Print

[TBM]

I'd say the experiment would work with any plant that propagates via cuttings, who knows maybe we'll see a difference between species, where some honey would work better with others the hormone doing better...

You have 8 hives at your house? Are they not territorial or do you have enough land to separate them? Regardless that's a lot of honey!

[Saros]

Heh, well if anyone else attempts the honey as rooting hormone replacement, don't forget to change the honey/water mixture frequently.

I attempted this but didn't refresh the honey/water often enough and it started to ferment after about 5 days. Pretty sure that's not good for rooting=)

I'll revisit this experiment in another week or so when I have the time to give it more attention.

[fairdinkumseeds]

Years ago with photinia, roses and grapes I did a mass project for tafe, and got better strike rates with really dark iron bark honey, than with the standard supermarket "rootex" powder.
Not a lot, but around 10-20% better from memory, photinia was around 30% better.
But with willow, poplars and something else I cant remember,  I ended up with a lot less successes, than the control(nothing) or the powder. Really crappy for the water loving stuff, but its always super easy anyway.
Using that cheap squirt bottle honey(has glucose it as well as honey and water) I just got loads of black mildew in a bout half of them, but it could have been spread from the roses.
I just dipped about 1inch in the honey, left it for 10-20mins, wiped it off with a  finger and stuck it in the soil.

When I strike new stuff these days I generally use honey on half and powder on the others and it averages out to pretty much the same results.
Generally a very slightly better strike, but then slightly more fungal stuff, so?
Who knows. I still cant decide which is best over all myself.

With HBWR, burning the stem a little with a cigarette lighter, just a little till the grey green changes, then burying it can help them root, where I have had just about no success with any other methods. Takes a month or 2, but like I say, bugger all success with them using powder or honey, or even cut and bury.
Its a similar sort of plant, so that might be worth a try too?

1 Like gator likes this.

[Sunshine]

Honey won't ferment if it's water content is low enough. I think I read less than 18% somewhere. Maybe it would be better to not stick it in water after a honey treatment, then a few days down the line wash it off and put the cutting in water.

[gator]

The last time I planted some cuttings it worked out well. I was using mature woody nodes (.5" diameter) that had new shoots coming from them. I cut each side of the node making it about 1" and bury it in the pot w/ the shoot sticking up, kind of like an upside down letter T. Some nodes have 2 shoots which kind of makes them harder to pot, in that case I'll manipulate the shoots to fit in the pot, or cut off the less dominant one. The roots spread from the node and the shoot takes growth in about 1 month. I used newspaper pots, the roots busted thru the soft pots and spread allover the bottom of the terrarium. I've sent some of the last batch propagated this way to STS members and they were all very pleased w/ the plants.

With HBWR, burning the stem a little with a cigarette lighter, just a little till the grey green changes, then burying it can help them root, where I have had just about no success with any other methods. Takes a month or 2, but like I say, bugger all success with them using powder or honey, or even cut and bury.
Its a similar sort of plant, so that might be worth a try too?

I'll try the burning technique in a few weeks and report back.

2 Likes Greentoe and fairdinkumseeds like this.

[EIRN]

I can not understand every thing was wrote in previous posts, so excuse me if I repeat information.
I live in a Hardiness Zone 10 (I am not sure about this), or in a Cwa climate (Koppen classification).

 To propagate B. caapi I prefer seeds. But caapi seeds have short life, in a few months germinate rate go to 0.
Vegetative methods works good, but it is necessary use a piece with ± 1 cm in diameter. Green shoots almost never root. Other important parameter is the cutting must to posses 2 knots (where plant give leafs or new shoots). Put in a organic soil, one knot above and other below of substrate. Substrate must be humid all the time.
Good temperature is 25-30ºC.

1 Like fairdinkumseeds likes this.