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Why do rooted cuttings suddenly die?

I go with nycfigs comparing with my experience.

I would defintily say too much water. A rooted in  100% perlite. Everything fine until leaves occur...then first leaves grew, I watered more because "the poor little plants now needs so much water when having leaves"....forget it.Error!! Rot came and I'm sure, I'm really sure, gnats followed rot. They did not start the damage.

Now that I keep my perlite so dry that I normally would say there is no molecule a water left in the pot (just the weight of pot, perlite and cutting in my assumption)  everything stays fine. No rot, no gnats.

With your rooting medium I would suggest watering once when planting cutting in. And not adding any water until the leaves begin to look like suffering drought despite being covered for high humidity. Then same thing..watering once..again wating once but intensive and not regularly and keeping moist constant.

This is so crucial that I even would suggest spaying for humidity should perfectly not be done on the rooting medium.

As I read in another thread: a user is waiting 15 days after watering the second time..and I got the impression this even is right for cuttings standing in a warm-dry living room in pure perlite....a bottom 2-3 centimeters of it stay wet enough for every root coming....One has to know that the cutting can even supply the first tiny roots with water if there is none...But no cutting can withstand rot when it is wet just a few days because there is now nutrients and water circulating in the cutting so far...so no chance for defense mechanismn to be run.

with your rooting medium I would even asume 3 weeks without water to be okay if not placed on a very hot heating pad.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfig
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by joann1536
My biggest two problems have been overwatering and gnats.  Gnats are the worst!!!  Of the cuttings, almost 100% rooted in December.  My once beautifully rooted cuttings had begun to leaf out in January, and overnight it seemed, the roots just disappeared.  The poor little leaves just withered and died.  I'd never have known, but for the fact that I pulled up one cutting, and there was a big, fat larva snacking away on it.
~ that must be what killed mine ,i had 62 cuttings rooted very nice healthy looking and all.i only have 29 now so they got me good ,i have been spraying them .hope i don't loose anymore geesh ~!


What are you spraying them with?
~they make a fungus gnat spray you mix with water i bought it on ebay i don't know the name right now but can find out i have to find it in my grow room ,any way look on ebay and i bought a small amount it makes 15 gal come with mixing directions and applying instruction i will get the name for you later today i have to go to town don;t have time right now ~

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfig
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by joann1536
My biggest two problems have been overwatering and gnats.  Gnats are the worst!!!  Of the cuttings, almost 100% rooted in December.  My once beautifully rooted cuttings had begun to leaf out in January, and overnight it seemed, the roots just disappeared.  The poor little leaves just withered and died.  I'd never have known, but for the fact that I pulled up one cutting, and there was a big, fat larva snacking away on it.
~ that must be what killed mine ,i had 62 cuttings rooted very nice healthy looking and all.i only have 29 now so they got me good ,i have been spraying them .hope i don't loose anymore geesh ~!


What are you spraying them with?
~they make a fungus gnat spray you mix with water i bought it on ebay i don't know the name right now but can find out i have to find it in my grow room ,any way look on ebay and i bought a small amount it makes 15 gal come with mixing directions and applying instruction i will get the name for you later today i have to go to town don;t have time right now ~
~it is called    ~GNATROL~

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfig
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by joann1536
My biggest two problems have been overwatering and gnats.  Gnats are the worst!!!  Of the cuttings, almost 100% rooted in December.  My once beautifully rooted cuttings had begun to leaf out in January, and overnight it seemed, the roots just disappeared.  The poor little leaves just withered and died.  I'd never have known, but for the fact that I pulled up one cutting, and there was a big, fat larva snacking away on it.
~ that must be what killed mine ,i had 62 cuttings rooted very nice healthy looking and all.i only have 29 now so they got me good ,i have been spraying them .hope i don't loose anymore geesh ~!


What are you spraying them with?
~they make a fungus gnat spray you mix with water i bought it on ebay i don't know the name right now but can find out i have to find it in my grow room ,any way look on ebay and i bought a small amount it makes 15 gal come with mixing directions and applying instruction ~it is called    ~GNATROL~

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfig
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by joann1536
My biggest two problems have been overwatering and gnats.  Gnats are the worst!!!  Of the cuttings, almost 100% rooted in December.  My once beautifully rooted cuttings had begun to leaf out in January, and overnight it seemed, the roots just disappeared.  The poor little leaves just withered and died.  I'd never have known, but for the fact that I pulled up one cutting, and there was a big, fat larva snacking away on it.
~ that must be what killed mine ,i had 62 cuttings rooted very nice healthy looking and all.i only have 29 now so they got me good ,i have been spraying them .hope i don't loose anymore geesh ~!


What are you spraying them with?
~they make a fungus gnat spray you mix with water i bought it on ebay ,any way look on ebay and i bought a small amount it makes 15 gal come with mixing directions and applying instruction ~it is called    ~GNATROL~

Chuck - A lot of people on the forum use Gnatrol including myself.  It's a great product.  Are you spraying your plants
with Gnatrol in addition to watering?

Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfig
Chuck - A lot of people on the forum use Gnatrol including myself.  It's a great product.  Are you spraying your plants
with Gnatrol in addition to watering?
~no i don't get any on plant all you do is wet the soil down as often as it says once every 5-7 days until they are gone.~

I have used Gnatrol in the past with good results.  One thing I remember reading is don't mix large batches since once mixed with water it only has an effective shelf life of about 14 days. 

This year I have been using a coir and perlite mix (2 parts coir/1 part perlite) and have not had a gnat sighting yet but there is still a lot of rooting season to go so we shall see.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lifigs
I have used Gnatrol in the past with good results.  One thing I remember reading is don't mix large batches since once mixed with water it only has an effective shelf life of about 14 days. 

This year I have been using a coir and perlite mix (2 parts coir/1 part perlite) and have not had a gnat sighting yet but there is still a lot of rooting season to go so we shall see.
~somebody on the other forum juat told me they do one app of seven and it kills them all and doesn't hurt tree ,i'm going to try seven~

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifigs
I have used Gnatrol in the past with good results.  One thing I remember reading is don't mix large batches since once mixed with water it only has an effective shelf life of about 14 days. 

This year I have been using a coir and perlite mix (2 parts coir/1 part perlite) and have not had a gnat sighting yet but there is still a lot of rooting season to go so we shall see.
~somebody on the other forum juat told me they do one app of seven and it kills them all and doesn't hurt tree ,i'm going to try seven~
~and thanks for the info i didn't know that ~

I used coir for rooting this last batch of cuttings, and it worked great.  The cuttings were in clear drink cups placed inside humidity domes with heat mats.  I could see the nice big roots through the cups.  Once the roots were looking really nice, and the cuttings sprouted leaves, I potted in 1-gallon black plastic, and was keeping them indoors in clear plastic storage boxes.  I watered them when I repotted, but no heat mats, just humidity from being inside the storage boxes and I "aired out" the boxes daily.  That's when I began to notice a couple of the cuttings starting to look wilty.  I thought maybe it was a bit of shock from repotting, so I left them alone thinking they'd recover in a day or two.  Then, another couple of cuttings started to wilt.  This didn't happen with the cuttings I rooted outdoors last September.  It didn't happen with the ones I rooted in ziplock bags.  I lost a few and I still have a few that might survive.  They've lost leaves, but the branches are still green and not dried out so I remain hopeful.  I pulled one of the rotted cuttings up, and that's when I discovered the larva.  There were no roots at all on this cutting, which had a lot of really good roots when it was in the plastic cup.  Gnats ate all the roots from the cuttings, so the plants just wilted and rotted.

The weather has been in the 60s, a couple of 70s so I've been lugging them out onto the patio during the day so they get some sun. Nights are high 40s, and I am covering them at night.  I have started to use 1 tablespoon H2O2 in a gallon of water.  So far, my fingers are crossed, but it is looking pretty good.

I'm not a big one for using pesticides.  I'd much rather try to prevent them.  

Another one bites the dust! I had a Marseilles vs that had a ton of roots, but rotted. I haven't watered it in ages. No sighn of gnats, just rot. Do you think I can salvage it if I cut the growth and the rot off?