What kind of weather are you expecting for the rest of the season?

Well, I'm in Central Texas so there's a pretty good chance there will not be another frost. It's definitely possible though.

To clarify, the ones that were in the garage are now inside. So with those ones I'm not concerned about a frost killing them. I'm just concerned that they will die because they grew leaves without roots.

Maybe roots are starting to come out now also, at least on some of them.

Yeah, I hope so. I guess only time will tell. We have 60s and rain scheduled for the next week straight more or less, so it's pretty good conditions for the outside ones, at least for now.

Problem is that I have no lighting in the garage. I brought them indoors mainly for that reason. Now that they have leaves they need light. It's a pickle.

Now that they have leaves they need light.

===>>> mmm .. pickles .. lol ...

is the above statement true .... without roots.. a plant can feed itself with lights only?? .. i dont know ... im asking ...

when i was rooting trees/shrubs.. i was told to very gently pull on a stick ... if it slips right out ... put it back.. but it has no roots ...

if there is resistance ... then there is a presumption there are some roots holding it in ...

regardless.. be gentle ...

ken

Pickles are delicious man. Best condiment by far.

I think they need light. My thinking is without light the leaves will die off and that would be a very bad thing. Plus photosynthesis helps promote root growth. At least that's what I'm told.

It's really weird that the ones outside came out of dormancy though. That has me baffled. Thought for sure they would bud out at the same time as the mother plant. The mother plant is like 2 feet away from them and is still completely dormant.

With hardwood cuttings still in process what you want is warm roots and cold tops.

Most kinds of pickled vegetables promote stomach cancer, there is probably a correlation between the very high rate of this in Korea and the widespread consumption there of kim chee for instance.

You must be a hoot at parties :-)

rotflmbo ..... ken

ps: i hate when i spit coffee all over the screen ....

So it looks like both the batch outside and the batch inside are doing well. Both have pretty vigorous top growth now, so I believe they have roots. The batch inside is in coarse sand, so at the end of this week I will actually take them out of the sand and put them in individual pots. I'll know then for sure if they have roots.

So the results of my hardwood cutting "experiment" are:

(Note, batch 1 came from a different crape myrtle than batch 2 and 3. This is just one example of how this is not a controlled experiment. But it is instructive and confirms the common knowledge as well.)

Batch 1. Dormant hardwood cuttings of crape myrtle were harvested and then immediately treated with rooting hormone and put in peat and perlite indoors under light. All these cuttings seem to have eventually failed. About half put out leaves, but stopped growing there, and then died.

Batch 2. Dormant hardwood cuttings of crape myrtle were harvested, then soaked in cold water for 48 hours. They were then wounded, treated with rooting hormone, and planted in a garden bed outside while it was still winter. Half were stuck with about 1/2 of the cutting in the ground. The other half were stuck with only 1 node above ground. Several weeks later they came out of dormancy and are now growing vigorously. 100% have put out shoots above ground. The ones that are buried all the way except for one node are growing faster.

Batch 3. Dormant hardwood cuttings of crape myrtle were harvested, then soaked in cold water for 48 hours. They were then kept in the frig in moist spagnum moss for about 3 weeks. Thereafter they were stuck in coarse sand after a rooting hormone treatment. These were not wounded at the time of sticking due to some evidence of root nodule formation which I did not want to damage. They were kept in a cold, dark garage with bottom heat until they unexpectedly started to bud out. At that time they were brought inside and put under lights. Although the cuttings that have budded out are now growing vigorously, about half of them have not come out of dormancy at all.

Both have pretty vigorous top growth now, so I believe they have roots. Sadly, the one doesn't follow the other. How long have they been in?

I think this level of growth is probably a very good sign, but I'll know for sure this weekend when I pot up. The ones that failed put out a couple leaves and stopped. These ones have new stems that have already grown 4 inches.

So I have to admit when I'm wrong. You were right. There really isn't much root development yet despite the top growth. Of the ten that had the top growth, only 2 had any root development at all, and that was minimal. One of them had a single, half inch root, and the other one was just starting to form a root. I had really thought that with that much top growth, something had to be going on under the sand. Lesson learned. Anyway, they are in pots now and looking pretty good. Hopefully they all make it.

CPTK, I had my weeping willow cut down. That summer the cut-up logs lying on the ground sprouted many sprouts. Obviously, tho, there wasn't a single root involved. :)

They sprouted from the residual food and moisture in the logs.

Think about it like bouquet in a vase. Buds will open but that doesn't mean they're rooting. Patience. And good luck.

Yes, I understand the concept. It was the degree that surprised me. I had a batch that was done improperly, and when they came out of dormancy all they did was grow 2 leaves and then die. That led me to believe that the ones done properly were growing whole stems, rather than just dying after 2 leaves, because they had roots. As I said, I was wrong.

'Embothrium(Pugetopolis)

With hardwood cuttings still in process what you want is warm roots and cold tops.'

THIS^^^. The first time reading this, it didn't sink in. You usually hear 'warm roots & cool tops' but I'm becoming convinced that 'cold' not 'cool' is what you want to keep HW cuttings from growing tops before roots are established. From my research, this apparently means temperatures in the range of 35f to 45f., low enough where a plant isn't apt to grow, even under normal conditions. Probably why it's hard to root some things without a greenhouse, where you can control temps to these levels.

Sorry to hear this CPTK and Thanks for updating us on your findings. We learn from each other.