Im new at this.

17 years ago

Hello. I have been into growing plants for a while now and in the last year or more have gotten into bonsai. In the last month I have become addicted to plant propagation. I built myself a box today, its 10" high, 10" wide and 24" long. I sterilized some profile and perlite by soaking it in boiling water, that is going to be my growing medium. I then took a gallon of distilled water and mixed in some weak fertilizer and poured that into the medium. I ordered some growth hormone online (dip n grow).

Today I went out and cut a branch off a cyprus tree and a bunch of thick branches off a bougainvillea.

Here are my questions:

Will my medium work? I really do not want to use any organic substances in my medium.

Are there any tricks to cyprus or bougainvillea?

Im in Florida, should I still wait till spring to do this? I think since I have the cuts already, Ill give it a try, if it does not work then Ill try in spring. My box is big enough where I will probably only use Â¼ of it on the cuts I have. The box is in the shade so the Florida sun wont bake the plants.

Thanks for the help.

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Comments (5)

terryb
17 years ago
Evergreens should be propagated in course sand from what I have learnt. And another thing is not to use anything in my propagation beds (fertilizers) matter of fact what fertilzer does really is it makes the cuttings leggy sometimes. Also some of the perlites on the market have a NPK and I always make sure nothing is added to the one I'm buying at the time for that reason.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
17 years ago
I suggest that you take some time to read about propagation techniques for the individual plants that you are interested in. The size of the cuttings, location of cutting, removal of leaves, time of year the cutting is made, etc. can make a big difference in the success of your project. I'd say that it is the treatment of the cutting (and not the medium) that is the important factor...or at least just as important.

What kind of cypress are you talking about?

I can't speak to the use of Profile as a propagation medium. I almost wonder if the particles are too large. You'll really have to monitor the watering. Does Profile have the same texture as Turface?

If you use google as your search engine, you will come up with several sites that discuss the propagation of bougainvillea. You can compare what you read to your technique!
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botanical_bill
Original Author
17 years ago
The cyprus is a bald cyprus. I have come across some bougainville prop sites but almost none, with deatail on the B cyprus.
Profile is the same as turface except the ph of profile is 7 and the particles are slightly smaller.
Thanks your your feed back. Ill keep pluging away.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
17 years ago
The reason you can't find a lot of information on Baldcypress cuttings is that they are typically propagated by seeds. However, I did find a little bit of info. Use 4 inch tip cuttings...remove the leaves from the bottom of the cutting (scarify the base, too). A couple of the sites I saw suggested bottom heat if propagating in the late fall, winter. You probably wouldn't need that where you are.
terryb
17 years ago
And also don't use no fertilizer on the seedlings or cuttings until roots are established cause it has the tendency to burn the roots of the young plants. And then after the roots are established then only use a slow release fertilizer if needed.

Im new at this.

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terryb

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

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terryb

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