 |
| Hypoestes Splash™ Select Rose |
Kinda sparse now. Shows my skill level. But some of the stems are still full and lush, the way the whole plant was before I brought it inside for the winter. The new growth is green (lack of sun, probably) but the older leaves show an amazing amount of pink. The photo doesn't do it justice, either. It was the brightest, boldest pink, most unexpected on a plant.
I planted the thing outside when the wife brought it home, near a little rose bush. It won't survive the winter, she told me. It survived the summer, though. Meanwhile it grew. And it grew on me.
By the time we were starting to expect frost, I decided to bring the thing into the house for the winter. The photo above is how it looks now.
No no, actually it was the wife who suggested bringing the thing inside for the winter. My idea was to take some cuttings before first frost. Yeah, that's what happened. That was some time in mid-October. So maybe five weeks ago.
Here is one of those cuttings now:
Green shoots. This one's gonna make it.
The other one had little purple flowers a week or so ago. I picked em off because I figured they would just take energy away from the rooting-and-growth process. Looking at it now, I see new hints of growth (which may only be more flower buds). But I also see some new growth coming up from the soil near the stem of the cutting. So that one might just make it, too.
I keep the cuttings in a Ziplok bag on a windowsill in the kitchen, facing southeast. I open the baggie once or twice a week, and take the flowerpots out and see how things are going. Plus I deflate the baggie, to change the air. Then I put the flowerpots back in and zip the bag closed -- except I leave a couple inches unzipped. I exhale into the baggie to inflate it, then seal it up for another few days.
If that's more than you wanted to know, well, okay. But I always want more detail than I get when it comes to things like this. I'm often left figuring out "how" for myself. I definitely don't think I have the best methods. If you read this and you have better ideas, let me know.
Meanwhile, I see green shoots!
3 comments:
I found our old ReptiTherm RH7 reptile tank heating pad and put it under the cuttings. If it doesn't kill em it might help them grow.
The heating pad works great. The bottom of the flower pot is always just barely warm to the touch. And the baggie always has condensation on the inside surface now, so it must be good and humid in there.
One unrelated problem: I took the two flower pots out of the baggie to let them breath for an hour. And then I remembered em six hours later. One of the cuttings (not the one in the photo above) was already dead.
Oops.
I didn't use potting soil last fall when I potted those cuttings. Used my normal soil, which is hard clay. The other day I noticed the soil the cutting was in was hard as a brick. Soaked the thing in water for a while to soften it. Took the brick out of the flower pot. Poked the bottom of the brick with a small stick, and all the dirt fell off the cutting.
The thing has no roots at all. No hint of roots. (And yet it has two 2-inch tall green shoots.) I put more rooting powder on it & planted it in potting soil.
Also noticed that the old heating pad is putting out almost no heat at all. Time for a new one.
Post a Comment