so, yesterday, i found 3 of my 1 gal pots with dead cuttings.

i had 1 KB cutting with one node stuck in the pot. found out the bud it had was rot. i pulled it out and the roots were still good, so i planted it again in hope it will do something. this one was due to over watering.

my Paradiso Nero Mario was doing well till aboutt a week ago, it was semi-hardwood sucker. found out that the all the barks under the soil was coming off.. but the roots still look ok and had one green bud coming off. i planted it again. it was due to over watering.

now.. RdB. it was green cutting. this one died few days ago. i pulled it out and this one was bone dry. the whole length of the cutting was dried up. there were plenty of water in the soil. probably i should have kept it in the controlled env where the moisture was plenty.

so what have i learned. 1) don't water until the soil is rather dry. 2) if it's green cutting, keep it in controlled env until the cutting is hardened and will not dry out.

but here is the funny thing. other RdB which is mostly hardwood given same amount of water at same time is growing wonderfully. Salce which was started at the same time with Paradiso Nero Mario is also doing well with same watering and so on along with Fico Preto, and Socorro Black.. i guess some cuttings are just not meant to be.

Hi Pete,

Were the cuttings from the tip or the middle of the branch?  I find the latter ones to lose their pith (don't ask me where it goes) and dry up more easily than the cuttings from the end of the branch.  I've been wondering if others have had the same experience.

Good luck with the resuscitation,
~james

james,

thinking back, RdB was middle cutting. Paradiso Nero Mario was a sucker with tip.. but it was getting really bad case of mold in the plastic cover. i removed the plastic cover and it was doing well.. then the top started to dry out. i cut the top off.. but it didn't stop. it kept drying out until it gave up on the branch it was putting out.

digging out the Paradiso, it looks like it had on more node and green bud. i repot the whole thing and left it under the shade to see if that bud will do something.

Katheleen's Black was just an experiment. wanted to see if one node left over will grow. i covered it under the soil and checked it once in awhile, until last week, it was putting out good size bud. yesterday, noticed it was rot. i pulled it out and planted it since it has good roots. will see what happens. i put on another two node in my backyard. i'm just going to ignore that one unless i see something coming out.

Peter if you need more let me know

thanks, mario.

Salce is doing great. i have the sucker you sent, and one of the cutting made it.

i'll wait and see what happens to the Paradiso Nero Mario. it has one green bud left on the very bottom. maybe it will make it. the roots still look great.