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When to plant baby gardenias

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC

last year

I took several cuttings from my Radicans Dwarf Gardenia a few months ago, and rooted them in water.

Now that I have about 1/2" of roots on them, should I plant them in pots and leave them outside for the winter? Put them in a greenhouse? Leave them in water until May?

Assuming that I should put them outside or in the greenhouse, how much water should I give them over the winter?

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

last year

Water roots are not the same as soil roots and you risk killing the cuttings if you plant them directly in the ground before true soil roots are developed. Pot them up first and grow them on before planting out.

Converting water roots to soil roots

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
half inch of root... isnt really a life sustaining root mass ..

i would probably pot them.. protect them.. and let them go dormant naturally ... i would not bother with putting them in the greenhouse.. as they need dormancy ...

i mean.. protect them from vermin ...

ken
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
last year
How much root would you suggest before potting them?

They're in a North facing window right now, so reflected sun only. And just above the kitchen sink so plenty of humidity. They're not in the way or anything, so I can leave them there as long as necessary.
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Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
last year
My take away from that link is:

1. Wait until roots are 1" long, and preferably several of them

2. Pot them in soil carefully to make sure the roots are spread out, or (better) add a little potting soil each day to the water until it's all soil

3. Keep the soil wetter than usual in the beginning (but not drowning), and taper it down over several days / weeks so that the water roots can acclimate

Since I have 12 cuttings and plenty of time, I think that I'll wait a few weeks for more roots. Then take 12 small nursery pots and a large kitty litter pan (never used for kitty litter, don't worry), add an inch or two of water to the tray, then arrange the pots in it. Then I can use wire to hold the cuttings straight up and in the center of each pot, with the bottom of the cutting submerged a little over 1".

Then I can add an inch of soil to the pots each week, so in about a month they'll be filled and stable.

That will put me at the end of October or beginning of November when it's done. At that point I can put them outside on the Northeast side of the house, so maybe 2-3 hours of morning sun each day.

Then transplant to the ground in April or May.

Thoughts?
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
last year
last modified: last year
Next time, propagate your cuttings directly into a porous, soilless potting medium and skip the water rooting entirely.

My suggestions on what should be done now are quite different that what you've recited. I'd take your cuttings and stick them immediately into that porous, soilless medium I was talking about and treat them like fresh propagation units.

The medium should be kept moist, never wet. Use a pencil to pre-drill the holes, insert the stems far enough into the potting mix to provide support, then water gently to encourage the particles to fill in around the stem and provide support. You shouldn't have to do anything else to secure the cuttings.

Dwarf gardenias are very easy to propagate by traditional woody stem methods.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
last year
What kind of "porous, soilless medium" do you suggest? I've used a 50/50 blend of perlite and potting soil in the past, but since I'll be transplanting them to the garden next year I don't know if that's a great idea.

This is my first time propagating the gardenia, and there's so much conflicting information online!! LOL I didn't realize that there was a difference between water roots and soil roots, though, and the only consistent thing I found was that they would root well in water.

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