[Sandra CA]

Hi,

I’m having terrible problems keeping some milkweed cuttings perky. It’s horribly inconsistent, and I just can’t figure out why some stay upright where others in the same containers just droop. I immediately wash the bottom of the cutting to wash the sap. Some I put in water bottles, and I’ll give them support with tin foil. Others I might put in a clean cup with lid. And some I put in floral foam that’s wet. I keep all of them inside a butterfly “castle”. Right now I have about 40 cats in instar 3/4 and obviously they eat a lot and I can’t afford losing so much milkweed to limpness. Can anyone help?

P.S. I’ve been using root hormone after I remove the eaten stalks to create new plants.

[jules]

To my surprise I have accidentally grown cuttings. I wasn’t keen on using rooting hormone to grow any just in case it wasn’t good for the wee critters.

I had a bunch of branches indoors for the last of the bulk Caterpillars that were getting predated. I drilled holes in the top of the lid of the container they were in so they couldn’t fall in and drown! Most all of the leaves were devoured but the stalk left in the container has rooted and now has small bud branches. I think these will be perfect to plant out in spring as I doubt they will grow very even fast indoors over winter but are already going to faster to establish than seedlings..

I have just done a load more, using straight branches ( no offshoots) in the hope I will have a great head start next season for another patch ! If you do opt for drilling holes in a lid, make sure you leave enough space to pull them back out when they have rooted !

[Jacqui]

If I’ve got hard shoes on, I stand on the ends and “roll” my foot back and forth (on concrete). If I have something like a hammer handy I take out all my frustrations on the bottom of the stem. Pliers would work well (if only I could find them).

[Errol]

I get a pair of pliers and give the bottom of each stalk a gentle squeeze or two. Good luck.

[Sandra CA]

How do you break up the bottom? Like crush it?

[Jacqui]

Don’t know anything about rooting hormone, but when I take cuttings I immediately break up the bottom of the stem, so that they can absorb water, and the cuttings don’t droop.

[Author]

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