There have been some bad results stories about moving the cuttings into one gal pots. Are there any unshared secrets that would improve the success rate? I am about to move about 60 to one gal pots.

Good luck!  I seem to be able to root them all but I lose them after moving them up to 1 gal.  75% of my loses are after moving up to 1 gal.  I don't have a clue.  Gnats do not seem to be a problem, I use the same soil/mix, I have tried light fertilizer, no fertilizer, bone meal, epsom salts, rain water, well water, prayer, profanity, it is the way it is, we only think we are in control, LOL

Danny, LOL, good post. Thanks for sharing all your efforts.

With me it had been humidity/moisture issues but no longer. I now keep the soil barely dampened, like barely clumps when squeezed. Very lightly potted meaning I do not compress or tamp the soil down. I twist the pot to help it settle. I then use a 1 gallon bag as a humidity tent. I keep them out of direct sunlight for a few weeks and then wean them into more direct light and take the bag off. Only then,a  few weeks after potting up do I give then a sprinkle of water. I'd say wait an extra few weeks for more roots if you can to help better hedge. We sometimes get task driven and forget about what the cuttings want. Hope this helps and good luck.

I remembered that I kept this link after starting this thread. This is great info on up-potting from a cup.


http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Tips-on-repotting-from-cups-4679419

After a higher than usual failure rate this winter, I have begun rooting in 2 qt pots.  I just use an inverted cup for a dome, just like I did with cups.   If the cutting survives, it doesn't need to be repotted and traumatized till it's older and stronger.   So far...so good.

Hi Noss,

I bought them from a local commercial grower.   They're the little 2 qt balck plastic trade pots.  He has a couple retail nurseries as well, but since his growing operation is just a couple miles away, I  buy a lot of my stuff from him.

http://www.warnercompanies.com/growers_welcome.asp

I don't use a bin at all for my cuttings. Just a cup on top of a cup, each have ~12 holes melted in them. Once they have enough roots to support the leaves I slide the top cup over to the side about 1-2 cm and refasten with tape. After a day or two like that I take the top cup off. The air where I live is very dry. They stay in the cup until at least 70% of the cup has roots in every square inch. I also want to say that least 1/3 of the roots are relatively mature regardless of caliber(dark tan to brown but not dead brown). I don't fertilize in cup so I can't let them get too large.

I use the same mix I use for my larger potted trees when I go from cup to pot. The soil is very damp but not soggy, I wouldn't be able to squeeze moisture from it. Put enough mix in the bottom of the pot so that when I set the cupped plant in it is up to the right level. Then I spoon the "soil" all around the cup until about 3/4 up to the top of the cup. Lightly pat/slap the side of the pot all around to settle to soil around the cup. Add more soil to bring back up to the 3/4 mark and pat/slap again. Then grabbing the lip of the cup I lightly wiggle the cup in all directions to slightly enlarge the void my cup is filling. When I lift the cup out the shape of the void remains and doesn't collapse.

I find at least half of the time I have had to use a butter knife to coax the roots off of the cup, the first time I did this I thought it was a disaster and the growing medium in the cup crumbled when I inverted the cup. But I do this over a plate and try to be gentle with the crubled root mass. Place the root ball in the void created in the pot. If it crumbled, glently attempt to use something like a chop stick to hold some roots up near their original positoin while putting the cup medium into the void with the roots. If the medium is dry misting the exposed roots before adding back medium is a good idea. Layering a bit of the new soil with the cup medium as you fill the void works great. In the end the root ball is covered with new "soil".  Do the tap/slap one more time, I then put a layer of perlite about a centimeter or two thick on top of the soil to help with moisture control, this was suggested by Jason and thus far seems to work well.

Using a spray bottle I mist any debris off of the leaves(if no debris mist anyway), and water the entire surface with the mister until I am satisfied a have added a good deal more moisture, but not enough that it has run out the bottom of the pot. Place near a window not in direct sun for a day or two, then move to direct sun. Within a week the plants explode with happiness and growth. I haven't lost one yet.

If in the first day I experienced severe drooping or wilting I would use a baggy or humidity dome of sorts along with misting until the plant recovered, keeping it out of direct sunlight. Thus far I haven't had to do this with up-potted cuttings. But I did have to do this last fall with nearly all the plants I received in the mail.

Hope this is helpful to someone.

Hi Noss,

Because you said you are having some trouble I'm telling you it all.

My cups have four holes melted in the bottom and twelve(3 rows of 4 alternating) on the sides.

My rooting mix is 3 parts screened perlite, 1 part Jiffy seed starter mix, 0.5 part vermiculite. But lately I have changed this slightly; I premix and moisten the above in a bag and have it ready for when I need to put a rooted cutting into a cup. I then fill my cup about 1/4 full with my big tree mix then fill the rest of the way up with rooting mix, I put another cup on top and shake to mix the medium. I started to do this to give my young plants a bit more nutrients because I don't fertilize in cups, thus far it has yeilded great results and faster growth of the cuttings.

When I put a cutting in the cup, I mist the roots before adding the medium. After it is full I tap gently with my hand on the side to settle. I then set the cup in the sink and use a spray bottle and mist it until water runs out the bottom. I let it sit for about 15 minutes to drain. Then a take it out and set it on a paper towel(folded twice to make a little square) to leach the excess water, I do this twice per cup, more if the water is still coming out. After an hour or two when a dry paper towel can't get any water and the above medium portion of the cutting is mostly dry I place a cup on top with the same hole pattern as above except I put clear tape on the lowest ring of holes. I put two pieces of tape accross from each other at the seam to hold the top cup in place. I make no attempt to seal the seam, just fit nicely. If I can still see some water in the bottom of the cup I'll twist a paper towel a bit and put it into the bottom hole and tip the cup a bit to get that excess out.

The cups go somewhere warm with some decent light, not direct sunlight. After roots are growing against the cup I remove the tape from the lowest ring of holes. The rest of the cup story is above.

My big tree mix. Mixed on a tarp. As follows-

One 1.5 cu ft. bag of EKO organic potting mix
One 8qt. bag of Epsoma perlite screened through standard mesh screen
About 3 gallons pine bark through 1/4" screen
~1 cup granular Dolomite Lime
~1-2 cups Kelp Meal

The pine bark I get at a local landscaping company in bulk for about $5 per big silver garbage can, it's called Supreme Bark.