Amy, I have not had luck with cuttings in the past. But the ones I am trying now are still alive. I think the airlaying with the propagation devise is easier. And you get a huge cutting, Oh. Don't forget some Rooting gel. I cut away some bark and put the gel on it before putting it in the devise. The directions come with it.

Maggy

Hello Amy I think the propagation device Maggy uses would be much more successful and the cuttings would be much larger with a much better chance of survival . I am going to pick up some of those devices . Amy I believe the branch has to be a certain thickness Maggy would know much more . Very excited with Maggy's news of roots on the Xie-Shan it's a start . Amy I certainly will make you some very nice plant's and your very kind for thinking of Maggy and I, we would love a Sugar Belle . I think it will be a fun project for the winter months. Have a great night Amy :)

Brian

Hi Maggie, could you tell me more about the thickness of the branch to use the device?

Yes, It will be a good hobby for wintet since a lot of our nurseries will close for winter and I don't really like to have new plants shipped during the cold months.

Amy. A maximum of 5/8 in diameter for the thickness. A great hobby for winter .I agree with Brian that the cuttings will be much bigger and have a better chance of survival.

Maggy

My propagation device is a plastic soda bottle with a slit down one side filled with seed staring medium. Works like a charm.

Hi everyone! Mike, I hope and pray your family is safe down in Puerto Rico. It is so sad to see people suffer like that from natural and other causes.

Amy, so nice of you to offer me rooted cutting :)) but I would like to have budwood from your sugar bell for my Friendship tree:)) Brian and Maggy, you could contribute as well if you want to. I built that tree " from scratch" and want my citrus forum friends to pitch in:) Vladimir, especially you, it was you who planted in my mind the idea of making friendship tree by showing me the story about Friendship tree in Sochi.

Any other friends, whom I didn't mention, can let me know too :) But for now the tree is getting ready:) it will take time to do those grafts, to plan every detail.

I bought my device! I can't wait to try it!

Amy thats great I am going to get mine this weekend . This is going to make a great winter project and it will give us all something to talk about .

Hi Sunshine count me in sounds like a very fun and interesting project.

My Gold Nugget is just going wild right now it has grown 3 inches in the last couple of day's

Brian

Amy, I hope it works for you. We can all compare results this winter. Sunshine. I can contribute as well. Brian, your gold nugget has gone wild.. beautiful.

Maggy

Sunshine, I would like contribute to your project as well :-).

Mike, I just saw your post. My prayers are will all of you!

Laura, Amy, Brian and Maggy, thank you all for your kindness! I am going to make separate thread and update you on the tree :))

Susanne, you and me talked on another thread about a budwood from your Shiranui tree. Oh boy, I need to make a special list of the friends of the tree. It was so hot today here and the plants are loving it. On Sunday and Monday they are predicting 96 degrees. Simply unbelievable and I hope the cool down happens gradually!

Sunshine I'm more then happy to send you one. Or maybe we should meet at the border ;) I'm not sure if we can legally do this trade? If it works it would be great.

OH my, Susanne! LOL Pesky smugglers, I can almost picture it :) No, we will do it lawfully.

Sunshine, I can give you something from my Shiranui that I imported from Harris's in Florida. It has no new growth yet. Just tell me what you need.

Maggy

Hi everyone, sorry I have not been on to hear all the updates on everyone's propagation ideas! Good thinking Brian, I may also try propagating with a mix of peat and perlite to decrease surface area for excess water. I find that my cuttings actually absorb the moisture in peat very quickly in this nice hot weather. My best cuttings are the ones on my windowsill right above my bed where I sprinkle them with water when they look like they need it. They have large new glossy leaves on them now. The rest of my cuttings are on the kitchen windowsill with no flush of new leaves at all, just sitting there with their original half cut leaves. I water the kitchen cuttings a lot less bc I forget they're there. Maybe the full peat mix will be less effective in winter (no-greenhouse) conditions. I do notice that the side of the cutting facing the direct sun produce flushes. Just like the way Steve puts a light bulb right in front of his grafted bud to induce growing of the bud rather than the rootstock tree. My fig cutting has green buds at the nodes that faces away from my room too, all other nodes facing me inside my room are brown and not active.

All this propagation talk stirred my memories when I was reading up on the general biology of trees. I may have to refresh my memories but trees respond to the different red wavelengths differently. When trees detect a certain time length of far red light (i.e. Light from sun setting), they produce the hormones that signal flowering in the trees. And if they are exposed to brighter red of an afternoon sun for example, it completely interrupts the flowering signal hormone production and will start the signaling process from scratch once it detects far red/darkness again. I will try to find the information again but I believe if you want to get leaves rather than flowers Amy, maybe aiming more blue light at the cuttings with some light bulbs will tell your tree that it is not the right time to flower lol! Most people advise you to put your cuttings in shade to keep it safe from extreme environments but that is probably making the cutting detect more far red light which signals and prioritize flowering instead of vegetative growth. I may have some details incorrect bc I read this awhile ago so take what I say with a grain of salt :) Also in regards to rooting, the auxin hormone that plays a role in branching and branch dominance seems to play a role in root growth as well if I remember correctly. The hormone is usually traveling to the dominant branch to suppress lower growth but it can also suppress some root growth. The hormone can also travel downwards towards the roots and signal signal the roots to be dominant and priority for growth. I will also try to find the information for that again since I now understand better what we want our trees to do for propagating :) it's also cool to know what drives our trees to respond the way they do.

Mike, I hope your family is safe and unharmed and that there are actions being taken in Puerto Rico to help people as soon as possible. No electricity at this time might be ok but fresh water is a necessity of life! I don't think it is bad at all to post something unrelated to citrus once in awhile. Although we are all connected through our citrus trees, I think it is a wonderful thing to have people be here for you whether it is citrus related or not.

I've also been busy preparing to plant my colder weather crops for the first time. I'm hoping they make it. I don't like to plant many seeds bc I feel like it's a waste to thin out and get rid of some but maybe I need to do that to ensure they will make to harvest.

Sunshine, you are so lucky to have found 2 seeds and both polyembryonic! I ate 3 minneolas and none had seeds but they weren't sour either so maybe the minneolas I purchased came from a matured tree. They weren't super sweet either but definitely not sour for me. Maybe you had fruit from a young tree and that's why they had seeds too. So excited for you, you'll get 2 minneola clones if they end up growing big. I'll keep buying minneolas and search a seed like its a golden ticket to the Willy Wonka choco factory lol

Amy, do kaffir limes grow true from seed? Or did you manage to get some polyembryonic ones? I wanted a kaffir lime bc I think it was Mike(?) that posted in one of the threads that the citrus psyllid dislike the scent of kaffir so it'll be good to pair it with citrus trees. I love the sound of all the varieties everyone is growing but once I saw that tidbit, my next citrus target is a kaffir. I would also love to have around the fragrance of a kaffir lime

Hi kvetchlambkin,

thank you so much for all this great information! I grow my meiwa cuttings on a heating pad in front of a south west window and they get some light from noon till 4pm. I also provide extra light (bought a cfl light just like Laura). I red somewhere that meiwa cultivar need 80F to flower so maybe my cuttings are kept too warm. It's funny because the mother plant where they came from didn't flower this year!!!

kvetchlambkin, you should move to Canada so I could give you a bunch of kaffir lime seedlings. I bought some kaffir limes in an asian grocery store (I think they were 3for 2$) and try to sprout the seeds of one of this lime and they all grow! Now, I have a douzain of babies kaffir lime looking at me everyday. They seem to ask me silently: "now what?". Erghh.. I really don't know what to do with so many babies since my first intention is having one tree to try some thai cuisine recipe! Btw, I am more interested on the leaves than the fruits so I don't really care how long they gonna take to fruit. There's no question about killing them. They are babies!!!! So, maybe I will keep them until I will send some sugar belle cuttings to Brian, Maggie and Sunshine and accidentally include some babies kaffir lime... such evil plan hehe

Seeds are allowed to ship ;)

I can provide cuttings from about 57 different types of citrus next spring (Canada only):

Aoshima Satsuma Mandrian

Boukhobza Blood Orange

Buddha's Hand

Calamondin

Castello Lime

Chandler Pomelo

Chinotto Sour Orange

Daisy Mandrian

Eustis Limequat

Flame Grapefruit

Frost Owari Satsuma Mandrian

Fukushu Kumquat

Gold Nugget Mandrian

Honey Mandrian

Indio Mandrianquat

Lee x Nova Mandrian

Meyer Lemon

Minneloa Tangelo

Moro Blood Orange

Negami Kumquat

New Zealand Lemonade

Nules Clementine

Oro Blanco Grapefruit

Page Mandrian

Pearl Tangelo

Persian Lime

Pomona Sweet Lemon

Pondorosa Lemon

Santa Teresa Lemon

Seedless Lemon

Star Ruby Grapefruit

Tahoe Gold

Tarocco #7 Blood Orange

Valentine Pummelo

Vaniglia Sanguigno Blood Orange

Var. Calamondin

Var. Pink Lemon

Washington Navel Orange

Xie Shan Satsuma Mandrian

Kaffier Lime

Meiwa Kumquat

Midkight Valencia Orange

Key Lime

Orlinda Valencia Orange

Dancy Mandrian

Allen Eureka Lemon

Seedless Kishu Mandrian

Lisbon Lemon

Blood Lime

Round Lime

Russel River Lime

Mt. White Lime

Red Ruby Finger Lime

Yellow Finger Lime

Astonville Green Finger Lime

Moon Drops Finger Lime

Red Champagne Finger Lime

Fukumoto Navel Orange

Hey everyone...Boy has this conversation exploded..I love it! I have learned so much. I know there are all kinds of way to start seedlings and or cuttings but the main theme I keep seeing is humidity, light, and warmth...I was thinking of trying a plastic bottle method. Big or small. I have tried this with Plumeria cuttings the hardest thing to start and it works..Now that it's getting a bit to cool at night, I won't be able to use my greenhouse, ground, pile of mulch or swamp..

I will buy a clear plastic bottle of drinking water, the top half 'almost' off and then put hole on the bottom. Then I fill with peat mix and then plant the cutting in the bottom half. Once done, I will water the mix and them flip the remaining top of the bottle back over and use that as a dome. If I need extra air, I will just take that bottle cap off..Works like a charm on hard to root things, so I will give this a try while the sun is still warm by day and the window sill warm by night! I also find that the cuttings can take direct sun through the plastic bottle or almost see through bottle verses right being exposed without it.

I also love Dave's method! I need a few of those plastic totes! You can put the cover back on and let a florescent light rest right on the cover. Bravo.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone. It means a lot. You are all too kind. I have still not heard a thing and if I did not have to work my business, I would be down there tomorrow. I need to know how they are, my house and my animals..I appreciate it. I can't wait to get pics and see what's going on there...

Wow tropical paradise nice collection!! I would be willing to buy some of the blood lime and finger lime cuttings along with some others!

Lauren You would need to go there and smuggle ;) I had the same thought as you until I saw he is in Canada

Wow... My heart just stopped beating with this wonderful list!!! How could I survive until spring??

kvetchlambkin, search no more! I still have a kaffir lime in my fridge doing nothing for a minth. I can send you some seed if you want! Just walk my through the process for drying them if necessary. I usually use to fresh seeds. Pm me your address

Hey everyone! By the way, did we ever get the name of Brian's plant?

I did..Here's a link..I am on the search for one as we speak!

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/please-does-anyone-know-the-name-of-this-plant-its-beautiful-dsvw-vd~4873351[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/please-does-anyone-know-the-name-of-this-plant-its-beautiful-dsvw-vd~4873351)

https://www.google.com/search?q=alternanthera+red+foliage&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj1jJi9sLLWAhXjiFQKHWIyDeEQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=940

Thanks Susanne for clearing that up for us! I've never collected seeds before so I actually don't know what the process is for drying them but I will PM you Amy!

You guys in Canada are very lucky! Tropical Paradise's list is enormous, so generous to let us know what's in his collections of trees :)

Yes!! Thank you Mike for linking that for us! I'm looking to plant things with my citrus but I want one that thrive in low nutrition but can act is a natural ground cover and home for beneficials. Hopefully that'll decrease the amount of pests in the warmer months. And when I found out about the way the hormones in plants work, it was very exciting! It makes a lot of sense too. The reason we use rooting hormone is to give the bottom area more auxins than the branch tips have so they can signal the plant to focus growth down below! Your method of rooting is what I use too! I just cut through a bottle to make it into a small container full of peat, then put the bottle top back on with the cap screwed on to be a dome. What's great is being able to unscrew the cap slowly to adjust it to lower humidity. It's ingenious. Here's another similar version but for very large cuttings that might not fit a regular sized small bottle

Sorry..if someone can give me a hint on how to send a pm, I'd be really grateful lol

Maggyby's post on the air-layering device was a like deja-vu moment for me. I have the exact same thing except it is a four pack. I have used that on and off for about 15 or may be 20 yrs. Probably bought it at Am Leo too - one of my favourite stores. I have another kind that is even older than that but is more useful for thinner smaller air layers. But I find the soda bottle (as others have mentioned) to be my more used air layering device. Sometimes even a regular plastic pot slit on one side is more convenient. I probably do anywhere from 20-40 air layers and 100+ cuttings every year. Citrus family is a small part of this activity since I have many other types of plants too. Earlier this year I posted a write up on air layering of a japanese maple but is generally applicable to all types of plants.

If this is of any help here are some of my practices and thoughts:

a. 511 mix is a perfectly good mix for both air layers and cuttings. Even for seeds. For air layers I add a bit of sphagnum moss because of its anti bacterial and anti fungal properties. Added advantage is that transplanting is very straightforward.

b. Try to select a fairly straight branch with enough clearance one each side of the "wounded" area.

c. Try to select fairly vertical section of stem/branch otherwise the roots will tend to be on the side that is lower. Otherwise tilt the pot to make it vertical.

d. If out in the Sun, wrap it with aluminium foil to reduce temperature swings and too much heat.

e. Air layers are best started around the early/mid summer growth push. Otherwise it is just likely just do nothing till the growth spurt starts. With a greenhouse it may be possible to do this earlier.

f. Cuttings can be started almost anytime (for tropicals). Additional bottom heat may be need. In winter some plants may be still slow to root.

g. Use rooting hormone lightly. Too much or too strong can actually inhibit root growth. For most plants it is actually not needed at all. Try both ways for experimentation.

OK. That is all I could of think of so far.

Wow you have so many years of experience, makes me hopeful to root some cuttings of my family's Japanese maple! We had to move the tree to the other side of the yard and the workers did a bad job of moving it over :( they injured the trunk bark in a few places and I now see that it is becoming slightly grey on the inner bark and losing a lot of its leaves already. I will take a look at your post, thank you so much for sharing your tips!

In general, the species japanese maple are easier to root. For cultivars it is harder and even then they do not do well on their own roots in ground. They are grafted to the species JM. Much like citrus cultivars.

As others have pointed out a clear plastic bin is quite useful for maintaining humidity especially for taller cuttings. If you have a hydro store around you they also carry some slick humidity domes. This one is 7 inches high, fits on a nursery flat and has two adjustable vents, probably around $5:

And this tall dome, around $10, also has an adjustable vent on top and fits on a 5 gallon or similarly sized bucket or a plastic saucer. In this one I am trying to revive a severely dehydrated dwarf gardenia in a pot.

Great info Tropicofcancer and Kvetchlambkin this info will be a huge help !!! Mikey my friend great job on the researching sure sounds like that's the plant . It really is a lovely plant but it is a bit on the fragile side , its very easy to break limbs. Tropical Paradise incredible list of tree's there . Amy I'm sure that you already have your wish list for next spring . Amy glad that you were able to find those propagating devices sounds like it's going to be fun winter.

Brian

Tropic, where in the WORLD do you put all those plants???? Cuttings and the like? You must have a huge greenhouse or something! Thanks for the info. Wow

Brian buddy!! It says it's a perennial which tells me it loves you to not die off in the winter..Hugs! I'll bet you could probably root cuttings of that plant too. I'd be the first in line to grab one if I lived there..Ha

Tropicofcancer and Kvetchlambkin I agree with Brian. Great information and helpful. Thank you for sharing. Tropic, are you in Toronto ? Are the trees you listed your private collection or do you have a business.. I see some that I would be interested in for cuttings? We have a heat warning here again today. Glad I got the trees washed watered and fed early this morning. I have never had my trees grow as much as they have in the past two weeks. This thread has been busy. I have to go and read all the posts.

Maggy

Maggy, thank you for your well wishes now that I have managed to climb up this totem pole and see your sweet sayins..Thank you..I will let everyone know as soon as I know what has happened..

Amy, thank you. It is a very beautiful place, or was. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

I will try to answer the questions. I am in Pittsburgh, PA and I have an urban house with a small front yard (about 30x30) and a backyard that is may be twice that. There is a one car garage in the back which is really a storage shed now. Some of my temperate plants in containers go there for winter. I also have small 8x9 patch with a home made frame around it. In summer it serves as a vege garden and in winter I cover it with plastic to serve as additional area for over-wintering hardy plants. I do not have a greenhouse but I wish I had - may be some day. There is hardly any space left in the yard where there is no plant - lol.

I ma a hobby grower. Cuttings and air layers I do mostly for fun. I give some to friends and neighbours, sell some on craigslist and our bonsai society members. I try to minimize bringing left over propagated material in the house. I do have a substantial variety of plants both tropicals and hardy ones. Every winter I plan to create a spreadsheet but never gets done. I will be happy to send cuttings/seeds but first I need to get that list done unless you already know what you want.

I converted the front porch to be my main plant room for winter. It is small about 10x15 and has windows on east and south side. The rest of the plants go into various rooms with windows. Over the years I have figured out a system. Still perfecting it though. I let some plants be in
lower light and go semi dormant and other more finicky ones in higher
but not high light. Also I try to keep my plants on the smaller side as much as possible. My goal is to just let them remain healthy and disease free.

Yes I've been walking outside today and it feels like we're still in the middle of summer! And no problem you guys :) the hormone helps speed it up but I also read that you should put very little because it's designed to absorb and keep moisture on the surface. Too much powder or hormome will keep the cutting too wet.

Thanks tropicofcancer! I'll go to a hydro store and look for an inexpensive humidity domes! Hopefully my family's tree won't be too difficult to air layer. It's the red Japanese maple, the leaves with very skinny red fingers and weeping structure.

and can someone elaborate on how to send pm's theough gardenweb? I haven't gotten used to gardenweb yet and I don't see any button for it except the Facebook/Google+ buttons

Tropic, Thank you for the information. It sounds very interesting. I think I mixed you up with Tropical Paradise, who lives in Canada .sorry .I was distracted as I am making apple pies ( in 90 degree weather) . Have to keep my husband happy. . Lol! I have a small greenhouse but my collection is outgrowing it . I will have to put some of the smaller ones in my unheated sunroom this winter and hope they don't freeze. It has western exposure and gets late afternoon sun only Is your front porch unheated? Do you use a heater? Like you said, "I just want to keep the trees healthy and disease free.

Maggy

Hi everyone,

I was walking by home depot today because I need some ehhh nails :)))

I saw that all citrus are on sale for 5$. Few meyer lemon and bears lime. Just in case somebody needs more trees...

:) Lol Amy how many ended up in your trunk ?

Mikey very interesting that plant does so well in the greenhouse . I would have never guessed that it was a perennial I always thought it was a tropical I must be really doing something right . Thanks again for the great info my friend .

Brian

Brian, just one!! I have to save the little fellow! I suspect that the meyer lemon I bought from botanix is not a meyer but something else. The flowers are white and round like a pinderosa buds. It's weird because the leaves dont like the ponderosa leaves.

Maggy: No problem with the name confusion. I thought exactly that must be the reason. My porch has two sides attached to the house and half the ceiling is covered by the 2nd flr and so it it gets heat from the house. In the day time the supplemental lights (about 1000W total) provides quite a bit of heat. And it gains some heat from the sunlight through the windows. I have a 1000W electric heater that is set to turn on around 45F. But the porch rarely goes below 50F. I used to have my plants in the basement with more lights. But they are so much happier in the porch. I think daily variations in temperature keeps them healthier and relatively bug free. I get more bugs on the plants that are next to the 2nd flr south facing windows in a room with fairly constant temperature.

Amy, isn't it funny how those trees just jump in your trunk?? LOL

Amy lol I knew it :) Home Depot this year had some pretty nice looking citrus I am sure that you picked up a nice looking Meyer. Amy maybe you picked up a bearss lime or a navel at botanix if you break off a small portion of the leaf and smell it could tell you what it might be.

Brian

Oooo I need to take a look at Home Depot then, $5!! Amy, I can't seem to figure out how to send a pm lol did you go to a specialty store for a kaffir lime fruit? Maybe I'll go look around for some limes to save you the trouble :)

kvetch: ask at some Thai restaurants for kaffir lime. They may know where to get. Usually the leaves are used in Thai cooking and I think the fruit is rarely used. Asian stores carry it sometime.

It looks like my Kaffier wants to put out flower buds. If I'm lucky and the tree settles with fruit, will send you some seeds :)

Maggy, I just noticed your link to that store..Thank you very very much!! Love you

Kvetchlambkin, send me a email to amycitrus@hotmail.com with your address information and how I should proceed with the seeds (how long to dry) and I will manage to send them to you!

Oh my Brian. How do you keep from eating the rest of those Tangos? Nice that you still have some hanging on the tree. Love your container trees.

Hello Junk4us thankyou those fruit's are gone lol we juiced them with a few Valencia's a couple of weekends ago was so good .. Brian