Fascinating! I had never heard of this but it's interesting enough to try. Thanks for posting this.

Kate

Gosh, sounds interesting, but...wouldn't the potato root, too? If I throw whole potatoes on the compost heap, we are soon growing them.

Just wonderin'...

Marcia

I was wondering that myself, Marcia. But that was what he said to do. I'd like to see if it works or not. :o)

I came across an article several years ago where it said that this method was first used in the mid 1850's. I tried it with a few of my woody plants and it worked! And yes, the potato rooted as well.

Regina

So were you able to get the potato off or did you have to give up on the rooted plant? ;o)

This is interesting, thanks for posting.

I may try it on some things that have been impossible to root, like maybe blueberries or a royal orchid tree.

I dont know what the limits of this potato idea is, but if the upcoming storms break some limbs of these plants, I will give it a shot.

I had no trouble getting the potato off. It's a good method of rooting those hard to root plants. The potato keeps the cutting moist so you don't have to water it as much.

Regina

I'm thinking of trying my iochroma like that. I sure can't get it to root any other way!

So, if anyone tried this how did it work out?

Tom

Lol, no I never tried it. I forgot all about it. Senior moment. Thanks for the reminder. ;o)

Another method, is to soak barley in hot water to make it swell and insert several in the stem of what you want to root, cutting the stem to make them fit and put in soil. DH's grandmother taught me this one and it works well too.

Hi there,

I tried this after watching Paul. I tried it with a tree cutting which was a long shot. It didn't work for me with the tree branch. I kept it outside and made sure it was moist.

What was interesting is that on warm days, the potato would foam. Recently, I realized the cutting wasn't going anywhere and took it out to add to the compost pile. Thenwhile emptying the pot, to my amazement, the potato skin was still present, but there was NO potato left inside. I saw no signs of any insects. There were no holes in the skin except for the small hole I poked to start the cutting. It was unreal. The best comparison I can make is when you poke a small hole in an egg shell and remove the contents without breaking the shell.

Anyone have any ideas on what might have happened?

I have some cuttings I'm gonna try this with. I'm going grocery shopping today, so I'll get a sack of cheap potatoes.

Hmmm...wonder if it works with half of a potato. I could only get large potatoes where I went for produce. I'll try it and find out. I'm gonna try the yellow thevetia and some root sprouts from the carambola that I can never get to root.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I have heard of using a potato for cuttings if you are out some where,it keeps your cuttings fresh till you can stick them.Useing them to root is interesting.

Denise

To root my cuttings (any plant/tree) I first of all gently scrape the very bottom of the cutting, I then rub the cutting on the inside of a banana peel, finally I poke the cutting into a pre-holed half a potato making sure the cutting does not pierce through the spud. Two inches of good quality soil in pot, then, place potato with cutting in it, place on top of soil, finally add ore soil to pot in order to cover potato. Done. Works for me all the time.

If you dip the cutting in honey before you insert, it should work.