why wait till fall for cuttings... or chopping the plant up in the summer while it's trying it's best to make flowers for you... Solution : usually in the spring/summer as the plant starts growing.. it will put out a little bunch of leaves along the stalk.. these would grow into limbs for the bush it is trying to create.. just pinch this flourette off and stick it in some soil.. in a sheltered location.. it will root easily and you'll have a plant in short order.. pinching these off will also encourage straight tall growth of the limb.. an alternative to soft or brown cuttings.. but of the two. my favorite is rooting a thick hunk of lumber .. the easiest is rooting the flourette of leaves from the stalk

I can sympathize with you. Have you thought of ladybugs? They are a natural predator of many pests, especially aphids.They eat alot of aphids, but their larvae babies eat even more! To learn more, do a google search on them- and you can buy them online. I'll be getting mine soon!:)Good Luck! kasha77 ps- do you have enough humidity in your gh? If the air's too dry, pests will multiply.

heres how to do it. i have had great success puting cuttings in water. [ these must be large ] watch for the lenticels at on the stem if they are not present forget it. this usualy means 1/4 inch diameter. place them in a quart of water for one week. then pot them in soil in 4 inch pots and cover with plastic bags. use 24 hour 40 watt growlux bulbs. watch for roots coming out the bottom in about a week. some take longer. remove plastic and repot as soom as you see roots. i have tried bottom heat. it made no difference. i have tried bublers. this made no difference. i have tried rootone. all died. the one thing that has become very apperent in my expiriments is the size of the cutting is crucial. i have had some root in the water but this is uncomon. my success rate is 85% using the above system. somewhat lower with iocroma fuchsiodes. most begin blooming befor the roots show. my work can often be seen on ebay.

Mamaspud, Even at low temperature (garage in winter months) the microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and algae thrive in water that has organic matter in it. Algae are relatively harmless but bacteria and fungi may start a nasty disease due to which the stem may rot and the come spring the plant may fail to root. The rot usually beagins at the bottom of the cutting (one which is rubbing to the bottom of the container). "Bucket o Brugs" method raises the stems and prevents mashing of the stems. I have adopted this idea and have gone a step further by adding vary small quantity of antibiotics. Last year I used expired "cipro" (10 microgram/ml) and a dab of "lotrimin" to the bucket o brugs. I changed water every month, and added the antibiotics as before. I did not notice any rot (except for minimal algal growth) in the bucket with antibiotics. For the purpose of comparison I also had a bucket o brugs without any antibiotics (water changed on monthly basis), this had a lot of slime accumulated on the bottom and sides and 3 out of 10 stems were very mushy at the bottom, they did not develop healthy bunch of roots. I used cipro because i had some (1 year past their expiry date...but still had plenty of potency, for experimenting with plants it may be OK but definitely not to be used for serious treatment, remember that it is "expired" DO NOT USE on humans and animals unless advised by a competant authority - your doctor or your pet's vet). Lotrimin cream (OTC) came from the general stash in medicine cabinet, I made a realtively dispersed suspension by vigorously shaking a dab of the cream to some water in a ziploc bag and added this suspension to the bucket. My conclusion: Antibiotics help cuttings survive in the bucket.