Took some forsythia cuttings. Made a mini greenhouse and after 3 weeks, new leaves started growing. Waited another week and had lots of new growth. Gave them a tug and they come right out of the soil with no roots. I put them back in the soil but not sure what else to do. I don't understand how there is so much new growth with zero roots. Any ideas?
New growth on cuttings but no roots
- Thread starter keithl
- Start date
Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
This is quite normal with cuttings and often with collected trees. The cuttings are using stored energy (food reserves?) in the wood to grow new leaves to feed themselves. The leaves will then be able to provide ongoing food to the trunk to make some new roots. Provided the cuttings don't dehydrate first there should be new roots soon. Keep the cuttings very humid at this stage - pot and cuttings completely enclosed in a plastic bag or plastic storage container are good, easy ways to maintain humidity around those new leaves. forsythia is relatively easy to strike so its a good one to start with. Most forsythia bushes also usually have stems with roots already present. Any branch that is close to the soil will already have roots so you can just cut off a piece and save time and worry.
BTW, not good practice to tug on cuttings to check. Very new roots are extremely brittle and will break easily. You may actually have broken off any new rots that had already formed. Checking will not make roots grow faster or better. Patience is the key. They will either root or not without you playing around. Just pick the pots (assuming they are in a pot?) and look underneath each week. When you can see a couple of little white roots coming through the drain holes it is time to pot the new plants into good potting mix.
BTW, not good practice to tug on cuttings to check. Very new roots are extremely brittle and will break easily. You may actually have broken off any new rots that had already formed. Checking will not make roots grow faster or better. Patience is the key. They will either root or not without you playing around. Just pick the pots (assuming they are in a pot?) and look underneath each week. When you can see a couple of little white roots coming through the drain holes it is time to pot the new plants into good potting mix.
Thank you! So much good info in here. Ill take a look for some lower branches with roots, have a ton of bushes to choose from, so guessing there will be some good ones.
Most everything I read had the tug check for roots, but it makes sense not to... will stop doing that. Unfortunately put cuttings into kind of a big black pot, so no good visual way to check and it will be a long time before they are coming out of the bottom of the pot. Will just be patient.
Thanks again, appreciate the reply!
Most everything I read had the tug check for roots, but it makes sense not to... will stop doing that. Unfortunately put cuttings into kind of a big black pot, so no good visual way to check and it will be a long time before they are coming out of the bottom of the pot. Will just be patient.
Thanks again, appreciate the reply!
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
The trunk and branches of some trees store a lot of energy as food reserves. Many years ago I was delivering some plants to a farm in the early spring where the owner had just put in several fence posts made from freshly cut trees. Many of these trees sprouted branches and leaves and appeared to be growing, however come summer they all died. These posts were 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Many of the ones that appeared to be growing vigorously were sycamore trees. It was a poor choice of wood for fence posts in any regard.
LCD35
Mame
I created forsythia cuttings about 6 weeks ago. I also had a lot of green, new growth, very early. I simply kept them extremely humid in a clear plastic grow box. Roots popped out the bottom, so then I knew I was safe to put in bonsai soil and harden off outside the box with lower humidity. Patience is key! Lord knows I struggle with that myself. The cuttings and box photo were on 27 April. The roots were last weekend when I potted.
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jason biggs
Chumono
I have had baobab cuttings grow for an entire season ( 6 months), pushing heavy growth
with no roots at all...
with no roots at all...
LCD35
Mame
For the record, forsythia is extremely vigorous...more so than Crabapple I believe, which is what a majority of my plastic tote was. 3 out of 15 were forsythia, of which all struck. The other 12 Crabapple, 8 failed and 4 are, um, lingering? New growth, but slipping out of the Solo cups reveals no roots yet.
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
Plant them? Put a bag over them so the air humidity stops the spider mites.View attachment 521394
curry leaf plant cutting started growing new leaves within 2 weeks - its more than 5 weeks now but no roots yet. Also spider mites infestation..What should I do ?
The lack of water will force them to search for water by making roots.
Do ventilate the bag every day though!
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
I have had big cuttings of hawthorn to grow new leaves for up to 6 months but never developed any roots and then died. All the growth was from the energy reserve in the cuttings.
after planting the cutting in soil, covered them with plastic cover. the humidity did stop the spider mite but the plant does not seem to be doing well. the cutting which are still in water is good. Also avocado is doing well only in water
