What are those gorgeous acid green leaves: cuttings

» Marge_Talt - cuttings

It's not hard to be enthusiastic about plants and gardens! My favorite subjects!! I'm really enjoying YOUR enthusiasm as you try new plants and things...

I dunno about gel or Jello, but I regularly use kitty litter to root cuttings in. The plain, unscented, un-anythinged kind. Now, the last bag I got seems to have more silt in it than I like, but, generally, it makes an ideal medium - pretty sterile, holds moisture and yet provides air circulation around the plant. Should be readily available for you in NYC.

Re: cuttings from exotics. Some will root and some won't, but it doesn't hurt to try - you never know what you'll get.

Air humidity is a problem in centrally heated houses - try setting pots in trays full of pea gravel (aquarium gravel?) kept topped up with water to the top of the gravel, but not over it - don't want those pots sitting in water. This provides extra humidity right around the plant. I've found it works well at keeping white fly, spider mites and scale at bay if I can only remember to check the trays regularly!

If you allow cuttings to dry out at all to the drooping stage - you've lost 'em....If you can't be there to check, insert cutting and pot in a large plastic food storage type bag and blow it up and seal it off..acts as a mini-greenhouse. You just have to open it gradually when the plant roots (which you can tell by its putting out new growth), to wean the plant back to normal world atmosphere.

-- posted by Marge_Talt