A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 rhododhendron propogation

Does anyone have any tips on keeping rho cuttings alive. I took cuttings a month and a half ago. I put them in rooting hormone. Potted them up and mist them several times daily. One pot is doing ok but the other one looks terrible. The leaves are all curling and ugly. Any tips?

Sorry, this isn`t the answer to your question but thought I would pass along the easiest way I have found to propagate shrubs.

Take a lower branch that if pulled down and touch the ground.

Take that same branch and scratch through the bark on the bottom side.

Break up the ground and bury the branch in the ground (the branch is still connected to the main shrub). I put a brick on top of this to make sure it is not dug up.

If you do this in the spring in a couple of months there will be enough roots that you can cut it from the main shrub and plant it where you want.

Yep. I second Rue's method....

I have some of my grannies original Rhode's...
From that method, and they're healthy and happy..

Can I ask a question?
Did you take the cuttings now in your state right
now, Ill, in zone 5???
Or from last season????

Weezie

I have relatives in Ill...in Calumet City and
Gary, Ind...close or no cigar????

Thanks for the info, but I have done that and it's worked quite well. I am toying with the idea of starting a tree farm and am trying to propogate lots of plants from a single one. I've heard they are the hardest to grow from cuttings. I always have to start the hard way and then try the easy! I started them just a month or so ago. I get spring fever real bad after the first of the year and can't wait to get my hands dirty!! I live in the middle of Illinois about 75 Miles west of Chicago, so I think it was probably the coldest day of the year to do it. Don't know if that was smart or not. My mother thought I was crazy!

Will you promise to keep us posted???
I certainly would love to know the outcome,
I'd imagine we'd have a few here too that
would like to hear a bit about it too.....

You took the cuttings in THE MIDDLE OF WINTER>>???
Very interesting...

You are an experimenter!!
I enjoy that.
Where did you hear about such experimenting??
Just curious??

What are your plans for the tree farm...??
I have a friend that owns a Christmas tree farm.
He says it's alot of work for those, with
all the clipping and trimming in the spring..

KEEP US POSTED!!
Weezie

Just got a wild hair and decided it was too early to start seed (in January) but I just had to get my hands dirty, know what I mean? My plans for the tree farm are sketchy at best right now. Capital is my first obstacle. My mother inherited 70 acres of farmland and all the neighbors are in talks to plant the surrounding farms in houses, YUK! It will be a wholesale or retail operation, not sure yet. From say, Maples and Redbuds to evergreens to bushes. Plus I'd love to have a greenhouse for experimentation!!! This year it will be soybeans. Still better than houses!