Did you put the pots in a shaded spot? Maybe you should have let the roots grow a bit more before you chopped the branch off. I think this is called "aerial layering".

Have you thought about taking cuttings, semi hardwood ones, this time of year. I think you may have success with those, you can do lots of them and it wont cost you much.

All the best with your LPs.

Popi

Lynette have you thought of planting the seed. I have had a lot of luck with them.

Lynette, I tend to think your own assessment is probably right - that you simply didn't let the roots develop well enough before severing them from the parent plant. Good luck with your next attempt.

Re Sunshine's message: Do you need to do anything to the seed/berry (eg scarify, pour boiled water etc) or do you just plant it as is? Do you have to wait til they fall off or can you pick and plant? What sort of potting mix do you plant them in?
Re Popi's message: How do you take the cuttings? I'm not sure what semi-hardwood is. Do you need to use a rooting powder? What do you plant them in?

Many thanks
Beebs

Beebs I collect them off the bush when they are really red and soft. I give them a squeeze first as not all have a seed. Any good potting mix is okay and there is nothing special done with the seed but I water the pots every 2/3 days. They can take about 3 weeks to appear,I then pot them into bigger pots about 6 weeks.

Beebs

SHW cuttings, look at the tip of a branch, new spring growth has soft stems that bend easily, after a few months, this hardens up, and you have semi hardwood cuttings. This type of branch is not floppy, but rigid enough to poke into some potting mix, without them bending all over the place.

Take some of these cuttings, with two are three leaf nodes, cut below the node (off the plant), remove most of the leaves, leave say one, you could add rooting hormone here if you like. Gently poke into some potting mix, keep humid (plastic bag, with wire coat hanger, or cut off plastic soft drink bottle).

Thats it!

Popi

Fantastic! Thanks heaps!

One more quick question - do you take the fleshy red berry part off the seed before planting or just bung the whole thing into potting mix? (I gave them a squeeze first though). I planted some just the seed, and some with the fleshy part still on but broken open from the gentle squeeze. I've taken some cuttings as well. Wish me luck!

Hi again
Well haven't had much success I'm afraid :-( The cuttings (I made about 20) all look very sad ie the leaves are brown and/or have fallen off. No sign of anything from the seeds yet but still holding out some hope. I faithfully watered them. I used rooting powder on the cuttings and put them in a mix of sand and peat moss as the packet suggested. Should I have used potting mix? The seeds are in seed raising potting mix.
Any ideas?

Use seed, You must remove the seed from the flesh , soak overnight and clean the seed - wash all flesh off, always use the freshest seed you can get. I have had varied results but always get some up - just plant in pots in standard new potting mix, a little apart but as many as you like in the pot. When they germinate wait until there are at least for leaves then gently squeeze the pot and carefully ease the plants out and pot into their own small deep container. Do not tip out the pot as there may be more still to germinate. Germination should take from less than a month to 3,4 months or more it depends on the temp.

With seed, doesn't seem to particularly matter, but if you are cleaning off do soak as suggested, don;t let them dry out.

There is one other way. Have a look around the parent tree and see if there are any seedlings already. I find them in the birdsnest plant beneath my trees.
Donna.

This is how we propagate the seeds. Takes about 6 months for them to germinate.

Does anyone know if you propagate from seed...the ‘phyillid resistant’ (resilience) properties are passed onto the seed then the new plant?

I eat the flesh, take the seed out of my mouth and put it straight into seed raising mix and get a very good seed germination percentage