A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Plant Propagation propagating plants in newspaper?

A friend was telling me that she learned from a lady that grew patcholi,that she propagated her plants this way..... by placing the cuttings in newspaper and wetting it down and keeping it moist for about a week, then putting the cuttings in soil. She also propagated blue sage that way too. While there are other ways to propagate these, I am just curious of the method and would like to know about any info on the the subject.

I've had a brugmansia cutting sent to me last year wrapped in a moist paper towel and wrapped in a baggie. I received the cutting, opened it, but forgot to plant it. I came back a week later and was surprised to find that there were healthy roots growing.

The whole 'idea' to wrapping in moist newspaper is to create a moist environment to encourage the cutting to root. 90% of the time, cuttings fail to root because of too much moisture or they dry out in the process. If you do want to try this method, make sure your squeeze out the water from the newspaper/paper towel so it's moist and NOT slopping wet. After that, to rewet, you can pour a bit of water over it, or dunk the paper end in water. Enclosing the paper end of the cutting in a plastic bag (open it daily for fresh air and reseal) can help the paper stay moist longer.

How cool can it get ? Brug rooted..

My first brug is in blooom today. yesterday it was yellow , today it is pink.
July it never bloomed before ..September it did.

Photo after it opens fully.

b

ty kennyso, thought i would try it,i remembered my mom always put newspaper in the bottom of her holes when she planted roses, they always did well. thanks for info i wasnt too clear on how much moisture b4 now i get it. gl with ur angel trumpets i had a nice tree when i lived in fla, the pink ones and also some purple on bushes which were very prolific and easy to grow from the scattered seed pod. i really enjoyed the fragrance. flickr.com

i've never heard of putting newspaper at the bottom of planting holes, but i know some people line the bottom of their pots with it so the potting mix doesn't fall out. I do know that newspaper is great for smothering weeds to make a new garden. You can make great biodegradable pots with it, as well as add it to your compost as a 'brown' scrap. ah the wonders of the newspaper lol if you're scared of drowing cuttings that you're trying to root in potting medium, you can always add perlite to make it drain faster :)