Rose of Sharon cuttings

[Log Cabin Pat]

Hi everyone
I'm logged in and ready to go. It is going to get in the high 60s again today. What weather. As I was watering yesterday I noticed the Rose of sharron cuttings I took a month ago are starting to leaf out, they are not rooted.I do not have a mist system, will these still root? Should I bring them in and put them on heat and treat them as a soft wood cutting?
Please some one help!!! I can't take any more cuttings because I cut the bush way back. I don't have seeds because the Jap. beetles eat the early flowers and the frost took the later seeds before they were ripe.

Pat

[Ann B.]

Pat,

We had a light frost earlier, but now the weather here is in the 50's in the morning and 70's in the afternoon, so I am experiencing similar things. Last week, it was 80's in the afternoon. Yesterday, I noticed that my Rose of Sharon bushes are budding out and have a few leaves. I also noticed that the fig tree has fresh new buds. These will get frozen back when we get a cold snap.

What I do is to just leave cuttings outdoors until a pending frost, then I bring them inside. If it warms up, I take them back outdoors and watch the forecast daily.

I have not tried Rose of Sharon (Althea), but the Deutzia (spell?) cuttings that I got from my mom's lost all their leaves, and I thought they were dead. Then they started budding out and developing new leaves and had not developed roots. I left them alone and they continued to grow new leaves. I just checked the thinnest stemmed cutting, and it has roots, finally.

I do not have an outdoor mist system or a bottom heat system. I just make sure that the soil does not dry out and protect the cuttings from frost until they are well rooted.

Good Luck!