Rooting in river sand

[pppldj]

Decided to try rooting in sand. I collected some sand from the Oconee River. It is fairly coarse. I bought a sterilite shoebox with lid from Home Depot for about $1.50.Drilled about a dozen pencil sized holes, evenly spaced, in the shoebox bottom. Covered the inside of the bottom with used dryer sheets. Layed down about a inch of sand. Layed down 2 CDD Blanca Negre cuttings horizontally (from Trivia Take 4). Covered with about another inch of sand. Put on the lid. Put in dark closet. Open daily and fanned with the lid. Put back in closet. This project started on 10/22. Coming home from work this morning I found roots sticking up, out of the sand where the base ends of the cuttings are. No gnats, No mold!

[COGardener]

Freaking cool Trip-P!!!

I have thought about starting in cups with the cutting upright in the river sand.

[AscPete]

Thanks for sharing your Sand Pre-rooting procedure.

[pppldj]

I had some rose cuttings from a bush that is sentimental to my wife that refused to root over many attempts. Put one in a clear Solo cup of this sand and the deed was done. Sand is wonderful.

[COGardener]

Very interesting!!!

[Whiterk]

I also root all of my cuttings in sand but I don't bury them. I stick them half way in and put them under a must system and I have great results.

[Blackfoot12]

Is "Playsand" too fine to use?

[Whiterk]

No. Play sand works also. It just tends to hold more moisture than coarse sand.

[pppldj]

Six days later and still no signs of buds emerging from the sand. The first emerging roots were covered with more sand once. I was hoping for rooting all along the cuttings. Then I had intended to divide one of the cuttings into multiple plantlets for sharing. For now, I will continue on this path. If no sign of roots developing along the rest of the cuttings soon, I will cup them up without dividing. Both cuttings are forming roots, one more advanced than the other. I like this sand much more than a fine sand, as the fine sand becomes hard and this coarser sand stays loose and "fluffy".

[AscPete]

Are you a native New Yorker?
It seems that you can't wait a New York minute (they start blowing their horns a minute before the light changes from red to green in anticipation).

The cuttings are only 21 days from start, I usually wait 30 days before complaining about a lack of roots, but you also already have roots!!! Just Saying

BTW congrats.

[Coop]

When I see roots like the ones in your second photo I pot it up. Those are some beauties, time to let it fly
Coop

[pppldj]

Thanks guys.
Pete, that's funny. I would freeze to death in the winter up there. No antifreeze in my blood.
Coop, you are probably right. Don't want mess these up and the old saying "One in the hand is worth more than two in the bush" holds true. I may just have to give up the thought of being able to dive and multiply one of these.

[pppldj]

I let one fly tonight.

This is a 44oz plastic cup. Some holes in the bottom for drainage and air exchange. A circle cut out of a used dryer sheet. A little bit larger than the bottom of the cup. The used dryer sheet is only to keep the sand from coming out of the holes in the bottom. I put down about a half inch of damp sand. Then I put down about a quarter inch layer of potting mix. I sprayed this lightly with lukewarm water from a spray bottle. Now I inserted the cutting. Then I spooned in dry, loose potting mix and covered some of the roots and lightly sprayed again. I repeated this step, this time completely covering the roots. Then I spooned in pre-moistened potting soil and I topped this off with a layer of damp sand.

I thought I had two of these cups, but one is hiding from me. I will pick up another tomorrow for the remaining cutting. There was very little root damage removing this cutting, as you can see in the pictures. I thought about cutting the cutting in half and re rooting the top portion. It has green buds at 4 nodes. Might do that with the other cutting, have to think about it.

[AscPete]

Looks like the cutting is off to a good start. Good Luck.

Just 2 suggestions (for future)...
1. Pre-wetting (pre-watering) the potting mix has been the best approach when potting up cuttings, the mix is made barely damp (dry mix can be added to wet mix to make it drier) and the pre-wetting could have been done with a dilute nutrient solution since the cutting is already rooted.

2. Holes on the bottom of cups are more for drainage, hole on the side of the cup are needed for increased air exchange.

[pppldj]

Round 2. Same tub and same sand. Not sterilized. Nothing different but the cuttings. Added 2 cuttings of Manresa on Dec. 01. I got leaves first this time and one visible root has emerged.

[Rob Ster 010]

Good job and a great idea! Will try this with a few of mine in january.

[Harborseal]

Congratulations! River sand is going to have all kinds of nutrients. Did you rinse it before using? Would you show us a close up of the sand and a ruler with 1 mm or 1/32nd inch markings? Thanks.

[pppldj]

For a close up with a ruler, well this is what I have to use. This sand was used as is, not rinsed, not heated and completely untreated.

[Harborseal]

Thanks! It's far less coarse than I thought it would be.

[don_sanders]

Did you water the sand at any point? I assume it wasn't dry.

[Taverna78]

Used dryer pad great idea also to keep fungus gnats to come inside bottom of pot also

[pppldj]

The footies should work fine. How long have you been using them? I don't know about coffee filters. I have used paper many times in the bottom of containers, but I wasn't rooting in them. I think the other choices give better air flow.

[don_sanders]

Just started actually.

I do use two forties per pot. One seems to easy to snag. I don't want any runs in my panty hose.

[Taverna78]

I hate the runs

[pppldj]

The sand was already wet so I never watered. I had extra sand saved in a gallon ziploc I just used up on a few LSU ICs today as apparently my dog decided to remove a branch. I went and got a bucket full today as I see Wills is offering the one thing I want and some other good stuff.

[maimai2]

You guys can find coarse sand at Home Depot . It is called PAVERSTONE (Patio/Paver sand) . $3.82 a bag of .5 Cu ft

[Charlie]

I love sand.

[Taverna78]

Me too! with my toes in the water....culo in the sand..,. Quote zack brown

[ieatfigs]

I wonder why pre-rooting in sand isn't more popular.