About 2 months ago I was intrigued by the idea of propagating Tropical Hibiscus, essentially making copies of the mother plant through stem cuttings. Six weeks ago my first experiment failed. I made stem tip cuts (soft and hard wood), putting the cuttings in a pot of moist perlite after dipping in a rooting hormone. The pot of perlite and cuttings is then placed in a saucer of water, allowing the perlite to wick the water as needed. The experiment failed because I didn't cover the cuttings with anything. Within a few days the leaves actually started to yellow and fall off.
So I revised my next experiment by covering the cuttings with a polythene plastic bag. On July 19th I made 5 hardwood stem cuts of Red Snapper hibiscus, dipped in rooting hormone, stuck them in the perlite pot and then covered. Covering the cuttings creates a greenhouse atmosphere of high humidity which prevents water loss. Several days go by and no yellowing like before. I noticed a huge difference by covering vs not covering. After 4 weeks look what I found....ROOTS! =)
Potted up the cuttings in their own gallon size pot with Miracle-Gro potting mix.
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