iochroma 'plum beauty'

[dionysus]

hi everyone, i have quite a large iochroma 'plum beauty' in my yard that i really like and may be gotten rid of by the land owners soon in order to maintain the property. because of this, i have taken some cuttings and am doing my best to keep the genetics in my possession now but have one question, how moist should i keep the soil they are in to promote rooting? i really don't want them to rot or not root from dryness so any help would be aprecciated.

also, once they have rooted and are doing well i would be happy to trade some of them if people are interested.

thanks

[planthelper]

hmm, i never probagated this plant, but...

it's obviously quite big, and it's a solani, so i would....

dig with the spade and try to remove parts of the plant with roots, prune it back a lot above ground, so the above ground growth, matches the damaged root system.

leave as much of the garden soil on the root ball, i guess this plant is not fuzzy with soil.

than pot it right away into a sizeable pot, using potting mix, mixed with some of the gardensoil.

pull and dig out aswell smaller stems, and use them as cuttings, but those cuttings should be placed into sterile seedraising mixture, and a softdrink bottle dome placed over it.

it's probably an easy cutting, as it's a solanaceae.

don't make it too hard on you, taking cuttings, or pulling a sucker, is far less work than digging out a plant.

[dionysus]

thanks for the help ph!

the 'mother' plant its self is in perfect health, it is to be removed so that a larger shed/new fences etc can be built by the owner of the property, hence my interest in propagating it as i see this as the only way to save the genetics. sadly the same micro climate (sort of between a wall and a fence, getting noon full light and morning/afternoon partial shade) that seems to have allowed it to grow so large is the reason it may be cut down as vehicles will apparently need access.

i have taken several small stem cuttings this morning to add to the green branch cuttings i had taken and added some of the soil from around the base of the tree to the pots in case you were suggesting some sort of symbiotic bacterium being present and also put under half soft drink bottles as well (where they weren't previously), hopefully soon i will have some good results.

cheers

[planthelper]

for the cuttings don't add any garden soil, i thought i made that clear, by saying "sterile".

for cuttings never add garden soil, never!