I always heard cuttings should be rooted in temperatures at about 85-90F. A heat lamp would also provide good heat if you don't have a heat mat. I have 2 of them that I got from Walmart at about $16. Heats up real good to about 85F+ depending on your room temperature of course.

But it sorta is possible to root w/o a heat mat as I had 2 inca gold cuttings that I took from my tree in the fall. I had them sitting in small pots with cactus soil in my utlilty room an one of them formed a small root without heat but yet my house stays at about 76+ during that time though. It's always better to provide good warm heat for rooting so you won't have any casualties. ;)

This post was edited by kim319 on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 18:27

Personally I do not own a heat mat, nor have I ever used one and I have rooted tons of cuttings. If I find a branch broken I sometimes even just poke it in the pot of the mother tree, even in winter, found it later in the growing season growing with roots and inflos. Here is an example, Hilo Beauty branches that broke off in winter with no heat mat and cold temps. I posted these pics last season:

3 wks later with some open blooms:

Granted your cutting will root quicker and have better odds if you use the heat mat.

Good Luck

Check the top of your fridge and see if it gets warm - mine doesn't but some people's do - worth checking.

I had a heat mat that I used the year before last trying to root some cuttings. Turned out the heat pad dried out my cuttings too much and they ALL died!

Then last Oct I potted up Samirie my second (the first one I killed previously under the heating mat) and two NOID red. Left all three in the corner of my garage and this spring I learned all three rooted! Granted I didn't mother hen them... so not water and no heat pad and they took.

I just bought 5 new cuttings yesterday but I was not happy with the way they looked so I re-cut all of them. All were dried out and had some weird thing going on...

After I cut, four of them oozed sap except for Chocco Delight so I'm a little worried about that cutting. I guess only time will tell. I'm going to callus them in mulch just like I did last time for 2 weeks before I pot them up. Fingers crossed they will take! At least I'm doing it a the right time this time instead of trying in the fall.

I live in southern CA where it gets hot in the summer... I rooted a bunch of cuttings in one gallon pots with no heat mats... Just on concrete.

I don't think Bill uses a heat mat either and he's a rooting machine! :) I need to find that photo where he potted up like hundreds of them one time! LOL

Lynn,
Good Luck with choco delight, bought mine from Teas Nursery (was from India, Mukundans grouping). I had it from 2004 till about 2008, never bloomed for me along with Orange Splendor. Hope you have better luck with it than I did, ended up giving it to a friend.

James,

Mine is a tiny cutting and it didn't ooze much sap when I recut so who knows. It was really cheap so I figured good practice. :)

It's sure pretty though so fingers crossed!

Lynn,
I didnt have issues with rooting Choco, it grew like a weed, the issue was it wouldnt flower..lol. I am sure you will get it to root. Just pot it up and ignore it..

Good growing...

Lynn- I too wasn't too happy about the cuttings I bought at the cutting sale on Sunday. I'm not too experienced as many here- glad I wasn't alone in noticing the ends of the cuttings not looking so good ;-).

Chuy

And another

Thank you everyone for your help! I feel much better now with my decision use the SoCal sun heated concrete to help my new cuttings Lol :P

I am in Lakewood, CA and have never used a heating mat. This is a picture of some of the cuttings I have that are rooting. Barb

Chuy,

What did you ended up doing with the cuttings? Re-cut of just pot them up?

Mine were re-cut that same night and now sitting in mulch to callus. Hopefully I can pot them up in 2 weeks or so.

Lynn- I ended up re cutting most of them. The ones that looked bad. I will dip in root tone and pot up as well- in a couple weeks ;-)

Chuy

If you don't think heat mats don't make a difference,then you've never tried propagating plants. They make a huge difference for some plants. They increase the percentage of cuttings and of course one BIG fact is...they root plants much faster then at room temps. And stronger.
I've grown Plumeria for years also. Rooted almost all in pots of soil..P.rubra and types like Celadine are easy. BUT!..even Celadine will root faster with bottom heat,and others like P. obtusa are not fussy as you read when bottom heat is applied.
Heck,I pruned a large old branch of of a Ficus bonsai nitida..stuck it in water on a heat pad,and 8 days later I see white proto roots all over the underwater trunk.
My point is..yes rooting and seeds can be done without bottom heat. But with it? so much easier and MUCH faster.
Plumeria,Papaya,Mango,Ive done it all even rare plants like Cacao..heating mat made the difference.
One last...Tomato cuttings I rooted for a friend..his wouldn't root in room temperature cup of water..I put it on my heat mat..48 hours later- roots broke out.

If you don't think heat mats don't make a difference,then you've never tried propagating plants. They make a huge difference for some plants. They increase the percentage of cuttings and of course one BIG fact is...they root plants much faster then at room temps. And stronger.
I've grown Plumeria for years also. Rooted almost all in pots of soil..P.rubra and types like Celadine are easy. BUT!..even Celadine will root faster with bottom heat,and others like P. obtusa are not fussy as you read when bottom heat is applied.
Heck,I pruned a large old branch of of a Ficus bonsai nitida..stuck it in water on a heat pad,and 8 days later I see white proto roots all over the underwater trunk.
My point is..yes rooting and seeds can be done without bottom heat. But with it? so much easier and MUCH faster.
Plumeria,Papaya,Mango,Ive done it all even rare plants like Cacao..heating mat made the difference.
One last...Tomato cuttings I rooted for a friend..his wouldn't root in room temperature cup of water..I put it on my heat mat..48 hours later- roots broke out.

I don't think anyone is arguing heat mays don't make a difference, the question was if they were necessary or not

Stanofh,

I can't speak about other plants but for me the heating pad did not help in rooting my plumerias.

Where we live the air is very dry so combined that with the heat pad and all my cuttings dried out! The only 3 that I managed to root last winter were not on the heating pad where as the 12+ were in the previous years and they all died... coincidence?

Besides not being on the heating pad DH did get a new car shortly after I potted them up so of course he is taking full credit for the success. He insisted that the heat radiating from his C7 was what made my cuttings root! LOL

I just bought 5 more cuttings and I'm hoping to pot them up in two weeks. IF these all root then I will give him all the credit in the world and recommend getting a C7 for rooting plumerias!

And as I said,they aren't necessary,but do a superior job of rooting cuttings and sprouting seeds. For plants like P.obtusa they do make a huge difference. As for noclue,she answered what the problem was- she forgot to water the faster evaporating plants on heat mats. Simple mistake. Water,and they work great.
My answer was to those who were giving ..incomplete advice. Its not always warm and hot even in summer in many parts of the country. Or,you don't want to wait until summer even in California.
The heat mats are amazingly simple and effective.

I didn't forget to water! I was told no watering until I see four full leaves! I didn't water the last three that rooted all winter either. In fact, I completely ignored them. So yes they rooted over the winter in my garage with no heat pad.

So are you saying now that we are supposed to water our plumeria cuttings while they have no roots? Because that's news to me!

I agree with Disneyhorse that the question was "possible to root a cutting without heat mat?", and HAS BEEN ANSWERED "Yes its possible to root without a heat mat.".
Ive been collecting, rooting and growing plumeria since 1979, and found that there is no absolute with plumeria depending where you are growing your plumies (Micro climates). What works for one person may not work for another depending on the variables.
So again the question was answered, it's not an absolute that you have to use a heating mat, but that it may help depending on your variables and micro climate.

Lynn,
What is a C4??? Sounds like a JJ's Plumie..lol

Amen James!

This is a huge learning curve for me so I HATE it when people generalize and makes it sound like it's my way or the highway.

For example everyone on here LOVES LOVES Al's Gritty Mix and I'm so happy what it works wonderfully for everyone. But for me and my microclimate... it didn't work!! I had a handful of them my most precious in this mix for TWO years so you can't say I didn't give it enough time for it to work. And on average those plants grew 1-2 inches in the last two years while everything else grew leaps and bounds. So unlucky me!

Not c4 . C7 = Stingray.

Lynn,
My bad... Must have had JJ's on the brain. Googled C7 Stingray, you should have just said Corvette..lol
I have never bought American, so not familiar with the different models or names for them.
Tell DH congrats on the new baby....

noclue,Never watering cuttings that are rooting in the dry indoor air is what offed your cuttings. The plant dried out before roots could even form. Since you have the mat,try again. You'll see. Just water-lol.
I said on my very first post - sure they can be rooted with out a heat mat. But get a heat mat,and see the big difference it makes. People grow plummies under florescent lights too. Metal Halide would be better. Its like that.

James... I don't know much about it either other that it's super fast!

Stanofh, I'm still confused... so you're saying IF I use the heating pad I should water my cuttings?? I don't know about that... I'll just stick w/ what works for me... especially now the weather is warmer. Really no need for that IMHO.

Lynn,
I think we are beating a dead horse, not directed to Disneyhorse..lol Stanofh basically posted that he uses his heat mat and feels that it speeds up his rooting process and helps his cuttings root, esp with P. Obtusa. In the later posts to you he is suggesting you try heat mat rooting again, but to try and keep the plumie cutting medium moist, not dry.

In reference to the heat mats, what are you putting the cutting in to set on the mat? The mats that I've seen are quite small (9 x 20) and would only fit 3 (1) gal pots or so.
Am I missing something? Also, how much does it cost to run a mat 24 hrs a day?

Any help would be great!

Seahawk, you can root cuttings in small containers. I use discarded water bottles. Mats come in different sizes up to around 20" by 48".

stanofh
i would love to hear the details about rooting papaya.
i hear these are hard to propagate in any way besides seed.
they grow fast from seed, so i dont think too many have tried,
but i have 1 tree thats hawaiian
and the rest are mexican.
i would like to clone that tree....