Re: [CH] Cuttings from chile plants
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Tue, 05 May 1998 08:16:22 -0700
> Any of you out there had much success with taking cuttings from chiles?
Sure. Works fine. YMMV, but my experience has been that the percentage of
cuttings that strike roots decreases considerably as the temperatures drop.
So, for example, if chile cuttings are just stuck into a glass of water in
the kitchen at room temperature, maybe 50-75% will strike (and mostly
within 2-3 weeks) during height of Summer, but maybe only 25% will strike
(and mostly taking more than a month) during early Fall. (And worse
success rates could be expected doing it during winter.) Under these
conditions, treating the cuttings with rooting hormone before sticking them
into the glass of water seems to have only minimal beneficial effect.
My best results have come from treating the cuttings with rooting hormone,
sticking them into little pots filled with potting soil, and keeping them
under bright light in a 24-hour-per day high humidity/high temperature
(like 90 degrees F) environment. Under these conditions, I would expect
most of them to strike, and mostly within two weeks or so. Of course the
down side is that the inevitable aphids will explode at the 4-week mark and
make the newly developed foliage completely disappear. :-(
--- Brent