Hetty, that is so kind of you to offer! I would take you up on it except that I have tried to root red Jatropha integerrima several times and have not yet had success. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
As recommended somewhere, I cut back my jatropha (mother plant) severely, by half, on March 9. I found several places on the internet that said to do that to promote bushiness and mine was getting quite leggy. I took all of the top growth for cuttings, removed all but a couple leaves, used powdered rooting hormone and put them in a fast-draining but damp soil in a shady place. These were last year's growth which means they were woody, which I had read was good for cuttings. All of the leaves eventually fell off. I had read they would do that. But following that, they are supposed to reward me with new growth. That they did
not do.
I have three brown stems in each pot. They still feel firm, but there are no leaves or even signs of leaves. By the way, my jatropha (mother plant) did start to leaf out on March 21 and was fully leafed out within about 7-10 days. It is almost ready to bloom. So cutting it back did work - perfectly. But the cuttings did not work out as well. I am quite experienced in general with rooting cuttings and have had lots of luck with many other plants but not with jatropha.
If you have an idea of my mistakes and/or how I can get them to root, I would love a pink one. I would be more than happy to either pay for postage or in return, send you anything I have (I have a computer list of all of my plants that I could send.). But right now, I think I would just kill them. ??
What do you think?
Carol
