I gathered some Angel Trumpet & Confederate Rose stalks in late November after the leaf drop. I cut them into 12" pieces and stuck the in containers of tap water. They are growing tops like crazy and the Angel Trumpet sticks have roots 4 to 6" long already. The Confederate Rose sticks don't seem to have roots yet.
What should I do next?
Thanks for any enlightenment!!
Tom J
Water roots can be quite brittle, so they have to be handled delicately. In order to save them I would add dirt to the water slowly, let it settle around the roots and dry out a bit to have some support.
that's for the angle trumpet, for the confederate rose, I know nothing.
Make some tea with the leaves and flowers. I double-damn guarantee you will get enlightenment!!
My brugmansias grew very large and since they were in pots, were toppled by high winds last summer. I put the pieces that broke off in a bucket of water and some of them rooted. Like yours, the rood got quite long before I got around to potting them. I put them in large pots with a mixture of potting soil and organic peat. They didn't miss a beat. I have two of them on my kitchen table right now and I gave some away. The mother plants were severally pruned so I could get them into the house for the winter. They are semi-dormant in my basement. You can see them here:
I agree with adding soil or actually soiless mix to the water and gradually pour more and more water out each few days. Use refined vermiculite (seed starting mix) so it's sterile. I've had problems with rot and while I'm not saying you would have problems, you may as well use something which is not carrying any pathogens the water roots may not be hardy enough to ward off. If you have any michorrizae around, put that on the roots or in the water.
Thanks. I already moved each stalk to it's own tapered container and added sterile rooting mix I got from my local nursery that does a lot of stem rooting themselves. He gave me a small bag of fertilizer he buys by the 100# for his own cuttings. He told me to start light feeding in a couple of weeks, and transplant in mid March, so I think I'm on the right track to have blooms this 1st summer. There is a county compost station near me that he also uses material from when he moves his starters to larger pots, so I'll be getting that for fee when needed.
Tom J
Oh you will have 6 foot plants this year! The only variety I find to be slow growing is 'Peaches and Cream.' Brugs which are rooted cuttings always flower the first year. The seed grown brugs may not bloom the first year because they have relatively poor root systems and depend on the fungal threads for the first year. They are huge feeders and will require plenty of fertilizer. When I repot mine after the winter is over I incorporate fertilizer with the half compost, half pottting mix. You can start them right off into 10 gallon containers because they will fast need transplanting into larger tubs. If in the ground, I really do recommend you make sure you use fungal based compost (vegetative materials). The one virus they are susceptible to is tobacco mosaic, but they can survive if kept watered and fertilized.
If you want them to look like trees, you have to limb them up and when you do, make sure you dip the sequitors into a one part bleach, nine parts water solution between each cut. In the wild they self prune out the bottom stems.
Good luck and if you get into it big, there's a great book called Englestrompeten. I have it in English and German.
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