rooting Mangrove cuttings????

[eddie]

ok probably no one has done this before but Im curious to see if anyone out there can add insite......

I wonder can I root cuttings from my branching mangroves ????

would I need some type rooting hormone like for landscape plants????

would they root under intermittant mist mabey to help keep the leaves hydrated until they root?????

would the best rooting media be sand or just water?????

[billsreef]

I never thought working my way through college on farms and nurserys was doing more than paying the bills, till now ;)

My inclination for a woody plant like a mangrove would be to try a technique called "air layering". Pick a likely looking branch, strip the bark away in about a 1" stip (circumfrance of branch). Put some root hormone powder on it and then wrap some moist spaghnum moss around the area in saran wrap or tin foil. Depending on the plant it might form some roots in a few weeks or longer. You might want to do a search on "air layering" to double check my memory on the technique.

[eddie]

I've seen kits in nursery catalogs that look like little pouches you wrap around the area that contains the rooting media for air layering

good idea!! I havnt thought of that one.


I have grafted weeping jap maples & also pink dogwoods & have alot of horticulteral knowlege being from farm/nursery boonies myself

thanks for the insite its worth a try...


just think captive propagated mangroves mabey .....