Hey Rob,

Thanks for your last posting of "Do's" above, short and sweet and looks pretty straight forward. I have three
Experimental cuttings from my Hardy Chicago going just like you note above, but i have them in my sunroom
With warm daytime temps followed by cool evening temps.

I think I'll start a few more and see if the top of our hot water tank will provide a consistently dark warm location.

Do you think my " sunroom" cuttings have a chance? They look green, not dried out, I'm just wondering if their
Root growth will be inhibited by the relatively cool evening temps and daylight.

Thanks.

I still say use part of the cutting with just one bud and graft it. :)  This assumes, of course, that you've got some vigorous rootstock.

Lots of good processes and some great explanations. When I started this post it was to see how many different ways we would
eventually see. We still are missing a couple that I can think of but will wait and see if the original posters of those will add them.
Rob, great in depth instructions on your post.

So far so good with the cuttings I've started rooting. I'm using about a 60/40 perlite/vermiculite mix in clear cups with several holes in the bottoms (using a soldering iron for nice clean holes without cracking the cups).

Here is a single cutting of LSU Gold I received 3 weeks ago and it is showing roots now as you can see. Since this was the only cutting of it so I'm very relieved to see some roots!! Its starting to push out green growth now so will be up potting it once the roots grow a bit more. I have the cups inside this plastic tub sitting over the floor vent in the bathroom. It stays between 70 and 80 in the tub. I didn't water the cutting again after its initial dampening and although it feels much lighter and dryer than ones I just did and watered... you can see the condensation on the inside of the cup. I think this mixture gives it good aeration and moisture content to promote the roots.

Tyler

Harvey, nice post. Like the set up over the floor vent. Wish
I had one.

Mike, I think you're referring to Tyler's post. My tub is on a propagation mat set to 85F.

Yep, I was and I better stop trying to do this on a phone.

@Dave -- using the aquarium as a mini greenhouse for rooting.

Winter/Early Spring -- I used aquarium with heat mat at bottom. Cuttings are placed in a plastic box with slightly damp spagnum moss. These plastic boxes are never laid directly over the heat mat. They sit at least 2 to 3 inches above the heat mat. I use a black plastic garbage bag to cover the top of the aquarium, leaving an air gap. This set-up is place in a dark room.

I air the plastic container with cuttings every 3 to 4 days for at least 10 minutes.

Late Spring/Summer -- I place cuttings on partially shaded area and put aquarium over them. I root cuttings directly into perlite soil mixture(Lightly damn) and walla, they root. This set-up gets lots of morning sun. I make sure I have an air gap at the bottom as it can get really hot. If it gets too hot I place more 2x4 to allow more air into the aquarium. Works great. I still have plants in this set-up
that has not gone dormant(Dec). All my potted plants & In-ground are dormant but not the ones in the aquarium located outside.

This is how I root my cuttings.
The ones in the domed tray are on temperature regulated heat mat. I use a mix of happy grow compost (30%), peat moss (30%), and perlites (40%) as medium. The ones on the heat mat seems to root and grow faster. All are under bright light.

@Maro2bear:
There is definitely nothing wrong with exposing them to light.  The presence of light is never a bad thing, even if the plants are dormant. 

People get into trouble when they put their plants in a warm, dark environment.  They use up energy to produce leaves, but no photosynthesis occurs to replenish this, thus slowly starving the plant.  For a cutting, this is OK initially, but once the leaves and roots start to form, it's important to give them some light so they start to rebuild energy reserves.

I don't have any experience with temperature fluctuations day vs night.  I would think that as long as the nighttime temperatures are above a certain threshold (let's say 60 degrees), you will be fine, but that's just a guess.  If your cuttings are exposed to nighttime temps in the 40s and 50s that might significantly slow down the rooting process, but probably wouldn't kill it outright. 

Mike,
No one has mentioned Jon's new baggie method.  This is a method with a very high success rate, and I personally prefer it to the sphagnum method.  But this method is really better for mass-production situations, because its primary advantage is that you can fit a whole bunch of cuttings in a small space.  This works very well in Jon's climate because I imagine he goes straight from this baggie to a 1 gallon pot outdoors. 

However, in a temperate climate like most of us experience, the successful cuttings will need to be transplanted to a 1 gallon pot well before it is warm enough to put them outside, so there is little advantage to this temporary space savings.  To put it another way, in my experience, all my cuttings end up in a 1 gallon pot indoors under lights at some point, so why not just start them there.  That way I save myself time and effort, and I don't break any roots.

Rob, good post. I am using Jon's baggy method for about 10 cuttings just to try it out. So far, I am with you. I don't see a benefit unless it is mass-production. I am finding
that I really like the 32 oz deli cups. If I didn't care about seeing the roots I would probably start off in the 1 gal pot. The 32 oz cup allows me to see the roots and it also
allows me to leave them there for a longer period and develop a larger root system before moving them to the 1 gal pot. I may like the sp. moss process  as well, which  I have
numerous variations of that going. I can observe the rooting process and then either put into a 32 oz cup or 1 gal pot. I also have some going the new Rafted process which I was hoping he would add to this thread. I have some going in rock wool also.

Hey Mike.....those in rock wool.....are you using the rock wool tray? From what the guys at hi-garden supply told me, the rock wool tray keeps the cutting out of water but touches the rock wool keeping it moist. I got one complete bag set of the rock wool but they were all out of the trays.

Dennis, no mine are not in the tray. Just individual squares which I moisten very lightly and wring out. I am placing mine in a baggy and putting them in a bubble envelope like Rafted does with
the sp. moss. Haven't seen any roots on them yet, which I started on Nov 12th.

ok, thanks Mike. Let me know how that works out. I want to try the rock wool but not on some prize cuttings.

I am using a couple differant methods but i will not be able to see roots on some of them. buds are swelling on the green ischia i got from a member. i have these potted in a seed mix and perlite mix 50/50. the pots are 3 inch wide and 9 inches deep so only the tops are exposed to the grow lights. the tray is in the bathroom wich i have a small space heater in and is maintained at about 75. the steam from five people showering seems to help. the tropicals love it. and i mist a few times during the day with a spray bottle. green ischia, and hardy chicago were put in 19 nov, osporn prolific 21 november. i have gotten more cuttings in and am expecting some that i bought to be in soon. will get some done today and as the rest come in. keeping a log to know when each cutting went in. not worried about looking at the roots. if they are still alive and growing by april i figure they shold be ok.