After I read your message, I went to the big box stores to look for Hydroton.... no luck there. I guess I'll order from Amazon. I need to root at least two cuttings of each plant that I have... just as a back up before I try to trade any. I tried rooting in two inch pots and they did fine at first, but today, they don't look too good. I don't want to start cutting them up too much but your method sounds really good. This pic shows my cuttings grouped in the smaller pots but they are in orchid mix. I hope they make it.

Those are really good pics of your cuttings from Joni. Thanks for the post.

Hi sunny. I'm glad you liked the pictures.

Your cuttings don't look bad at all - a little dehydration is normal. Cuttings just go through a scary period when they are running low on resources, but they haven't quite developed enough roots yet to replenish their supplies.

It looks scary, but usually they survive this uncertain moment and then when they start looking normal again you know they finally have their new roots.

If you're super worried about them, you can try increasing humidity or just spritz them with water whenever you walk past. That's what I do, but mostly it's just so I can feel like I'm doing something...

With thicker leaved species you can't see it as well, but with plants like imperialis, which I assume is what you've got there (haha, tell-tale i-bleed-too-easily drop of white and all), it's definitely visible. I find this species tougher than it lets on, tho, and have never lost a cutting, even when I treated them roughly.

Good luck! (And enjoy the hydroton - it will definitely make you feel more confident about rooting things)

p's. I'm jealous you're going to have backups of all your plants! I always wanted to do this, but I don't have room. :(

Sunny,

I would think orchid mix would be a little light for rooting Hoyas. Unless you're really good at keeping them watered. I do like GG's method and think it would serve you well.

GG, do you plan to switch them to a soil mix, or will you leave them growing in hydroton? And if you leave them in hydroton, will you transfer them to inner pots with outer pots? I think you're right that hydroton roots will transfer better to soil than water roots, but it can be hard to detach the roots from the hydroton pellets. However, you can plant them right in with the soil, too.

I absolutely agree that community pots for rooting is a big plus. I use large pots - say 8" or 10" pots - filled with my soil mix and put all kinds of different cuttings in them. I do this a lot in fall and winter, because it's harder to root that time of year and the hormones being thrown out help tougher ones to get crackin'.

It's such a fun time of year for our plants! I'm amazed at how fast they root, how fast they grow...

Denise in Omaha

GG, thanks for the pictures and for the rooting illustrations!

I am intrigued by communal rooting. I've only done it in individual little plastic cups, so that roots can be seen growing. How do you (and you, Denise) know when it's time to repot to individual pots? I am assuming it's hard to tell which cutting(s) have rooted reliably enough for that? Is your sign resistance to light tugging? What if some cuttings are ready and others are not?

This shared hormones thing is interesting. By the way, I've read recently about the rooting hormones that are sold as gel or powder. I thought they are chemicals that encourage plants to form roots in that area - and that is true. But what I did not know is that they are the same chemicals (only synthetically produced) that plants develop themselves. Do you use rooting hormones? I wonder if sharing the hormones is important if every stem is dipped into the hormone of its own.

I've placed my little cups into a container for humidity, but a vessel like this will take less space and also create humidity. There's no drainage, I assume, right? Which is fine because it's hydroton and some water needs to be at the bottom anyway, and because it's a relatively short term home for the plants.

Sunny, I agree your cuttings look fine. The thinner leaf varieties tend to lose moisture when cut faster than those with thicker leaves, but then most do regain it slowly once they are in the mix and kept moist and humid. One of the cuttings I am rooting now (GG, your heuschkeliana) did arrive a bit dehydrated, but for a month now very slowly it's been regaining moisture. It's pretty cool to watch. I've never seen an established plant, but all leaves except for the lowest one look very much turgid now and have lost all of their wrinkles. I foolishly thought when I got the plant the wrinkles were part of the deal of how this plant looks - I thought that was charming and unusual. hehe

One thing I personally would change, Sunny, is I suggest taking larger cuttings. It does depend on the plant's growth habit, leaf size, distance between nodes etc., but a 2-3 node cutting is likely to root better and be stronger than a one-node one. It's no biggie though - they all should root, especially no problem at this time of year.

How is humidity now in San Antonio? I covered them up in the winter, and even these days 30% humidity here is normal, but too low for optimal rooting.

Big Box stores may not have hydroton indeed, but your local hydroponics store is almost guaranteed to have at least one type of hydro medium. It does not have to be hydroton - it could be called LECA, PrimeAgra, Growstone, Grow Rock, Hydrocorn and many others. They all look slightly or even significantly different, but they work essentially the same. Having open options means you may get the medium sooner and won't have to pay shipping, which is expensive for these bulky bags.

GT,

I don't use the rooting hormones, even in winter. I've tried them and I can't say I've ever seen any benefit. As for when to move cuttings from the community pot, they do root at different intervals so some may stay in there a long, long time. I especially like rooting difficult species this way - the ones that don't like change much and are more likely to go into a decline when they get moved. Why? Because the bigger pot gives them more room for roots, but the other rooting plants in there keep it from being overwhelmed with too much wet soil. So in other words, I may pot five different cuttings in there, and 4 of them may come out over a period of a couple months to go into their own pots, but that one difficult cutting will stay put. I might go on to root many, many more in there while that one stays in there for a year or more. I have two or three pots like this...

Denise in Omaha

Sunny,

Yes as GT suggested about hydroponics store. I did a google for hydroponics store in my area. The leca stones are quite heavy, so it will save you on shipping!

And your cuttings look great! I mist mine with water about once per day! They will start showing that they've rooted when you have new growth start growing.

Good luck! It seems you have lots of help, lol!

Hi Eugene,

I'm at work, just jumped in here quickly, but I wrote a comment abt this earlier week at Houseplants (the growth hormone which plants release when rooting in water).

I forget which thread it was on, but it was in the last couple of days ( I THINK it was at Houseplants).

PS: As tax season is now over, my time should free up a bit, so I hope I'll see you soon (other than the next Indoor HP meeting ).

Karen, the less busy

@ Denise

I will move them to a soil mix. I do have a couple plants that I grow semi-hydro, but it isn't a big thing with me. I agree that it's hard to detach the roots from the hydroton. I usually just brush off what easily comes away, and let the roots keep the chunks they have grown really attached to. ;) As you say, it doesn't hurt to add it to your medium and even provides some extra aeration. I think eventually needing to replenish my supply of hydroton is a fair tradeoff for the rooting advantage. When I use the small hydroton, as pictured, the roots definitely keep more of it. When I use the big stuff, usually they just end up with 3-6 balls.

@ Greentoe

I do just as Denise does and remove different cuttings at different times. In this case, all the cuttings have entered at the same time and there are no others likely to join them in this little pot. But usually my containers are more of an ongoing chamber, where I take one out and a week later put another one or two in.

I'm not a real stickler about hovering over the cuttings and potting them up as soon as they have roots. I keep an eye on them and just let them go until they have new growth or it's been a couple months, or I am in the mood to do some potting... Obviously you don't want to leave them so long that their roots grow together, but aside from that, I set and forget.

You can tug and feel if they have roots if you're eager to get them in their final pot.

You are correct that they do not have drainage. It is just a temporary situation for them. I let the water level go pretty much all the way to the bottom and then refill it with a few inches worth before the hydroton starts to dry out.

I am with Denise in that I didn't notice a significant difference using rooting hormones on Hoyas. I do use rooting hormones with Gesneriads, but it's because I find these cuttings more sensitive to rot and think it makes a difference because it contains fungicides, etc. I honestly think the rooting hormones they naturally produce are stronger than the chemical versions. Maybe it's like taking vitamin supplements and their their bodies have a harder time absorbing them. I was able to demonstrate a significant difference when rooting with homemade willow water, so I do think that if you root them with a plant that produces a lot of these rooting hormones, it can really give them a boost. I've read begonias are also famous for their rooting hormones. But begonias hate me. :(

It's funny that the heuschkeliana arrived all wrinkled because so did your brevialata and it has similarly plump round leaves (just bigger). Heuschkeliana does wrinkle up if it doesn't get watered fast enough, too. Kind of takes them a while to unwrinkle when they are cuttings, though, poor things.