Many of us here have done cuttings, with varying rates of success. I usually do impatiens cuttings in the winter, and while i love having the blooms come January (~shiver~), the aphids are almost not worth the trouble. I don't know where they come from, but they're sure to turn up.

My advice would be to wash your cuttings in warm, soapy water (dish-soapy) when you bring them in, and try to continue that. It MIGHT keep the aphids at bay.

Then there's the fungus gnats... :(

Some take geranium cuttings, but I have had success just bringing the entire plant indoors. In late Sept, I dig them out, usually the soil falls off the roots but that's okay. I cut back alot of the growth (they are huge and overgrown outside) and wash the tops in soapy water. Pot up in new potting mix, even in huge drinking cups or milk containers, and overwinter on the basement windowsill. At first, however, don't overwater. I made that mistake last year and they ended up rotting. In theory though, they already have roots so should continue growing.

Sometimes one plant growing outside might have multiple stems and when you dig the plant out, you will see each stem has roots on it at the point where it made contact under the soil surface. Thus, you can break up the plant to make multiple plants.

You really only have to save a few plants. Then will grow a bit during winter, suddenly start growing quicker next spring, and with any luck you will have a few stems on any one plant to take cuttings from.

My trouble with impatiens overwintering is spider mites. It is a mystery where these things show up. I find, however, that there is less chance that happening if I grow the plants on the cool 16C basement window sill then in the warmer upstairs. In fact, even upstairs they seem to do better as long as they are not in direct air flow from the furnace heat register.

Glen

That's right, Glen. I had less trouble with the aphids in the cooler porch, but i ran out of room in there. Where DO those things come from anyway??

The few times I have had spider mites is because I unwittingly purchased them along with a plant. I have never been successful in ridding a house plant of these critters in the winter months. Our winters bring very low humidity. That and forced air heat make for a perfect environment for mites. No amount of misting and spraying indoors, during the low-humidity winter months, has ever worked. I usually follow the common advice of just tossing the plants. Placing the plants in basement as Glen suggested probably provides a higher humidity and controls the mites.

On to the subject of this thread. In the fall I bring in a few pots containing Impatiens, etc. Because I am paranoid about the possibility of bringing in slugs, I treat the whole pot and plant before putting the pots in the porch. Using a hose end sprayer, I thoroughly douse the foliage, soil and pot with a 10% ammonia solution. I then set the pots in shallow containers containing the ammonia solution. The shallow containers have to be deep enough to cover the drainage holes of the pots. I let them sit in the solution at least overnight. Repeat this process at least twice over a period of a week. After the last dousing, I consider it safe to bring the potted plants into the porch where they spend the winter. I take cuttings in the spring.

I like the hose-end sprayer because you can really wash down the plant thoroughly. Those spritzer sprayers just don't do a thorough job.

As a side affect of this treatment, I have not brought in mites or white flies. Maybe because they were not on the plnats to start with? Maybe because the slug treatment, also washed away/killed the mites, etc?

I do take some cuttings from my outdoor pots. I root these in water which allows for lots of opportunities, over a period of several weeks, to swish the foliage in soapy water and rinse. If rooting in containers, it is much harder to treat the foliage frequently and thoroughly.

I think the only sure-fire way to kill spider mites on an indoor plants is the use of a systemic miticide. The plant takes up the miticide into its leaves, etc. Any chewing insect can chew away and then die. I have never used a systemic miticide...but I am sure they are available for house plants. African Violet growers/specialists must have to resort to their use if their prized collections are struck by mites.

Jan

Jan, those are good solutions for bugs, i think, but what about the aphids which don't seem to be present anywhere until January or February? I keep wondering if there's a huge colony of them somewhere hidden in my house just waiting to wake up and plague me during the winter! I wash my cuttings fairly regularly, wash the pots in plant them in - would they be in the soil, maybe? It's not usually until i finally plant the rooted cuttings that they turn up. Would baking the soil be a solution, if that's the case?

Jan,

I had a miniature rose 2 winters ago. It too was purchased with spider mites... I fought them for about 2 weeks and almost gave up as the rose was looking really beat up. I found a website that suggested soaking the plant down with water several times... so I did and it worked no more spider mites.

Since then I have had a couple other plants from the garden with spider mites or aphids and I've successfully dealt with these pests with water...

If aphids are found on cuttings... gently wash cuttings once a week for four weeks. Aphids reproduce quickly but this should get rid of them.

If spider mites are found on cuttings gently wash cuttings every second day for 3 weeks. These little guys reproduce faster then rabbits.

I just use the sink... hold cuttings 1 at a time under gentle running water and wash away the pests.

The above assumes you have roots already... don't disturb them until you have roots. I have found the "wet foam" technique really successfull this year. 99% success rate this year with wet foam, a rooting powder from Walmart. Did lots of petunias, dead nettle, some bee balm, phlox, roses, St. Johns wort., thyme, perennial geranium.

Maybe the water thing is too much work but I've got some very pretty petunias and some deadnettle I want to propagate this year. I even look at my cuttings with a magnifying glass. So I'm a bit of a geek this way. Previous years I've seen a lot of damage to my cuttings and the success rate was poor because I wasn't watching for the pests and I didn't worry so much about sterilization of tools. Now everytime I look at my cuttings I'm looking at the stems and each leaf holding them up to the light looking for aphids, mites and tiny webs..

Another way to look for mites really quick is to mist your cuttings... if you see any webs it usually means there is a pretty good infestation. I don't normally see webs on my cuttings until the mite population has gotten pretty big.

Marcia,

That happened to me last year too... Then I was back to washing everything. Bake the soil or nuke the soil. There are several websites that will tell you how long and how hot. I didn't have any problems with aphids last year with soil that I had baked... Bake purchased soil too... A few dirty minutes up front will save you so much washing later :-)

- Andrew

LOL Andrew! I can see it now - my husband and son looking hopefully into the kitchen to find out what i'm baking! Red letter day - she's actually BAKING something!!

Sterilized dirt, anyone? :>

Marcia - In the early winter, aphids hide in the dust bunnies behind the regrigerator. Vacuum them up in early January before they strike your plants. If you don't care for vacuuming, dumping soapy water back there is also effective.

I would never bake soil in my oven for fear TM would eat it and think it was my usual bad batch of brownies.
Jan

Vacuum, Jan? Vacuum?????????? Sheesh, the demands people put on me!

:>

Marcia,

You should have seen the look on my wife's face last year... and my two boys kept asking why I was baking dirt. I hope they don't go to school and say "my dad bakes dirt in the oven".
LOL

- Andrew

Maybe this year you can do it in the barbecue! My dad barbecues dirt! LOL

LOL yeah I got a big snort for baking dirt too. Then complaints when DH had to wash the pan after. What's this, dirt??

I believe they donÂt allow or sell systemic insecticide in Canada any longer. What I do before I bring a potted plant indoors is to dip it into a tub of soapy water outdoors, swish it around real good, then place it into a clear garbage bag and then spray some Raid into the bag, tie it up good, set aside the plant in there for a couple of days, then take it out of the bag and quarantined the potted plants in a spare room, like a cool basement bedroom with a window. Let the plant adjust to its new surroundings, then take cuttings.

Sharon

Doesn't the house smell when you try baking dirt? I did try it once and DH complained about the whole house smelling when he got home. I had to quit...I agreed. Did I have the heat on for too long, too high or should I just use the BBQ next time?

Syreeta

I have done the boiling water treatment.
One of my books claims that boiling water only encourages some seed, but in the house I can deal with weeds.
I would think that fungus and animal life would have some difficulty with boiling water.
I donÂt include the exotics from deep-sea vents etc. They are not likely to be problems in the house.

I havenÂt baked soil at home.
At work, that is a whole nother story.
ItÂs only smelly if it has organic matter in it or has sulfide minerals in it.
If you are breaking down sulfide minerals then your oven is too hot.

Ian

When I baked it, it smelled nice like the dirt when it rains. If I remember correctly it was commerical potting soil I wanted to re-use but it was harbouring white flies. Not straight out of the garden. Don't know why it would stink.

Darn those deep sea vent critters, always hatching in my cuttings (LOL)

Best to leave the topic of inlaws cooking and smell alone. But really, cooking soil has never had an odour quite as bad as the inlaws cooking.

:)

oh, I forgot to mention... my winter cuttings are only about 2 weeks old and it is already time to pot them all up. The wet foam did wonders this year.

You've already done them, Andrew? I'll have to get busy! :)

I love taking cuttings of plants especially coleus and geraniums. What I have been doing is just take a small cutting and rinse it thoroughly under tap water in my kitchen sink. Then root them up in water or straight into potting soil. So far that has been working just fine and no bugs. I grow these as houseplants during the winter (water sparingly) and by Feb/Mar I start to fertilize etc. Mine have done great this way!

I am sure GLAD to know that I am not the only one with bugs on my impatiens! At least I know that I am not doing anything "wrong" with them! LOL! I started one from seed in February and its been indoors all summer blooming its little head off. I had figured that keeping one indoors would do the trick! Hmmmmm.... time will tell I guess!