I'm about to pot a few more cuttings and I was doing research yesterday. In another thread George made this recommendation.

"Store bought cuttings have been dried already for at least a few weeks. I would not cut them again because every time you cut them they loose liquids and reduces their viability. I would dip them in rooting powder (do not wet them) and burry the end in mulch for two weeks. Callusing them in mulch for two weeks will not reduce their viability. "

He was not talking about an angle cut. Hopefully, he will respond to your question as you make a very good point.

I agree about possibly decreasing the viability by re-cutting and on my more expensive or rare cuttings I didn't dare risk it. But I got a little braver on some others and decided to try it since I felt it would do good for the plant in the long run.

I think it would be really nice if growers / sellers were able to make that one extra cut on the ends for us so that we didn't have to re-cut / risk losing viability. I don't know if many of them even know about the rooting tendencies on those angles tips? it might be something worth starting though!

Yes, in a post last year George recommended I NOT re-cut an angle-cut that had already callused. So I didn't. :)

I wouldn't stress too much about it. Everyone does things differently and who's to say that those that are angle cut aren't reaching their full potential? And even though I believe that in most cases roots only grow on the angled side, I have seen photos where roots are growing all the way around.

This is the new me... chillin', not stressin'! LOL

I doubt there is a difference, other than an angled cut having a greater surface area which could be viewed as a positive since there may be greater potential for root formation, but also negative: more exposure for more moisture loss, and the part at the bottom of the cut is too thin to support itself thereby making it prone to become necrotic.

x

Xerophyte, the problem is that roots will only grow from the tip of an angle cut so even though there may be more surface area, it is wasted. Roots will grow from around the entire circumference of a straight cut. A picture was posted yesterday on the Facebook Plumeria Growers page that showed it graphically, it was an angle cut and only a single root growing from the tip. I think it was a 1 year old cutting.

Hi There!!

I know this has been discussed before ... ;-)

Lots of great information on the subject and i will admit that i have rooted cuttings both ways.. lots of them.

I also like to dip my newly cut cuttings in rootone to callus.

I recently received a really nice cutting and thought about recutting.. then i decided to leave it alone and pot it up. It is at an angle and i don't worry one bit because it is an angle cut. Most of the cutting that i started rooting years ago, were angled cut. It seems to me that the overall health of the cutting, how well callused and the growing enviroment has alot to do with how well it begins to start the rooting process.

I do like to read about the straight cut and i also will and have rooted this way, but i think both work well. If i could have them sent straight cut... i would perfer that!!! But i will not recut a good callused cutting if it is at an angle.

Just my opinion!!

Have a great night everyone!!!

Laura

If given the choice I would straight cut if the cutting is fresh and has not callused. if it was of unknown freshness or already well callused I would start the rooting process as is.

I think in 3-4 years time you would never know the difference but it may be a factor in getting blooms that second year which means potentially more branches and the potential for more blooms the next year.

Okay, not to add chaos to the mix, BUT, my 84 year old friend who has given me many, many cuttings (and is German) swears by an angle as the bigger circumference....HOWEVER, he has me take a razor blade and ever so gently go around the cutting at the bottom so as NOT to draw out milk, but just to barely score....roots do come out of this score....I have done it many time and 2 of the same variety 1 with and 1 without....

Again, the variety may dictate how easy it roots....may be different for people in different areas and time of year and conditions. He has 60 in the ground in Ventura that are way over 12 feet....brought from Hawaii as tiny cuttings........
Mahalo, roxanne

With respect to cuttings, it depends on their condition. If they are in good condition and not shriveled I always re-cut them. If they are shriveled, I plant them like they are because the risk is high I will lose them if I re-cut the. But once established, I always take cuttings and make new plants with square cuts.

Laura, it depends how you grow plumerias. If you plant them in the ground or grow them in large pots (over 15 gallons), I would re-cut them because it really affects the plants. If you grow plumerias in 5 gallon pots then it does not matter that much.

George

This is the type of thing that the both the serious gardener and the hobbyist should understand, yet it is not well known.

I would be curious to see, as a comparison, a few photos of the root mass of seedlings that are of a similar diameter. The argument for grafting is usually a more securely anchored tree. Does a seedling pumeria produce a meaningful tap root of any sort?

I did 25 seedlings in 2005...they have a tap root that goes to China...they were in pots and I have since put them all in the ground. roxanne

Good info here. I agree that I assess the cutting and decide if the pros outweigh the cons to re-cut. Sometimes it is too risky.

When I look at my seedling's root systems I can't detect a noticeable tap root although everyone says they have one. But I do notice great radial root growth, much more than only in one spot of the trunk, for sure.

During an "are you rotting?" inspection last night I unpotted a favorite cutting of mine and as expected it has a very small root system growing from only the angled tip. This was one that the cons outweighed the pros and it did not get re-cut, although i wish i would have been able to.

I'm not going to go digging up all of my plants, but when the opportunity presents itself I will make as many straight cuts as possible - there is just no way that more root growth couldn't be a good thing.

Maybe we could start mentioning this to our sellers!

Seedlings have a taperoot initially but it dissappears 4-6" below the soil line. It has many layers of roots from the side of the taproot. Plumerias grown from cuttings only have a single layer of roots at the cambium line. They never grow roots from the side of the bark. This is why it anchors the plant better. Here is a two year old seedling showing these.

When the seedling has room, like this one grown in a 7-gallon pot, the roots spread out. There is no taproot beyound 4-6" from the soil line.

George

Given that I have a cutting with a squarely-cut end, does it matter at what angle my cutting is sitting in the pot? If it is sitting at an angle (like resting on the side of the pot), will it tend to develop roots only on the side that is furthest down? Or does it not matter?

What I'm asking I guess, is do the roots develop at the lowest positioned part of the cut end because of the angle and gravity? or do they simply develop at the most proximal end of the cutting regardless of how the cutting is oriented in the pot?