just to add, I keep the heat mat temp. that high to root, not in the winter during dormancy where I turn it down to about 75f.

I'm new to rooting cuttings and I'm using the Arizona egg method. My cuttings are in the house under a grow light, on a heat mat and week 5 produced not much. I have the heat mat set on 80. Is this too hot? I have not watered the cuttings and they are wrinkled. Should I turn heat down and water the cuttings a little. I have been misting them twice a day. Trying to root a Divine, Kimo and Paul Weissich. Are they considered hard to root? Kimo and Divine look like they really need a drink of water but was told not to water. This is week 5 and only have 1 leaf on Divine. A little movement on the others but not much. They are in clear plastic containers and I see no roots. Any positive thoughts?

I have two kimos I have been trying to root. Both were purchased in late April and they have not changed much and are wrinkled. I don't water mine and one is in bright direct lights and the other gets sun for a few hours a day but is near a garage door that gets a lot of heat from the evening sun. I mist, for some reason about once a week or two. Both cutting have ever small leaves the grew quickly and have seemed to have stalled out...for a about two months.

I have my heat mat at 92, as I figure these are still in pots and do not get the direct 92f, maybe a little less. I also have my 400w light turn on at 7am and off at 730pm. I have a little standing fan blowing back and forth to keep the air moving. I mist daily usually in the morning.

I mist with a little superthrive in a spray bottle and use clonex mist spray on the leaves once or twice a week.

I have watered when the dirt looks really dry. I figure that the dirt should be slightly moist if anything.

Those roots need to find the water or wet soil, so every 2 weeks or so i will add a little water.

So far I have not lost any this way. I think some varieties are just harder to root. I would try turning the heat up if possible and use some of the superthrive and clonex mist.

I have heard that rooting in a greenhouse is faster or better? That is why I was wondering if one was better than the other.

This post was edited by Ronalvio on Fri, Aug 8, 14 at 23:07

I would think a warm (85-95 degree) greenhouse would be better. You did not say what your ambient temp was in the garage, did you? Or the humidity in either location

A humid 90 degrees is better than a dry 90 degrees. Also, I would bet that the heat from a heat mat drops off exponentially the further from the heat source. And any fans will further dissipate the heat. Heat does not travel well through dry soil.

'Humid' soil is better than moist soil.

And yes, some varieties are more difficult to root.

Also, the thinner-sticked varieties are sometimes harder. They dry out more quickly.

One advantage to rooting with grow lights though is you can trick the plant into thinking it's the growing season by keeping lights on for 14 hours or more per day.

Thanks so much for the info. I have a little temp and humidity reader on top of the soil on one of my plumies in my garage. I checked around 4pm and it was 85F and 55%humidity

I also have a similar gauge in the greenhouse and it was about the same as the garage. Usually its more humid but lately we have had a cooler and windier week than usual.

SO I watered the plumies in the greenhouse yesterday. I checked this morning and it was 80%humidity.

I will hope for warmer weather...palo alto gets warm in the summer time but this year we have had a cooler summer for some reason.

I would like to move my plumies in the garage to the greenhouse as you say Humid soil is better than dry or moist soil.

Thanks!