How to Propagate Cordylines (Ti plants)

[tropicalken]

Ken, I did not know that there was a Ti club in California. I wanted to get a Ti club going but it looked as not to many are interested here in the U.S., I also am interested in getting a online Ti talk forum going, with a Ti Wiki. Found a Ti Wiki on line, but it is a little lame as the pics are not that great.

We started our society three years ago. Three of us organized it, but then one had marital problems and didn't have time to work on it, then the other found a very time consuming job, and so I was left to try to keep it going. Another fellow is helping me out quite a bit now, but it's hard to keep a club going. I wanted to pass the hat onto someone else, but there were no takers. A majority of the people want to attend the gatherings but do not like to volunteer for jobs. Many are involved with other plant groups and so are already stretched too thin. Fortunately we have had people volunteer their gardens so we can have meetings. I guess it's much the same way with most plant groups. We do have a ti forum that was set up , but the posting was nil since a lot of our members do not use the computer very much.

We are getting more than $500 worth of wholesale canes in from Hawaii to give out to members on April 7. Those types of meetings are the most popular.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Ken, I have been checking out a few stats on a Cordyline forum, I have to believe now that there is really no use for one. Stats from the ICS forum. Up and running for 31 months, 33 registered users with 18 never posting. Last post with replies was in Oct 2010, 4 posts made in 2011 by one user and received no replies.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Ken, Here are a few numbers from here on Palmpedia from the thread of "The Colors of Cordylines". Thread started 3/22/08, 446 posts, 29 posters in the thread with 23 posting 5 or less post to the thread. Out of the 23, 13 have posted only to the thread 1 time. I guess it is a really very few that want to talk Cordylines.

[Dypsisdean]

I talked to the California Ti guys before they formed their club and offered them a place on Palmpedia like we have the Croton presence now. I have also offered the same to almost every other club and society that IMO is too small to generate the participation that is necessary to keep the momentum going and to have a successful website and organization. The idea was to offer them a state of the art, always updated and maintained, free place to where they could document and index Hi-Def photos in a wiki enviorment, host and post HD Videos and online publications, and have the finest forum software at their disposal with Chat, Classified Ads, etc. And all this could be controlled by them.

But, everyone wants to go it alone and suffer all the downfalls that Ken has mentioned. People have momentary interests and then go on to other things. The website and organization languishes with periodic bursts of interests and then nothing for long periods that is the death of any sustainable endeavor. My thinking was that the only way to keep the interest was to have a place where all the organizations could meet together, and that the common interest in plants and growing things in general would keep people coming back.

I see organizations like the Palm Society of SoCal do nothing with their society's website for the last four years - with no one pushing for new technological improvements that could increase revenues to improve the organization as a whole. The same with the Big Leaf Tropicals, and many other niche clubs. IMO, everything is too fragmented, with each of these small clubs not having the "critical mass" to go it alone. So I watch as they all come and go, with all suffering the same evolutionary path to eventual withering away slowly. Or at the very best, just not going anywhere.

I still hope that my idea of a central meeting place with overlapping interests and more traffic may attract more attention. Along the same lines, that is why I proposed a combined "Society" for all colorful leafs - Crotons, Cordylines, Aroids, etc. There are colorful leafs in every plant group. Maybe a "Fantastic Foliage Society" that would include them all.

But essentially the key is to generate traffic, because once traffic reaches a certain level it is self perpetuating. And small niche clubs will never do it. But perhaps all the niche clubs in one place could.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Earthquake and Bok Choy looking good 4 weeks in...

[Scott Mcintosh]

Have harvested ripe fruit for a few weeks now. Last year I had no ripe fruit till the end of July and early Aug.

[Dypsisdean]

Scott,
Are you going to be sprouting as many this year as last?

[Scott Mcintosh]

Scott,
Are you going to be sprouting as many this year as last?

Dean, Looks like I will be, as I have already harvested/planted seed from Bolero, Glauca, Aunti Lou, John Cummins, Marie, Jackie, Xerox, H.boy and Kiwi. I moved alot of pollen between plants in the fall, so I hope for a few interesting plants in the future. Problem I see with the spring seed sowing is that I will get a lot of damping off in the humid summer conditions in this area. I will save some of the seed for late summer planting.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Kiwi seedlings today (paper towel method used on these seed) from Aug 2011 seed harvest.

[Scott Mcintosh]

If anyone would like to grow some Ti from seed send me a PM. I will have some ready to mail in the next few weeks.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Many of the log grown plants are now growing in gallon pots to be placed in the garden this summer.

[Scott Mcintosh]

The seedling plants are also moving up to gallon pots.

[tropicalken]

Many of the log grown plants are now growing in gallon pots to be placed in the garden this summer.

You have a lot of great new plants. All good choices.

[YVONNE]

If anyone would like to grow some Ti from seed send me a PM. I will have some ready to mail in the next few weeks.

heloo friend

I'M from Malaysia ,would like to try grow cordylines in my garden
found them in this site - very interesting & unique
i was wondering if you can send some seeds to me

if it's inconvience , i'll understand

rgds
yvonne

[Scott Mcintosh]

Interesting that the seed are sprouting right in the ripe fruit on the plants. Look close at the pics and you will see the little plants. Yes, it has been very wet this summer with 26" of rain since June 1st.

[Scott Mcintosh]

The Kiwi seedlings are getting some color. These seedlings I used the paper towel method on and have grown 50% faster than the soil sown seed.

[Scott Mcintosh]

The H. boys seedlings that have been moved to gal pots are picking up speed in growth now.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Still have a lot of seedlings to get moved up to gal size pots.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Kiwi seedling from soil grown seed (front), paper towel seedlings in background.

[Dypsisdean]

The Kiwi seedlings are getting some color. These seedlings I used the paper towel method on and have grown 50% faster than the soil sown seed.

What is your theory about what factors contribute to the difference? Is it just faster germination, or what???

[Dypsisdean]

Many of the log grown plants are now growing in gallon pots to be placed in the garden this summer.

Boy, a lot of new names there. Can't wait to see what they look like.

[Scott Mcintosh]

What is your theory about what factors contribute to the difference? Is it just faster germination, or what???

Dean, My theory is faster germination of the paper towel (p.t.) germinated seed and no root disturbance from removing from a community pot. The community pot seedlings look to be on par with the growth rates of the p.t. seedlings. The p.t. seedlings had on avg a 90 day faster germination rate. If I look back at photos of the p.t. plants from May they were the size of the community pot seedlings today. Pic from May 4th and today...

[Scott Mcintosh]

And here come the flowers as the 2012 seed harvest draws to a close a new chapter begins for 2013 seeds.

[Scott Mcintosh]

The Kiwi seedlings that I used the paper towel germinating method on are now coming into some color.

[Scott Mcintosh]

All other seedlings are moving along with some color tint.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Ti seedlings popping up in the garden everywhere.

[Scott Mcintosh]

I am happy so far ... I see no signs of any solid green on the 100s of seedlings.

[Scott Mcintosh]

the colors of the seedlings in December...

[Dypsisdean]

Scott,

I think they will continue to get even more colorful. Cordylines from seed are like the proverbial "box of chocolates."

[putu enjula]

Wow Scott you have lots of babies!!

[Scott Mcintosh]

Scott,

I think they will continue to get even more colorful. Cordylines from seed are like the proverbial "box of chocolates."

Dean, I am not expecting the real color showing until late next summer. I am very happy with the colors as of now. The good news is I see no solid greens. I am preparing the garden now for spring planting. Lots of work ahead of me.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Wow Scott you have lots of babies!!

Angela, I think the baby count is around 200 . I also have new seedlings now popping from this years seed in pots and in ground under the mother plants. No flowering this year, as I have been removing all flowers since late summer. Need to take a break and get back to basics.

[Scott Mcintosh]

The Kiwi seedlings...

[Scott Mcintosh]

Here is a cool Jackie seedling...

[Moose]

The Kiwi seedlings...

Scott - those Kiwi seedlings have some real hot colors!

I could use a Pink Floyd fix, how is it looking?

[Moose]

Many of the log grown plants are now growing in gallon pots to be placed in the garden this summer.

Scott - love to see some updated "log" photos!

[Scott Mcintosh]

Scott - love to see some updated "log" photos!

Ron, I can't call them logs any longer. The planting is getting underway in a few weeks, pictures will follow. Check out my profile page "albums" as a lot of them are pictured there. I will get you a updated Pink Floyd pic this week.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Scott - those Kiwi seedlings have some real hot colors!

I could use a Pink Floyd fix, how is it looking?

Pink Floyd late winter...

[Scott Mcintosh]

Ron, Here is Red Bull today. It has come a long way from the log last year. The glossy leaf is eye catching. This is one of my top favorites now.

[Island.Pnoy]

Howzit everyone. I'm new to this post and just trying to get some more information and hopefully meet others with similar interest. Like many on this forum post, I too have the ti bug. My difficulty is within my success rate of rooting. The ti that I have been able to root are doing well. But right now it really seems hit or miss with me and lately has gotten me a little down that I am unable to root this plant that is said to be so easily rooted. So basically I am looking for any information that would benefit my rooting success rate. I have had a batch of cane cuttings in soil since April 1 and inspecting them they show little to no signs of rooting. What propagation media do you find works wells and/or tips to help encourage root development and improved success rate. I have tried water rooting, but read the negative effects of water grown roots when transplanting plus my lack of success. Haven't had much success with horizontal rooting either. Most of my rooted ti I have rooted vertically in either a soil or soilless mixture.
Mahalo nui for the time and help.