Serissa foetida clippings

Hello everyone.

This might be a bit of a noob question. I'm learning every day.

I live in a 6a/b climate. I have my Serissa growing under lights during the winter. It goes outside once it gets warm enough.

I know taking clippings is usually best done in the spring, but I was wondering since the tree is being grown in a relatively controlled environment with 14hours of light, can I take clippings to root over the winter?

Thanks in advance for any input.

I would think so since the tree is growing indoors under the lights (i.e., all the biological machinery is active).

The best root growth, it just so happens, occurs around room temperture. You may need to make some kind of humidity tent for the cuttings as the only way the will be getting water is by foliar adsorption. Photosynthesis in the cutting (which requires water) is what drives the root development.

I stumbled across something that worked for me one winter. Mind, it was by chance, I don't have any training other than some reading, I don't know how easy or hard yours is to root, and the same for one of what I rooted.

I had received an older ficus that was about seven feet tall, and I had a Fukien Tea tree (no, I'm not mad at my Fukien Tea tree- it just sounds that way ) with a small branch I wanted to remove. I decided to try to keep cuttings from both. It popped into my head- well, something went pop in my head, and an idea was born. I'm sharing this b/c it was cheap and it worked.

I bought a large storage tub from a department store, about 2.5'W x 2'T x 2'D. The lid was some color, but the tub was nearly clear. At home I used the lid as a base and put some water in the bottom. I put cuttings with rooting hormone applied into soil in small plastic pots, put those on the lid and put the tub on as a lid. A little greenhouse minus circulation. I kept the tub in my tropicals room near room temp and under fluorescent lighting.

Worried about circulation, I took the tub off every day while I was in the room inspecting/watering/talking to my plants, so for about 30-60' every day they gained circulation but dropped to a 50+% humidity environment. I added water when condensation stopped forming on the inner tub wall, and of course only added enough water to fill the lowest part of the contoured lid- the pots were not sitting in water. Like some kind of magic, all cuttings survived, took root, and thrived. That's no great feat with ficus benjamina, and I don't know how difficult it is to root the Tea tree, but all are still alive and healthy three years out.

I had the soil, I had the pots left from buying petunias the previous summer, and the tub was $7 or so. Whatever method you use, share it back here on IBC.

When I do tree or other plant cuttings they go into vermiculite/peat compost at about 70/30 ratio, just kept damp and at about 20C, using rooting hormone powder, pots covered with clear plastic drinks bottles to maintain humidity & plenty light. Same principle, usually works.

Dave

yes - what both dave and david said...

on a smaller scale than davids, but similar to daves... i did like david but used the plastic containers from the salad bar at the grocery store and punched holes in it for circulation, and like dave i have also used inverted, cut-off plastic soft (and not so soft) drink bottles and both worked very well...

oh yeah, and the soil was just good seedling soil mix from a bag amended with bonsai substrate to loosen it up and increase drainage...

but since then i have even foregone the covering and am currently looking at a tray full of spekboom, and another of ficus that are doing well without any humdidity dome... just a drip tray full of water to increase the ambient moisture in the immediate area...

dang... all that typing and i didnt even answer your specific question... sorry

Thank you everyone for your response. I will brave it and make a few clippings of my Serissa "out of season" using a 75/25 vermiculite/peat mix as I have that on hand. I like the inverted tray idea, however I fear I don't have enough space on my growing shelf to fit that, so I will opt for the plastic bottle technique.

I typically use the liquid/gel root hormone. Should I go for the powder instead? Is there a difference in success rate?

I'll keep you posted with the progress!

Cheers!