I tried to start a root on a plant, but it didn't work. Should I give up?
Question:I saw a very pretty bush in the trash - it looked like a hydrangea, but it might have been another variety. Anyway, I put it in water, since I left the root ball behind (it was a huge bush, I was taking it out of someone's trash pile!). I was never able to make it root - it's been in water for weeks, and it's still green - but now I've bred mosquitos instead of a healthy plant.
Any advice? Can I just throw it in a trench and expect it to possibly bloom next year??!
Answers:
You need to purchase some plant hormone powder and snip the old end off the cutting leaving as few leaves as possible then wet the end and dip it in the powder and plant it in seedling soil. Leave it in a green house or an empty coke bottle with the top cut off and upturned and moist soil, it should strike well. Hydrangeas are very strikeable.
There are products in store to make it root. I believe one is named Rootone or something like that.
unless you want mosquitos flying around non stop, i'd give up or try a new kind of plant
If someone has thrown out a plant, chances are it is dead or diseased. Cut a branch, if it looks like dead wood, it is dead, but if the inside of the branch shows some green or white it is still alive. I would put it in a pot, lots of plant food on top. Outside when it is warm and sunny, inside when cool or cold weather. If it is alive, you should see little buds after a while.
You can dip the stem in auxin (plant hormone) based solution available from nursery stores and transfer to the soil or clean water. The root growth will take place. Be sure to use not more than recommended concentration of the solution.
The rooting aid powders are usually used in a planting medium. Many plants will root in water but you need to change the water every day or so to avoid mosquitos and rot.
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