I made a fresh cut at the bottom of each cutting, dipped it in Wood's rooting compound diluted for hardwood pieces, and stuck them into the various pots that I had previously seeded with basil, columbine, and breadseed poppies, which, except for just one pot with poppies in it, had not sprouted a damn thing yet.
My guess is that now I've stuck some hardwood cuttings in those pots, those lazy ass seeds will decide to sprout just out of spite.
One pot has three cuttings in it and another two just because I didn't feel like making more pots for all the cuttings I had. I also decided to jab three cuttings in and around the compost bin -- again, because I ran out of pots -- which I have no doubt will perish quickly, but wouldn't that be funny if one in the compost bin ended up being the best tasting fig tree ever?
The pots are sitting on top of a pyrex pan, which has a heating pad on the lowest setting underneath it. I thought it would be too hot directly on top of the heating pad, and I needed a smooth surface for the pots to stay put on anyway.
You'll also notice a random little cutting in that last picture there -- I was eating a McDonald's cheeseburger in my car the other day and snapped it off of one of the fiery pink landscaping bushes in their parking lot. I don't think anyone cared.
That's so funny --- I finally got around to trying something similar with my cuttings today. I put a plastic bag over top of my pot, though, to hold in moisture. So I guess we'll see which does better, with bag or without!
ReplyDeleteIf all else fails, I'll bet I'll have a naturally rooted fig around the base of the big tree at this time next year, and I'll earmark it for you. :-)
Great minds think alike! I was getting mold on top of the soil in those pots (when I just had the unsprouted seeds in them), so that's why I didn't cover them at all -- I'll just have to keep a close eye to make sure they don't dry out.
DeleteI am trying to root my own cuttings. I already had them in vermiculite, potting soil, and shoved in the front flower bed (we don't get really hard freezes, particularly not next to the house) when my aunt, who works at a nursery, told me their horticulturalist recommended that she dip hers in a light chlorine solution (watered down bleach) before the rooting hormone and burying exactly to clean off any potential fungus. We shall see if she or I do better. I've also heard to bury as much as possible; maybe only an inch or two above the ground. Not sure if that is for more surface area to root or to keep the sticks from drying out. Mine look like Sara's though, just outside where it is cooler. They are moving to the Oregon greenhouse this weekend though.
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