That should work.

I normally use peat/perlite mixed w/ compost. Or use a seed mix and soak mix in water for 10 mins before putting the cuttings in the mix. The peat mix should be wet to the touch and not soaking wet.

I have been successful w/ this method. Just keep the mix from drying out. That will kill or stunt the cuttings.

Try to get a couple of leaf nodes (where you removed leaves from the stem) below the soil and leave the top couple of leaves on or cut them in half if they are large.

good luck with the bougainvillea. I took some cuttings last year off mine and they just died in the soil. Then I tried putting some in water and they stayed alive and even flowered indoors in the water. 6 or 7 months later, still no roots (but they do have new leaves). Now I'm trying them in soil again.

I had a spider flower (the house plant, not cleome) that fell off and I just stuck it in the window box outside and now it has a great root system. Didn't realize it would take off so well--I always do them in water.

50/50 of coarse perlite (or screened perlite to get rid of fine ones using a colander) and peat. You want a lot of air in the mix for maximized root growth so rule compost out because they will clog up drainage/air and stay too wet.

For hormone product, it seems that Dip in Grow really work compared to others when done at right amount of IBA (you dilute it with certain amount of water depending on the species). I have Dirr's book on propagation and it says that Dip in Grow produces a lot of root growth compared to others by far and much greater success in rooting cuttings. I probably will get that for easy to grow cuttings and use Hortus water soluble based at higher strength - a lot higher because alcohol in Dip in grow will burn if not diluted enough. DNG is 10 times stronger than the powdered stuff you get at the big box stores. The biggest key in DNG is the ablity to get IBA into the cuttings. Hortus water soluble would be used for hard to root plants like shantung maple, japanese maple and bald cypress.

I'd tell you to get Rootmaker 18 cell tray but it isn't sold by small numbers unfortunately. They will work much better than traditional smooth sided containers. You get much better root development out of it. You know, better root system equal faster establishment and a lot more top growth in short period of time. It's all explained in Dr Carl Whitcomb's 'Plant production in Containers II'. Definitely eye opener for me.

I have grown Dusty Miller from a cutting many times, it roots very easily. It does better with a baggie but should take directly into the ground as long as you water it.

I need some new rooting containers. Lou do you have any pictures that shows a close up of those trays? I googled it and I didn't any good pictures of these.

It is measured at 20 inches by 10 inches.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rootmaker

Dang, Lou, that looks like part of a car engine or something!

Lol. If you know how do things right, you'd get a lot more growth out of it compared to conventional smooth sided pots. You get a lot more root branching which would absorb a lot more nutrients leading to a lot more growth. I've seen the pictures of control vs experimental and it's amazing. I plan on propagating abelias, roses, turks cap and umm... whatever my neighbors have. Lol. I'm going to try growing cuttings from shantung maples and see how that go but I need much stronger rooting hormone product though and it is not cheap!

Would you please try to get starts of the Texas Mahonia growing by the parking lot at Petal Pushers for me? I'll pay you. I kill things.

Lol. I'll drop by there at night...

Even professional growers, like the wholesale growers I know often have difficulty rooting bougainvilla. It is a process, and can be done, but you have to be willing to do a lot of trying this and trying that.

There are just too many other things out there that are real easy to root. I will buy my bougainvilla and root things that are fast and easy.

The turks cap is easy. You can cut it, leave it lay a day or two in the sun, move it to some shade and finally put it in a bucket of water on the third day; leave it in that bucket of water for almost forever, because you forgot it, then finally stick it in the ground, and it will root, 9 times out of 10.

My kind of plant.

You can try this, too.

Janie

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Propagation Chamber

Lou, they won't mind - just don't let the starter lady see you. I think her name is Barney. She's been trying to get starts off of it for years. Hey, you might could even sell your successes back to them!

Do I need to put some barbed wire around my mahonia? XD

Mommyfox, it prolly needs just a little pruning... :)