Rooting: Water vs Soil
alpanther
14 years ago
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Denise
14 years agogootziecat
14 years agoRelated Discussions
rooting a coleus plant- do it in water or soil?
Comments (54)Heythere, Vintage. Good to hear from you! You can absolutely use a wine bottle, or BBQ sauce bottle, coffee can, whatever you have that is clean and will hold water. I quit using glass I want to keep because our water is so full of lime. After a few weeks, glass items are etched with lime deposits, a caveat to others who might have lime-y water. Brandon has some excellent info (gleaned from experience) to share about propagating in general. I don't blame him for sticking to his general view that water propagation is the red-headed step-child of propagation. His objections inspired me to share more of what I've experienced and I look forward to doing a better job with taking more pictures this coming spring. His warnings that most plants won't yield the same results with this method are valid, and his contributions to this discussion are appreciated, at least by me. I don't know if the person who started this discussion imagined it becoming so "big." My description of my last picture added did prove to be true. There are at least 4x as many cuttings as what is pictured Nov. 19. Some have been separated more, other jars with large openings still have up to 10 cuttings in them. Ken, you might be interested to know that the accumulation of your comments about the size of cuttings in general inspired me to stick the tiny tip of a Coleus plant next to the mama when I accidentally broke it off. It's been at least 3 weeks so I think it's safe to say that it's going to live since it's not crispy brown yet. You have to look closely at the very bottom of the pic to see that it's a separate, tiny piece, just a couple leaves. (The mama is a cutting I appropriated from a giant overgrown planter in Sept.) It was already well-rooted by the time "panic night" rolled around, and partly due to this discussion, and partly due to testimonials I've read from others who do have success keeping potted Coleus alive for winter, I potted it up at the same time as taking the other cuttings. Don't know if the soil purists will consider this a good comparison since it had "water roots" before going into a pot. Someone above mentioned newer style windows with UV protections and that definitely could have and probably did contribute to my failures in OH. My dwellings all had at least double-pane windows and at my last one, where I really went nuts and failed miserably the last winter I tried, I had the windows replaced in January with all of those fancy options. Great for furniture and carpet, really can have disastrous effects on plants. Become more honest with myself about the vast difference in light for a plant right on a windowsill vs. one 4 ft. from the window also....See MoreWhat's the best way to move plants rooted in water to soil?
Comments (25)I am in the process of transplanting my water-rooted lavender to soil. I am using a combination of the methods described above + one other which I can't find, or I'd link to. I add wet soil to the container (wet so that the soil doesn't rise to the surface.) I add some pebbles to keep the soil down. The article that I can't find said to use soil withOUT fertilizer bec the fertilizer could burn the roots, but all I had when I decided to start this project, was soil with fertilizer, so that is what I'm using. The article said to daily pour out a little water, and add more wet soil. I am doing this every other day to give the roots more time to change over. It has been about 6 days -- so far so good. The method says after a week, see if the roots are rooted in soil, and if they are take the whole thing out and put in container with soil. I will let you know how it goes. appreciate all the advice given above....See MoreSoil mix for indoor-baggie rose rooting vs. outdoor rooting with rain
Comments (56)PICTURES OF MY ROOTING ON JAN 30, INDOOR ZONE 5A, 2 1/2 months of rooting: Zippered bed-sheet pouches won over pop-bottle: more sunlight. Below is a very wimpy rooting with a LARGE pop-bottle on top: What I learned from my 1st-time rooting indoor, in zone 5a: Cheryl Netter, the originator of "baggie method" lives in a SUNNY zone 5a Colorado, with 247 to 285 days of sunshine versus my Chicagoland with 191 sunny days (mostly partial sun). My mother-in-law lives in Colorado Springs, and at high altitude, the sun is much more intense. Sun is needed to zap mold. STABLE environment is the key to success rooting. When I squirted water on the cuttings, it drop leaves immediately. Cuttings drop leaves with excessive moisture. I should had used my alkaline tap water (pH 9) plus hydrogen peroxide to prevent mold & black canker. I used rain water, which is perfect pH for mold to grow. The addition of my magnesium-rich clay on top helped with photosynthesis in the weak-sun indoor-zone 5a. After I topped with magnesium, leaves became darker green. After 2 1/2 months, baggie via zippered-bed-sheets WON over pop-bottle. Baggie has a larger area of soil for evaporation of moisture. Plus Baggie allows more sun & air to prevent mold. All my rootings under pop-bottle failed. They sprout green leaves, but the minute I take the pop-bottle off, leaves drop. My sister in WARM California had the same experience. One site said to take the pop-bottle off EVERY NIGHT, which makes sense since there's zero light at night, thus encourage mold & black canker. But it's a nuisance to take pop-bottle off everynight. Pouring water down the stem of cuttings is THE BEST WAY TO KILL THEM. Cuttings rot easily if the medium is acidic & wet....See MoreDifference between water and soil roots
Comments (9)"water roots" are those formed by a plant when a cutting - a slip - is grown in water only. I can't say how they differ morphologically from standard soil roots since this is not a topic I've ever studied but suffice it to say that they evolved to be able to absorb oxygen from the water - which soil roots cannot do - and some nutrients. There is a limit with this for most plants......eventually they deplete the resources available to them in just the water (unless topped up or replaced frequently) and they begin to fail. Water roots need to be carefully transitioned to a soil medium. Usually this involves dipping them into a muddy slurry before planting into regular potting soil or an interim step of growing them on in a very porous substrate like perlite and water and allowing the water to gradually evaporate almost entirely and then plant into regular potting soil. Plants grow water roots in water.......it's that simple :-) And not all plants are inclined to do this....See Morekellyknits
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