Yes I cut the culm completely off. I have yet to try it by leaving the culm either fully or partially attached. Some of my bamboo,including my Multiplex varieties, are now 3 hours from me at my brother's house so I don't have the time to "experiment" with them right now. However, I do know what has worked, and that was whole culm burial, similar to what this outlines for propagating using culm cuttings. They do discuss trench layering where you do leave part of the culm attached, but again I havn't gotten around to doing that...yet. http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horticulture/GrowingBamboo.htm#Propagating%20Clumping Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating clumping bamboos

Hi Kathy, Laura is one of our seasoned experts here so following her advice will really help you.. I did want to ask you though...are you sure what you have is an inflo? Can you actually see the blooming stem, buds? I have to agree, watering is a big no no when your starting cuttings...it really irks me but I remember getting cuttings from a local fair here, and they too recommended watering them every week or so. My only explanation to this is that if the grower came from Hawaii, they probobly can get away with watering when there rooting. Well, I should say it like this. In Hawaii, rain showers are frequent(except for on the dry side of the island. The high temps, and trades winds help to dry the moisture from the rains, so the un rooted cuttings wont rot. I had a friend that had a plumeria forum(sadly, she got rid of it)and she lived in Hawaii. She told me time after time of this scenario.She kept quite a few cuttings all at various stages of root development, and she cerainly didn't move them every time it rained! What stinks to me though, is that these growers that sell there cuttings on the mainland don't think about the diffrences in weather, and that's why there rooting instructions are not right for the rest of us. At least I hope this is the case!! I just bought 3 Lani plumeria cuttings and they came from a grower in Hawaii. They were sold on a TV show, and they told the viewer to not only water them after potting the unrooted cuttings, but to continue with this every few weeks until they rooted!! When I read the customer's reviews on these cuttings, most of them said that there cuttings never grew!! NOW HOW COULD SOMEONE CLAIM TO BE GROWING PLUMERIA FOR MANY YEARS AND SAY TO WATER THIS WAY? I actually posted a message in there review area that these cuttings should not be rooted UNTIL LEAVES ARE AT LEAST 3-4 in long. Now, as far as inflos go, it really is up to you. Personally, I do not like to remove inflos on unrooted cuttings. IF for some reason the cutting fails to root, you will at least have the chance to see if you really liked the flower, AND if you do, you may be more inclined to try rooting that particular variety again. Now me, I removed an inflo off of a particular un rooted cutting, and I lost that cutting before it bloomed again. I did get another though, actually 2 and they both rooted. Now for soil, I again agree with our expert Laura. She told you that soil was too heavy and she is 100% right. When it comes to plumeria trees, I try to see them as a cactus. Cactus have to be planted in a very porous soil. Laura along with many others here use what is called Al's gritty mix. IF you end up really liking your plumeria, and you decide to buy more, (which trust me, MOST PEOPLE DO! Most people end up getting hookedlike I did). you may want to look up the gritty mix. For now, I would just mix your Miracle Grow potting soil with the perlite. I like to mix it at a 50/50 ratio. I haven't had issues with mine rotting with this mix, and the ingriedients are easily found, and pretty cheap. As far as heat goes, I again agree with Laura. Plumerias LOVE heat as much as they HATE cold! I live in xone 6 and I wont leave my plumeria out over night until temps stay in the 60's. Day temps in the 70's are good. You will see though how the colors of the plumeria are affected by the temps. I have seen more intense colors with higher heat. Good luck Kathy! Your in great hands here, and if you end up getting hooked to this awesome group of tropical trees, don't say I never warned you! LMAO! Andrew

I usually don't like to do this, but I'm going to answer your question some questions of my own. Where are you? What rose is this? How long has the cutting been off the bush? I don't think I've ever had leaves fall off a cutting after only one day, unless the leaves were primed to fall off anyway. The short answer is this: Yes, you can root cuttings without leaves. But the cutting has to be fairly fresh and in good condition for it to have the reserves to produce roots. Many times, the leaves fall off of my cuttings and they root just fine. Other times, they croak. There's no harm in trying to root them, but you may or may not get roots. You'll never know unless you try. In the future, when you have to hold cuttings that you plan to root, wrap them them in a damp paper towel, put them into a plastic bag, and keep them in the fridge. They can stay like this for a week or so. Connie

The stem was from last year, it was brown not really new growth. I'm just curious if I screwed it up by pulling the leaves off. Would you start it indoors to root or outside? Currently it's in a Scotts potting soil mixed 50/50 with perlite, in a clear cup covered with a plastic Baggie for humidity....sitting on my windowsill getting indirect sunlight.