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Rooting very thin stems?

13 years ago

I want to move my H. macgillivray but will have to cut it away from some other plants that it's become in twined with. I'll have to cut the last 5-10 inches of stems and they are very soft & thin. Is it worth trying to root these or should I just toss them? I occasionally root hoya cuttings but take thicker firm growth. I know when I trim back my passies it's not worth trying to root some of the very soft new growth. Space over the winter is at a premium and I don't want to waste it if there's little chance of success.

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Comments (5)

ladygreensleeves
13 years ago
I would first try untwining them before cutting, but if they had to be cut away and if they are the soft growth tips then most likey you will not have any luck rooting them. If they don't have a node or two with leaves I don't bother trying to root a cutting. A cutting needs at least one leaf to get it energy and develope it plant structure to grow.
karyn1
Original Author
13 years ago
I unwound what I could and trimmed the rest. The cuttings had at least 2 nodes but the leaves were immature and the stems were very thin so I trashed them. The diameter was probably less then a piece of thin spagetti. I'm not sure why the ends of so many stems are so thin unless that's the nature of that variety or maybe it wasn't getting enough light? Except for the those thin stem ends the rest of the plant looks fine. Now if it would just bloom : )
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David, You'd be best to put up a small camping tent up against the north side of a structure and place your grafts inside. This will provide the constant humidity necessary for any type of graft to not dry out. I don't think you need parafilm tape if you have humidity for summer grafting. It wouldn't hurt but it's not necessary. Now rhododendrons are not something I've read up on. Grafting is grafting to me though and those tips are what I would do for anything I'm grafting this time of the year, or, especially at the end of July into August. The middle of August is optimum time to summer graft because that's when the roots are most active (at any given time of the year.) Less energy into producing shoots in spring while active rooting is occurring is the opposite of August. Some people graft in November also after plants have fully gone dormant and while roots are active, but, you'd need a pretty warm climate or greenhouse at that time. The reason for less water in media is to decrease bleeding at the union. When plants are watered they want to grow. If you starve a plant of water they will slow down. During healing, when there is an active flow of sap, it will push the union apart, literally. Recently I was on the phone with a friend asking for cuttings of Rhododendron to do later in the year and he told me that now is the optimum time. I replied that Dirr says otherwise and he said, 'Dirr doesn't know it all.' So, I'm going to assume you know more about Rhododendron propagation that I. As for grafting though, I honestly believe it's the wrong time of the year, but I cannot tell you if I'm incorrect. Mid-August for two weeks, until Sept 1st is optimum summer grafting time. I'll say one last thing. This is T-budding time and the window is closing. It's also June Greenwood Grafting. They're both basically the same. A bud is sliced out of a stick of wood for T-budding and inserted under the bark of another. In Greenwood grafting, rigid new growth is where the bud is cut out to be inserted under the bark. I honestly cannot compare these bud grafts with what you're doing; using a stick of wood vs. a bud. I do know however that a full scion is not grafted this time of the year on anything I know of. Dax
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ladygreensleeves
13 years ago
Sounds like the tips of growth points then. With tiny immature leaves they most likey would not have rooted, so you propably did the right thing.
Do you by chance know what hoya's you have? How mature are they? Some of us here might be able to tell you when to expect blooms.
ladygreensleeves
13 years ago
H. macgillivray needs to grow dry in the winter, very dry. And then in the spring start giving it more water and feed it when it starts putting out new growth. Then increase it's water and feed as summer approaches. But don't overdo the water to the point of causesing root rot either. When you notice peduncles it will need more water....but don't touch or move the plant or it will blast the buds!
karyn1
Original Author
13 years ago
I don't have many hoyas, maybe 15. The only one that's not doing a whole lot of anything is my H. macrophylla variegata. I love the foliage but it hasn't grown much in the past year. A few are new and others I've had for years but never paid much attention to them. They were always kind of neglected in the back of the greenhouse but seem to do well.

I didn't realize how many gorgeous varieties there are until I visited Gardino's and started looking them up online. Unfortunately with everything else I don't have a lot of space for hoyas. If greenhouse space wasn't an issue I could go nuts. lol This is the 2nd year for the macgillivray and it's only within the past 6 mo that it's put on a significant amount of growth. I'd think that it would bloom within the next year. Thanks for the info. I'm sure I'll have more ?'s. I read the threads here often but post infrequently.

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