Ficus Benjamina cuttings.. No luck

tekmanx

I'll just get straight to the point.. I suck at getting cuttings to root. For the past month.. almost two now, I've been trying to get these Ficus Benjamina cuttings to root. I got books telling me to use pencil size cuttings and put a plastic bag (for humidity) over the pots, then people telling me don't use a plastic bag because here in the Bahamas temps of 80-94 should be just fine. Still.. no luck. I've tried cuttings in perlite, vermiculite, soil mix and my most recent.. water.

Almost a year back I was living in Miami and my very first attempt every with a cutting was with this very same Ficus Benjamina.. It worked on the first try and only took about two weeks if that much. What's so different now other than the fact that I had that cutting in the humid bathroom window? I am using the same rooting hormone. Help... :/

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pootsie

One thing I've found very helpful is to remove most of the leaves before trying, to reduce the load requirement on the new/nonexistant roots.

pootsie

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p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

tekmanx

I remove in some cases.. 50% of the leaves. I even go to the extent of cutting some leaves in half to prevent large amounts of water loss.

randyburtis

i had success by adding rooting hormone and planting it in a well lit window. I made sure i trimmed about half a centimeter of the bark off at the bottom and i planted it in soil, just plain old potting soil. I cut about half the leaves in half and they have taken off.

tekmanx

I did just about everything you just described except.. I used a plastic bag with holes over the pot to keep the cuttings nicely wet, I sat them outside in a shaded area and I also added some more perlite to the potting mix to make sure it gets even better drainage.

When you say you trimmed about half a centimeter of the bark off at the bottom.. you mean you skinned the top layer of the bark off to the inner light green layer right?

pootsie

It may be that in your climate the plastic bag is keeping things TOO moist. I live in Ohio and for most types of ficus I do not need a covering. (For willow leaf -- that's a different story.)

pootsie

__________________
p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

BonsaiMon

Are you putting the plastic bag of the plant and the pot or just the pot? .. I had to ask cause it sounds like they are too wet.. as pootsie mentioned. Do the portions of the cutitings in the soil get mushy? The warmth you have is good but in Miami the humidity can be steady in the 70-80 % range and they were in a humid bath to boot with good air exchange. Do you open the bag a couple time during the day to get some air exchange? What are your nite temps?

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peace,
tom stoute

http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/

tekmanx

I will take a picture shortly to show you what my cuttings/container looks like. The plastic bag covers the cuttings and goes about halfway down the height of the container. I made sure to put some holes in the baggie so that there's good ventilation.

Yes, for the most part.. most of my cuttings at the base looked mushy.
I'm considering moving the cuttings indoors.. would you suggest this? The parent plant lived outdoors in the open. It seems though, like most others have written that the ficus doesn't like being moved around and moving indoors after a day of being outside might cause my leaves to drop.

Also, what do you think is would be the cut-off period where if there aren't any roots I know for a fact that I can toss the cuttings and try again.

Here's what my current conditions are:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/trav...ayLink_business

BonsaiMon

Your weather conditions look perfect for cuttings..
and it sounds like your setup is ok..
when you apply the rooting hormone you only need a dusting on the first inch or so ..
If they are mushy or slimy you may need to start over.
Looking forward to you pic..

__________________
peace,
tom stoute

http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/