Monday, May 2, 2011

Rooting a Hibiscus Cutting

This is the way I do it,a lot of people use sand or some other growing medium but I've always had good luck this way.1st I take the cutting,I try and take it in the beginning of May seems the best time for me,after that it gets too warm and the growth becomes more woody.I think its very important for success  that you take the cutting for this method at the right time of the year.
I use a mason jar and a plastic sandwich baggie and I use rooting hormone which you can find in the gardening section of like Lowes or Walmart
Wound the cutting by scraping a thin layer off one side and dip the end into the rooting hormone,it doesn't take much of the rooting hormone,you don't want it caked on there just dusted.

I put water into the mason jar,you can pull the leaves off except for the two top ones but I don't bother with it but I do pull lower ones.I cut a lil slit into the baggie and add cutting,the baggie is to keep the humidity high in the jar.This method takes 2 to 3 weeks and I should have a cloned plant,an exact duplicate of the other hibiscus.There are several other ways to clone plants depending on what the plant is,you can air layer which is good for like trees in which you cut a branch(always use this years growth)halfway through then u soak some moss in water pack it around the wound and wrap it with plastic wrap when u see the roots through the wrap you can then cut the little branch off and plant and then you have a cloned tree this would be good on like Japanese maples and flowering cherries and so forth.another way would be to layer which is quite easy and I do this on shrubs that have lower to the ground branches..Dig a trench in the ground by the branch,strip all leaves of the branch that you lay in the trench,wound the branch by scraping one side and place branch in trench cover wounded area with soil and let other end of branch be out of the trench and set something on it like a brick.Wait until spring and cut the branch as it enters the trench,remove brick and dig up new plant.Also you can divide your plants,I do that alot with hostas and Iris's.and then you have seeds but remember with seeds there is no guarantee that your gonna get the same characteristics of the parent plant,might not even get the same bloom color because of hybridizing and cross pollinating..
                                                        I will give updates every Monday on this cutting..

2 comments:

  1. Hello, my name is Irina, I'm from Moscow, Russia, I have small private nursery/garden and I like very much the hardy Fleming hybiscus too. This year is the new experience for me, as I bought first time 10 varieties like: kopper king, fantasia, old yella, royal gems... Could you share with me your experience? How often these hibiscus must be divised in order to keep them in the good shape?

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  2. from my experience Irina the fireball hibiscus needs dividing every 3 years it is a very fast grower,slow to appear in the spring but then you can almost see it growing, they are easy to divide you dig the whole plant up when it first appears in the spring then take a saw and cut into quarters then replant the quarters, very fast growing plants, I hope this helps if you need more info please contact me :)

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