Loropetalum cuttings

[Cajunrider]

I pruned my loropetalum in the front yard and took about a dozen cuttings. I dipped them in root hormone and stuck all of them in a big pot. My lady likes loropetalum. How easy is it to grow them from cuttings?

 

[Shibui]

Loripetalum strike quite readily from stem cuttings. On a 1-10 scale probably around 5. Will probably do better if the pot is covered to maintain high humidity - plastic bag, clear plastic bottle or keep the whole pot in a plastic storage tub.
They also grow quite well from root cuttings.

 

[Cajunrider]

Humidity down here is in the high 80% last few days but I will cover them today after work.

 

[bwaynef]

I had no problem getting high percentage to root from hardwoods in Jan/Feb.

 

[Cajunrider]

I had no problem getting high percentage to root from hardwoods in Jan/Feb.

If these don't take I'll try them again in the spring. I had to prune mine because the tree was broken by hurricane Laura and Delta. After the cutback in the spring, they grew tall 6ft long whips every where. My experience with them in the past shows that they tend to grow branches at the top of the whips and I really don't want that. I pruned them back to 1ft so I get decent ramification in the spring next year. The whips look so good I decided to try them as cuttings. I could easily have a hundred cuttings if I wanted.

 

[bwaynef]

I've got a handful of them growing on the edge of my property. The "sweet little lady" next door, knowing full well where the property lines were, planted them 10 feet into MY property. When it came time to have some trees removed I had a discussion with my neighbors and found out that the property lines weren't where I thought they were. She admitted planting them there (years before I bought the property) and told me that now that I'd had trees removed, she'd clean up the loropetalum she'd planted (and the ivy that was creeping into my property*). I gave her 9 months before I went in and cut them back to about 24". Basically bare stumps, even at that height. They're hideous right now throwing whips every which way, but no worse looking than they were. I'm planning on digging them up in the spring and planting Satsukis. They've got 3-4" trunks.

*Who plants ivy at the edge of their property?!?

 

[Cajunrider]

I've got a handful of them growing on the edge of my property. The "sweet little lady" next door, knowing full well where the property lines were, planted them 10 feet into MY property. When it came time to have some trees removed I had a discussion with my neighbors and found out that the property lines weren't where I thought they were. She admitted planting them there (years before I bought the property) and told me that now that I'd had trees removed, she'd clean up the loropetalum she'd planted (and the ivy that was creeping into my property*). I gave her 9 months before I went in and cut them back to about 24". Basically bare stumps, even at that height. They're hideous right now throwing whips every which way, but no worse looking than they were. I'm planning on digging them up in the spring and planting Satsukis. They've got 3-4" trunks.

*Who plants ivy at the edge of their property?!?

They make great bonsai. I've seen them looking absolutely gorgeous. I say dig them up and chop them hard.