MG question

[j-bird]

j-bird did you discuss or share technique you used for the cutting planting?

I tried to document my process in my land tour thread.....it's buried in there somewhere. I tried to take pics of the process as well.

I got the MG cuttings from Bill.....he sort of gave me the kick in the pants I needed and sent me the cuttings from his plants (about 30 of them). Not sure if they are from MO or NJ - but I didn't care. I then soaked them in a container full of water for a few weeks until the cuttings grew some roots. Some even started to grow a "shoot". I then moved them into small containers (1 gallon plastic pots I bought at a hardware store for pretty cheap) and filled those will potting soil and planted the rooted cutting in there. I simply did nothing else to them but keep them in as much full sun as I could and keep them watered. They quickly grew to 2 feet tall on average and I then moved them to the home in late summer in an effort to avoid the harsh summer heat stress. I simply planted them in the ground like you would a plug. I dug a approx same size hole and flopped the "plug" from the pot right into the ground. I think I had 1 that didn't take thru the entire process. I will have to see how they survived the winter, come this spring, but I am pretty confident they will be fine. You will have to talk to Bill about selecting/creating the cutting. From what I can tell you it looked like he simply cut a stalk that includes 2 "joints" and cut so you can maintain proper orientation. Bill cut mine with a flat at the top and an angle at the bottom. It was real easy - even though I pestered the crap out of Bill about them....because I wanted to make sure I was doing it right. I owe Bill a beer or two over that little project.....I'm surprised he still talks to me!

 

[tynimiller]

Mine are only going into their second year so still off a bit from being able to but nice to know you can do it that way!

 

[j-bird]

Mine are only going into their second year so still off a bit from being able to but nice to know you can do it that way!

I think Bill even tried some experiments with trying to lay the cutting side ways to get them to grow, but I don't think that went well. I may not have been Bill, but I know it has been tried.

This method requires some babying to ensure they grow, vs just tossing a rhizome into the ground, but it's one way to do it. I figure your going to put the effort into it one way or another. Either your digging a mature root ball to separate rhizomes or making essentially plugs....which isn't going to be easy OR you go the cuttings route and have to baby them thru the process that first year....pay me now or pay me later, but you are going to pay.....nothing is for free.