Hi Becks! I think a 1 gallon is ok but I wouldn't do any bigger than that...and would lean towards going smaller depending on the cutting. Many people use clear water bottles, Gatorade bottles, etc. with holes drilled in the bottom so you can see through them when the plant has rooted well and the size is good for them too. That's a good way to put less medium between the cutting & the heat.

I haven't done bag rooting but from what I understand you may have to inject moisture into the bags occasionally although someone with experience can tell you for sure. There are several folks on here that love bag rooting so hopefully they'll see your post.

elucus101 - Thanks for the advice! I did buy a sweet power drill last year (don't ask me why as I really didn't need one..) so perhaps I'll put it to good use.

My main hesitation in using the water bottles in the past was how to keep larger cuttings from tipping over all the time. Any suggestions here? Also, do you trim the bottle or leave most of its height? --- basically how many inches of medium do you have between the base of the cutting and the bottom of the container?

PS - I laughed when I saw your note about injecting moisture into the bags if using the bag rooting method. It makes complete sense, but I think if my neighbors saw me outside injecting baggies of dirt it would finally convince my neighbors that something is wrong with me... besides being really into my plants... I live in a townhouse and am already the talk of the neighborhood :)

Rebecca

LOL! I totally understand about the neighbors - we laugh because many of us on the forum say our neighbors see us fussing over our "sticks" and moving them around chasing sunlight & we know they surely think we are complete lunatics until the leaves come! Even then, my neighbors see me out there taking pictures & doing weird things so I guess the leaves may not change a thing...haha!

With the bottles, many people put them inside of a bigger pot filled with rocks or mulch to keep them stable, sometimes putting a couple of bottles nested in there snug as a bug.

The amount of medium in there is probably just a couple of inches,-probably less than or equal to what you'd have in a pot, and most do cut the bottle down a bit to the wider opening. The main thing in addition to getting the heat is just making sure there's not so much extra dirt because it will hold too much moisture, but also because it's just a waste of space when you have a lot of them.

I have always been using small pots & just recently switched to the bottles so I can stop guessing when they've rooted properly. Please keep us posted!

I've rooted in bags and they do root fast. BUT, when you take the bag off a lot of times most of the roots will fall off, at least mine did. I prefer to root in water bottles, small ones. I wedge a bunch of them inside a 3 or 5 gallon black nursery pot. That way they don't fall over and are easy to move around to get them out of the rain so they don't get water logged while rooting.

I also have had LOTS of success by putting them in small size dry pine bark mulch to let them callous and begin to root. I've never had a single one rot that way.

That is how I do it Emily... Bottles grouped together so they won't tip...
On a heat mat..

Works great for me!

Good luck!

Laura

Jennifer, that was a great explanation of how the baggie rooting method works! Thanks for that!

Can I place on cement or in cardboard box the baggies ? Or should I keep inside with a heat mat to root? Average Temp has been 80's in day and 70s at night.

I received 2 recently that were rooting in bags. One had lots of roots so I potted in right away in Al's Gritty and so far it's doing great. It's still in the "nursery area" where it gets less water and doesn't get sunburned. It's putting out lots of big leaves now. The other had very few roots and no leaves, and the claws were small. After 2 weeks the claws are finally turning into little leaves but still don't see the roots filling the bag. I like to see LOTS of roots in the bag, enough that they will hold the little bit of soil mix when I remove the bag. That was there is less chance of them all breaking off.

I still prefer bottles and let the roots fill the bottles and let the trees get several nice size leaves before I remove the bottles. Of course once they get leaves I water ever so slightly until the roots fill the bottle. I don't use a heat mat. With the Florida temps and the intense sun the ground is hot enough in the summer, but fall, winter, spring, they roots much faster with a heat mat.

If you put them inside a black plastic pot the sun heats the pot, which in turn heats the bottles or bags, but don't put them in full sun with no leaves in the middle of summer, at least not here in Florida or they will sunburn. I learned that the hard way when I forgot to move some rooting cuttings into the semi shade after I hosed off my patio area.

I have one of those cheap mini greenhouse shelving units and use a small space heater. Many others just place them in a bucket outside where it's warm or even the laundry room or closet where it's warm. You don't have to buy an expensive heat mat, but it certainly helps if your able to control the heat. Before I used the heater, I used to just place them in a box on my windowsill with perlite between the bags to keep them warm. They root faster with the controlled heat in the greenhouse, but the windowsill worked as well. That's what's so great about plumeria, there's so many different ways that you can grow them and be successful.

-Jennifer

I'm getting a cutting of Mele Pa Bowman, a Singapore hybrid that is the devil to root. I'm going to try the bag method. How hot should a heating pad be? I have one for plants that seems awfully warm. I was sprouting tropical hibiscus seeds on it, and put some 1/2" thick pieces of wood between it and the seed tray which is at what I would describe as comfortably warm.

I've been using bags. I have 1. 2,3 gal. Plastic bags with holes on bottom that I bought on eBay. Like 50 ct. For cheap. Also reusable. Easy to move around. I do my seeds in beer pong cups.

I have just used the two speed mats. On or Off.

But I guess the questions in my mind are how much planting media you are needing to warm up (a bag, 1 quart, 1 gal, etc.) and what is the surface below the heat mat (concrete, wood, tile, etc). Without knowing specifics or even knowing that you need it...it would
seem a 1/2 piece of wood may be too much of a thermal break. Maybe try a
piece of cardboard and see how that works. I would recommend soil temps being
above 70F but not too much higher than 85F.