Mid-March is officially here and there’s still snow on the ground. That doesn’t surprise me though, and in all honesty, I think it’s a good thing. Our weather has been so dry that we need any amount of moisture we can get. It’ll help the farmers and the gardeners.
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I’ve been planting more seeds (Spring must be close; I just saw 3 Canada geese fly by my house.) and adding more grow lights to my shelving.
Taking Cuttings
I’m also excited to say the citronella cuttings I took on February 24th are showing signs of growth, and at least 6 have roots growing out the bottom of the cell packs. That alone shows promise because I didn’t use any rooting hormone; I cut them from the mother plants and stuck them in potting soil and put the trays in a plastic bag.
I almost lost the entire lot of them when I opened the plastic bag the tray is in and left it open. I checked on them a few hours later and found them all wilting so quickly closed the bag. I’m happy to say that by the next morning they were all happy once again.
I’ll be transplanting the ones with obvious roots into individual grow bags, then placing the bags in plastic bags to maintain the humidity they require. I found that regular freezer bags will work great for this purpose. They can be loosely tied at the top with either a twist tie or a piece of twine to control how much humidity stays inside the bag.
I have never had success with rooting citronella before and I attribute it to the fact I was only using water. By putting the cuttings in potting soil and a humid environment it allowed them to focus their energy on developing roots.
I’ll take more cuttings in a day or two and will use rooting hormone. It’ll be interesting to see if the roots develop faster than without it. I usually end up buying new citronella plants every spring because I don’t overwinter them. This past fall I decided to bring the two I had inside, and put them in a big north window. They did stretch out a little because of the lower lighting but overall they have done well.
I took the cuttings from the newer growth and am more than happy with the results. By giving them the light and humidity they required I was successful in my experiment. I honestly didn’t know it could be done until I spoke with an employee at a greenhouse my daughter and I visited last spring. The citronella plant they had taken cuttings from was massive; its branches were spilling out of the huge clay pot it was in and onto the floor. The employee said all of the citronella plants they sold had come from cuttings from that mother plant.
She didn’t know how they had done it as she was new there so couldn’t give me much information. For me that was information enough. Between doing a little research online and actually doing my own experiment I was able to come to the conclusion that rooting in soil is better than just water. I’m not saying that’s the only way because I’m sure others have had success with water.
Needless to say, my house might be overrun with citronella plants until it’s warm enough to put them outside. And that’s not going to happen for at least 2 more months; unless I can get my geodesic dome built before then.
Out of the 27 cuttings that I planted almost 1/3 of them are showing roots and well over half are showing new growth. It has been an exciting venture so far and I foresee more gardening successes to come this year. I haven’t been as active with my gardening the past couple of years as I wanted to be so this year I’m making up for it. With the dome on order and so much to do when it gets here I want to get as much done ahead of time as possible.
Have you tried to root citronella cuttings? If so, what was your result? Let me know in the comments below.
All-In Gardening 