a long
cutting, cut it in half to double your chances of getting roots.
Use Rooting Hormone
I use a damp ear bud/Q tip to get the rooting hormone from the pot to the
cutting itself.
Apply to the bottom of your cutting, paying particular attention to
the nodes (where the leaves come out). Put cutting into Jiffy Pellet
I use Jiffy Pellets to root my cuttings. These are small circular
discs that are soaked in water to reconstitute. You can use normal
soil if you wish.
Gently place the cutting into the pellet. You will find that the
pellet should hold the cutting well. There is no need to remove any leaves
but you might find that removing a couple at the bottom will help you to
fix the cutting in the pellet. If you're using soil, you might find
you need to use some bent wire to hold the cuttings in.
Place into a resealable plastic bag
Gently place the cuttings into a resealable plastic bag, on top of a saucer. Place the bag plus cuttings onto a
hot mat. Close the bag, leaving approximately a third open. This is
important because, although a humid environment is beneficial to promoting
root growth, too much humidity can cause mould growth.
Leave the cuttings on the hot mat for a week, watering every 2-3 days depending on how dry the pellets get.
After a week you should be able to see roots. Once you have several
roots (1 to 2 weeks), then you can move on to the next stage.
Here you can see lots of lovely roots on my linearis. Once you
have roots, make up a plant pot of the right side (I usually use the
smallest that will fit the cuttings in question and stay upright).
The soil I use is a mixture of ordinary soil, vermiculite and perlite.
You can use a pencil to make a hole in the soil for the cuttings to go
into and gently place them in up to where the roots stop. Once
again, you might need a hairpin or some wire to hold the plant in the
soil.
I place my cuttings, in their new pots, back into the resealable bags as above. I usually leave them there for a couple of
weeks before starting to acclimatize them to the surroundings. To
acclimatize them, I leave them on the hot mat without the bag around them
until I see signs of growth. Then I finally take them off the hot
mat and find them a suitable space. |
