Never had any luck with that one but I have read about others who managed to do it.

purpleinopp said:As a whole the conversation screams, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"

:+) !!

Yes that is what I keep telling myself. I have finally found Kiwi fern with the colors I remember when the plant first came out. I am going to take a lot of cuttings of it so I have a better chance of at least having something to show for my efforts at the end of winter.

I think this plant has been propagated so much that it lost its true variegation. The tips with yellow and red blending into a very pretty purple was lost on the other plants I had ordered and purchased as Kiwi Fern. The plants only have a green edge and more reddish vs purple center most of the time when you see them for sale as Kiwi Fern.

This was last year and what they called Kiwi Fern.


This is Kiwi Fern as the colors when it was first released that I purchased this year. Not just two colors like the above imposter. Also, it is more a purple than deep red.

stilldew said:Arlene, have you ever grown Persian Shield from cuttings. A friend brought me some and I'm trying some in water and some in soil. So far, no sign of roots.

I tried several years ago.. it went well.. the plant was huge the next year

Allison - do you recall when (what time of year) you took the cuttings? Did you use the same method as for coleus? I'll try again.

I have a bunch of PS plants because I started them from cuttings. This should be a good time, plants full of vigor from growing all summer. They are likely to take root in soil or water. Cutting at the transition, where it's changing from soft green stem to hard and woody should be your best bet, from what I've done/seen.

Like Coleus, they need a surprising amount of sun over winter, not a plant that's equipped to experience winter at all. Don't write it off if it looks terrible by spring, as long as it's alive, it can pop back to life outside. I gave up trying to keep these looking great over winter, other plants that aren't as 'seasonal' take precedence in the 'good light' spots, and now just stick them wherever they can stay alive. (Hardy here, but still not totally comfortable NOT saving some, old habits die hard, and I can't be sure I'll see this in stores every year.)

They *usually* bloom over winter, if they're going to, for those with better conditions to offer them during that time.

Thanks for the help, Tiffany! I'll follow your instructions and I do have exceptionally sunny windows (many of them) so I hope they'll take root for me. I really appreciate your comment about not writing them off if they look horrible.

same as the coleus.. and I think it was with the fall cuttings I took in.. the one thing I remember about PS is .. if it flowered it doesn't have the same growth as a young plant.. once it matures like some coleus it pooped out.. I had no idea it flowered until the year a nursery sent me one that flowered out of the gate in spring.. was a worthless plant compared to a young cutting

Good information. I've found that with a few plants. Once they've flowered they're really useless.

Last night I spotted a Kong coleus that a mom and pop shop gave me as a gift. I hate Kong so it went to a spot where I wouldn't have to see it often. Obviously I hadn't seen it often because it is so loaded with spent spikes that it's unbelievable (to me). I'll take photos for the database and then whack them down.

I don't think that's a natural aspect of PS, to decline after making flowers. That's not a natural attribute for any perennial/shrub. In a suitable climate, it would make blooms reliably every year, like any other blooming plant. I've not noticed any decline of my plants after making flowers, but not an event common enough to have much on which to base an opinion at all. A couple times inside, once outside. I've always repotted the potted ones in the spring, and taken tons of cuttings to start new plants to decorate the yard, whether I lived where they were hardy or not.

8/19/03, a plant that spent the winter in a pot, made a couple flowers inside, then put roots in ground for summer in OH. Once growing vigorously again, took cuttings to start more, in ground, and at least 1 in a pot to be ready to bring in, to start the cycle over.


I'd be much more likely to contribute any decline to colder weather and/or being confined to a pot. Tropical plants have a difficult time with the short days of winter. Where they're from, there's very little variation in day length. It's also logical to suppose that our unusually long summer days show us an unnaturally vigorous side of some tropical plants, unreasonable expectations. Just a theory, but a logical type one that I like.

Coleus are so sensitive to cold it's natural to see a decline in these that coincides with having some spent flower stalks. Some of my plants are 5 yrs old this summer, better than ever. I don't try to keep an individual root ball going for that long though, they go in the ground, take cuttings when lows starting with a 4 come around, start again next year. When I started taking cuttings much sooner, not waiting until the first night frost actually comes, plants did so much better. A few nights of mid-40's seems enough to shock/stunt Coleus. Not that they can't recover, but avoiding that means no recovery is necessary.

It's also possible I'm/we're lumping all Coleus together unfairly. Some may have more genes from a cousin that's a true annual? IDK. Never could get interested enough in genetics to understand much...

You do give me the urge to send my PS to you for the winter. You're so good with it!

The part about coleus I fail to understand is why a few go to flower so quickly while others are years old and haven't tried to do it. I'm guessing it's genetics.

I dropped in to read what you folks were talking about, saw this bug thread and here is my two cents, and i works! For mealy bugs and fungus gnats on coleus: spray with weak hydrogen peroxide solution, right on leaves and spray the soil where the fungus gnats live. about 2 T per quart.

Nice of you to say, Arlene, TY, but I really think anyone can do it. If memory serves, Cinta has had PS plants actually stay looking nice during winter, a feat I've never accomplished. Maybe they can tell I don't care about them during winter, that my interest is on hold until it's warm outside again?

This past winter I lost a lot of Coleus cuttings to apathy, dried up from no water. Interest level doesn't always hold out through winter to support the hopes & dreams from fall (and imagination about your potential vigilance during winter.) I still think it's easier to keep cuttings in water, for Coleus, and no method is totally carefree.

I've been taking cuttings of other plants too, while they're vigorous and peppy. I bought a clearance NG Impatiens for that purpose a few wks ago & the cuttings are recovered and looking great already!

I'm also doing tons of cuttings of Tradescantias. They all seem to be root-hardy, so I've been putting pieces in the ground to take root, then I'll snap them off again when frost threatens and stick them back in pots. When spring repotting comes, I'll pull all of those from pots and put them in the ground. When they start making long enough stems again, snap them off to put in pots for summer... One of these days they'll get left alone, and I will have big, cool patches of purple! I've got more grass smothering as we speak...

Also a good time to take cuttings of Hypoestes (polka dot plant.) Not a typical house plant with its' wild swings in size and the blooming thing, needs some occasional fussing, but easy to keep alone, or in a group planter. Usually blooming when it's time to come inside, I trim off any stems with blooms to soil level, and any other stems as needed. It's the basal growth that is this plants' visual forté, IMO, and by spring, it pops out a bunch of that.

Cane & wax Begonias - off with their heads!! They're as zippy as they're going to get at my house at this time. I've snapped most of the tallest stems off this past week and stuck them where MORE Begonias should be. Stumps are re-sprouting new tops in days, roots on cuttings very quickly. Wax Begonia cuttings don't even stop blooming, usually. They don't seem as reliable as canes, regarding my treatment anyway. (Like 95% for canes, 85% for wax.)

House plants too, spent hours over the weekend, snapping & sticking. If I had a gentler touch, I'd have all of these holes in the sides of pots full by now. I think I'm too rough with some of the pieces, and not enough patience to stick something in the hole first, mostly just jamming the pieces in there. IDK why, maybe mania?





This Hoya curtisii was getting naked on top, and always thought it needed something for height anyway, but was too thickly foliated at the surface to do that before.




Can't bring myself to snap this one yet, but really want to before it gets too late. Doesn't seem to work well enough to bother inside, for *me,* works best when there's still at least a couple weeks of good weather outside.

I will try it, Tiffany, once I get to the garden where it/they are.

Over winter I can tend coleus happily until about April. Then it overwhelms me. So far I've managed to get them to survive despite my neglect at times. I did take more cuttings yesterday and thought I'd just put them in water but know they'll do better (for me) if I pot them up and I did force myself to do it. This is what happens when I put them in water! They did all grow.


I had to rip them apart to plant them.

My PS during the winter did not have the dark color all winter but they survive. They just look so much prettier if they are 2-3 yrs old than the first year.

I was excited when Tiffany told me how easy they were to root in water. I took several cuttings and rooted last year. Like you all have said I just lost interest and forgot to water so only one of the cuttings survived my neglect.

I took some coleus cuttings today.

To prevent bug infestations you could use an insecticide. I use a systemic one when I bring them in the house. Also, immediately after taking the cutting, I throw it in a bucket of soapy water out in the yard. It will wash off the bugs before they get into the house.

Karen

always good to keep them outside!!

What a job! This will be my first attempt at over-wintering coleus. Didn't 't realize I had accumulated so many. Got about 25 plants in and under the lights. That leaves approx 50 to go. All are rooted / planted. Followed this protocol:

Plants are in 4 1/2 inch pots. All were sprayed yesterday with a Bayer 30 day systemic insecticide. Under gro-lux or equivalent, timer set to 14 hours / day.

Will see how it goes and report back. Any comments / suggestions welcome.

looking good so far.. can't wait to see your results

Looks beautiful! Such a large number, are you running a plant business? If gnats appear a simple way to get rid of them is a teaspoon or two of hydrogen peroxide in a quart spray bottle of water, spray on the soil and also use it to water the plants. Don't even need the Bayer treatment.

My only advice would be to water sparingly and only from the bottom. You should not have any gnats if you only water from the bottom. I could say it 20 more times but people often feel the top of the soil needs to be wet and they're wrong.