Gee, Mary, this will be tough to do. The vine is fairly difficult to root to start off and this late it will be a real challenge. As you say, however, you don't have much to lose, so go ahead and try it. Let us know. I'm thinking of doing some rooting myself this week...

Thanks, Tom and Sherry. If propagating this vine by stem cuttings is this difficult, this might be why there is so little information on line regarding propagating by stem cuttings. You know, come to think of it, I've never seen the beginnings of roots on the clippings I keep in water when I'm feeding the cats. Well, shucks. I've already taken three clippings and will give it a go with rooting hormones. Will report back with the results.

Sherry, my vines might be too young to make seed although I do see blooms in the spring. I keep a mulch of leaves around the base so doubt if seeds fell, they'd germinate. I'll try to pay closer attention next spring and watch for pregnant flowers.

Tom, I've had success with several fall cuttings so some things are certainly possible to root in the fall. It looks like you're in a much warmer growing zone so fall might actually be a good time to try rooting your cuttings.

One I'm especially curious about is the American Beautyberry plant. So far the cuttings are alive but I don't know how long it might take for roots to form. I've got them in ProMix so can't see anything and I'm reluctant to tug on the cuttings. The nights are beginning to get cool here so it may have been too late in the season to try the beautyberry. I've got them in a big pot on the deck. On second thought, I should have put them in small pots so I could move them to the greenhouse. If these don't root, I'll give it another go next spring.

Mary

Mary, by volunteers, I meant root sprouts or colonizers, new sprouts that pop up from the spreading roots a few feet (or more) from the base of the plant. My plants are pretty old, but I've NEVER found a seed pod, even though mine make many flowers in spring and I see various small insects going into them - the flowers just drop off. A few other posters on this forum have found the occasional seed pod, but they're rare everywhere.

As your vines get older, you'll be more likely to find sprouts coming up around them. That's your best bet for new plants. If your cuttings take, let us know EXACTLY how you did it!

I don't know about rooting beautyberry, but in general, you have better luck with cuttings if you take them from the plants when they're making new growth, which is not in fall here, at least for most plants. You'll probably need to try again in spring, but, then again, I don't try to root beautyberry - it grows all over my property naturally.

Sherry

Oh, thank you for the clarification, Sherry. Now that you mention this, I think you told me about this several years back. My vines are in a narrow raised bed, growing on a tall narrow trellis. I'll have to remember to keep a lookout in that bed. I should have only planted one vine but not knowing much about them years ago, I actually planted three vines on this one trellis. Most likely not the best situation but so far they're growing OK so have been reluctant to make changes. I did trim back the tops as you suggested and it made a big difference in the number of fresh vine endings, the very tender growth that mama pipevine looks for when depositing her eggs.

I'm going down to south Florida to spend some time with my daughter and thought it would be nice to carry a few plants along to plant at her home. I think she'll allow me to create a butterfly and hummingbird bed there in her back yard.

Lucky you with the American Beautyberry. The plant that hangs over into my yard is actually growing in the neighbors property. A new owner just moved in and I thought I'd best try to get a plant started of my own in case they decide to cut it down. The original owners gardener cut it way back a couple of years ago and left only a couple of branches that grew over the fence. I pinched the branches back this spring to create a lot of side branches and have had a lovely fall display of berries (although the mockingbirds have already gone through about half of them). Love, love, love this plant and the birds love, love, love the berries! :-)

Mary

Like you, Sherry, most of my tomentosa vines have come up as "pups" from the ones that I purchased. However, I think I did get some to grow from cuttings. I believe I took five or six cuttings and two survived and grew. I tried very hard with those cuttings. I split at least one node with a razor blade, dipped them in a hormone growth compound and kept them moist. Also, if I remember correctly, it took them a long time to root.

This was at least five or six years ago, so my memory may not be correct.

Tom, thank you for this additional information. Sounds like the splitting a node with a razor blade would be helpful, as the vines are rather hard and slick. I do use hormone growth compound.

Mary