Rooting plant cuttings

Step 11 Cover the cuttings with a plastic bag.

This will keep the cuttings from drying out. You don't want them to be too moist, though, so remove the bag for 15 minutes every day. If you can't, poke some holes in the bag so that air can circulate.

Comments

[dorianbakx]

i use to grow my cuttings exactly like this, exept that for a pot i use a 5" common pot and about 6 to 7 inches of a plastic coke soda for the effect of humidity. I do a "dome with the heads of 2 litter soda bottles and discard the screw cap to let air in, and, im from Puerto Rico wich is very moist and hot but i had enough dead cuttings trying it the "conventional" just in soil method. My cutting strikes increased by 100 fold!! Great article indeed. :)

[Simpson_jr]

Slightly warm room, enough but not too much light. Direct sunlight is not a good idea. I do disagree a little with SFHandyman, I've found it nearly impossible to clone some plants without... terratorium. Type of plant/location (Netherlands) are probably be the cause. One other thing I found very helpfull is giving cutlings light for 24/7. I've noticed that A fluorescent light, placed 6 inches above the cutlings can decrease the time needed to grow enough roots by 3-5 days. In my case that often saves a lot of cutlings since I need a very high humidity which in return increases... the possibility of rotting.

[SFHandyman]

I'm just lucky to live in San Francisco. It is very temperate. The Ocean, plus the Bay, and also the fog, keep the air moist. It is probably pretty close to a cool terrarium outside here. It isn't perfect though. It does get cold in the Summer fog and in Winter. SF doesn't have as much direct sun as other places, because of the fog, so we can't grow things like most tomatoes and some peppers in the foggy part of town. I'm sure the terrarium is a great help for most climates.

[Sebastian Tonic]

Hello, do have any advice where to kep the pot while the cuttings are rooting? Dark and cool or sunny and warm or maybe light and tepid?! thanks.

[SFHandyman]

I'd keep them in a room temperature or slightly warmer window. My windows face North so they don't get direct sunlight. You shouldn't root in full sun if you can avoid it. A bright area is good. I don't bother with the plastic bag, or making a terrarium. You are going to have a better success rate doing it with the terrarium method, but I can't remember the last time I had a rooting fail just putting it in a flower pot in the window. I expect some plants need the better method. The plants I've rooted have done fine without it. I often root cuttings outside, right in the flower boxes. I live in San Francisco and it's a temperate climate here. My flower boxes don't get a lot of direct sunlight either. It might be more difficult in a more extreme climate. If I'm rooting in Spring when it's cooler and the weather is more volatile, I'll do it inside in a clay pot in the window, then move them outside when they are growing well. The rest of the year I often just root them outside right where I want them to grow. It's really not that hard if are careful to keep them moist while rooting.