Overwintering Cuttings

14 years ago

Mainly Im involved in overwintering salvia and cuphea cuttings. Some of these cuttings I took late summer oct/nov and have been pinching all along but I am concerned the way some are looking and having to maintain them for 4 more months at least.

An overall look at some of my cuttings

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But its cuttings like this one where plant structure is so well defined I sort of hate to mess with except I have been pinching as I go. So I guess the question Im asking is should I go ahead and pinch the 3 main stems in this photo. Im thinking I will have no choice?

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
yes you should take those 3 .. and well you are at it.. root them .. and then throw out the old one ...

IMHO .. you are nuts.. to try to get the original to survive .. in good shape thru the entire winter ...

just keep a new generation going .... and then around march or so.. choose some.. and start training those for shape and form ...

some of your elongation might be from insufficient light.. are these under lights.. and if so.. how close ....

if not.. that is why they are getting too tall and leggy ...

new post if you want info on that??????

do NOT get attached to any given plant ... they are all compostable .. lol ... the goal is simply to maintain the heritage ..

make sense.. or should i try again ...

now.. if you had a football field sized greenhouse.. there would be other answers ... but i see you trying to do what turned into a nightmare for me.. way back when ... just keep rooting and cycling.. until you get closer to taking them outdoors .... then train some up into nice shaped plants ...

ken
hummersteve
Original Author
14 years ago
Basically Im agreeing with you on what I should do with the 3 stems, but throwing the original out , I doubt I will do that. If I see it failing then yes I will pitch it otherwise I wont. Yes they are under lights I keep the lights close to the plants. In the photo I raised the lights for the photo only. This is not my first year at overwintering and growing cuttings under lights. But it is the first plant that I have been to see great structure from a plant. But you are correct in the fact I have far too go and must adjust accordingly. On my part it will be day to day. Thanks for you comments and suggestions.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
but throwing the original out , I doubt I will do that. If I see it failing then yes I will pitch it

===>>> yes i was being a bit over-dramatic.. simply to make the point .... i presume you only have so much space.. so be prepared for when the plant is not salvageable... and then move on ...

it was a very hard lesson for me to learn when i first started doing it ... so i somehow ended up with two bazillion plants in march.. with a last frost date of june.. lol ..

the lights should be no more than two inches from the plants.. presuming plain old florescents ...

trust me.. your plants look very nice.. you are doing well ...

ken
hummersteve
Original Author
14 years ago
Ken

After your reply I did as you suggested so either on the 13th or 14th I took the 3 stems from photo above and took to root and guess what they are now firmly rooted according to the tug test. I have never experienced anything to root this fast. I mean I even pulled firmly to test . also about a week ago or I removed one just to see and it had short white roots at that time. Anyway here they are.

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