Rooting Fire Power Nandina

[Kathypat]

I bought 100 rooted cuttings of Fire Power from Roger Fisk at Morton's. He said they are real easy to root. Roger, if you are lurking around anywhere, why don't you give us all some hints?

I am going to try it myself when the weather gets a little warmer. I'll let you all know how they turn out.

[Ann B.]

Kathy,

I also plan to try Nandina Firepower when the weather gets warmer. I am out of space, or I would try it now.

One member told me that Nandina wouldn't root because the stems were hollow. To tell you the truth, I have never even tried to take a cutting, so I don't know about that.

What I do know is that a couple of years ago, I tried to root some Duetzia from my mother's and failed. They are about as hollow as you can get in the Fall.

I tried again this year. All the leaves fell off while they were in water and before I got to them. I tried to root them anyway using Stem Cutting methods on landspro.com . They produced more leaves, but about a month after I put them in the garage to overwinter, the new little leaves fell off. I thought I had lost them, but continued to keep them barely moist. Then last week, new leaves started forming again. I am almost afraid to check for roots until these babies are producing new branches.

Keep us posted on how you do, and I will do the same.

Thanks, Kathy!

[Kathypat]

I'll keep you informed. Roger said to just cut them at a leaf joint dip in rooting hormone and stick. I don't know how long it takes. He had done his over the summer. I bought them in early fall and they are doing great. I put the bigger ones in 3 gal containers and smaller ones in gallons.

I bet you have roots on yours. Will be anxious to hear.

[William Blocker]

Kathy P
I tried propagating some last summer with no success.I've been told by several propagators to follow the stem to where it goes from green to a darker color and cut there.I'II be trying again next summer,this is one I want to grow.
William B.

[Ken]

Kathy
Fire power is easy in early summer. When the stem turns from green to brown stick it in the ground. Leave 1/2 inch of brown and wound. We get the best results in peat and pelite.
Ken

[Ann B.]

I do believe that you two have given Kathy and I a head start.

Thanks, ever so much! We will keep you posted.

[Kathypat]

Does it matter if you cut where the leaf joint is or not? I assume from your advice that you just cut the stem 1/2 inch below the green part - joint or not.

William is right, I would not have done it this way and probably wasted valuable time. thanks.

[Ken]

Yes cut at an angle below a leaf in the brown area. Pull all but three or four leaves. In this area the leaf stems are almost on top of each other. This is the large stim not the small stim the leaf is on. Most of my cutting were short except for the long stims the leaves were on. ( 2 to 3 inches)

[marguerite]

I hope you guys will forgive my ideosyncracies, I am reading the old pages of the forum from the back to the front because I don't want to miss anything. I looked up the fire nandina, neat!. Does it propagate by ground runners like the Heavenly Bamboo variety does, I have thousands I have been meaning to take out of the front flower bed (at least it seems so) because i only want one neat row across the back as a background, you have to have a really sharp spade to cut the roots apart to separate the plants.

I have a question, my Heavenlys are covered with beautiful red berries this year. This has to be the seed. Does anyone know how to propagate them from these seeds? Can you pick them while they are still red or do you need to wait until they sort of shrivel up and look like they are ready to fall off? I'm getting ready to plant about 3000 privets in flats, so I guess I could just try an experiement with them also. I like to cut privets down at about 8 feet to use as bean poles. If I could grow a controlled row of them in the garden and coppice them, then I would have an endless supply of bean poles forever, no? Besides, the fragrance is totally glorious when they bloom, better than jasmine and honeysuckle to me.

[Glen in BCz7]

Marguerite and all-I somehow thought the seeds were tough to germinate, but Sheffields site just says to soak 24 hrs. then sow with no stratification.

Nandina is a pretty warm climate plant, so no cold treatment for seeds makes sense. I guess the only trick left for your own collected seeds is getting rid of the berries. I'm no expert at that stuff, so good luck with mashing, soaking, brewing, whatever it takes to separate seeds out of pulp.

Nandina's are a favorite landscape plant around here, being evergreen and a neat sort of texture that is quite unique. If you could get your excess offsets from the front yard containerized, they might have a market with landscapers, if not homeowners. Of course, where you are these might grow like weeds and be oversupplied, I'm just thinking in our area they would have a pretty good demand. Just a bit trickier to root cuttings than the average shrub, so there is a bit of a premium price here.

The named varieties, including the dwarf kinds, would be more interesting to retail market, but the landscapers often prefer the bigger, more basic, and yes, cheaper plants like the straight species nandina in this case. My landscaper pal wasn't even aware there were "varieties" of nandina.

Glen in BC

[sue salley]

I've tried nandina from cuttings also with no luck.
I wish you could see the ones here now. We have two that are loaded with big red berries. They are realy beautiful with a little snow on them. They are tough plants.

[Ann B.]

I noticed some Nandina planted like shrubs or bushes today at the cemetary, and, my friends, these were the ordinary, not dwarf variety, and they looked so very nice, especially this time of the year...

Marguerite, the berries are still quite red here, and I checked, but they are not quite yet ripe. The birds seem to do a pretty good job of planting them here and there, but they don't seem to be terribly invasive from seed.

They do spread, however, from their roots. Ie., they seem to multiply quite readily, and I even have a few growing in pots with other plants...

So, I suspect that growing them from seed is not hard. Just make sure the seed ripen, and you get to them before the birds do....

LAS!

[Tom]

I just checked the bible of the plant world and Michael Dirr says the seeds are ripe in Oct - Nov and can be planted in the fall through spring. Some may take up to 2 years to germinate, but 70-80 percent should germinate the first spring. Collect them now, and get them planted.

You need to 'clean' the seeds. There are 2 seeds in each berry, and all the pulp needs to be removed.

I assume the same method I use for dogwood seed would work. Here is how I do dogwood seed. I smash them with my fingers or with pliers, and drop the seeds in a bucket. Then turn a strong stream of water on them with the hose and give them a good bouncing. Keep the water running and the excess pulp will drain off the top. Collect the seeds, let them dry for a short time and then plant them. I put them only a few inches apart in a large container and transplant the ones that germinate after they have a few true leaves on them.

[Ann B.]

Thanks, Tom!

I took a couple of berries off my neighbor's yesterday. I pinched them, and indeed, I noticed what appeared to be two seeds.

But they are still white seeds and don't seem to have any seed coat on them....

Do you think I should try some at this stage?

[Tom]

I went outside and picked a few, squished them and the seeds inside are indead white. There seems to be a thin husk forming over them, but it's not hard. More like an apple seed than a true berry.

But the fruit is definately ripe. Some birds or something has been taking them already. The exterior has changed from the bright shiney red to a dull kind of orange/red (remember I'm color blind)

I would plant them now. I suppose you could dry them for a day or two, but I don't think I'd leave them out much longer than that.

[marguerite]

Since 95% of my yard is bird preserve and playland, they can move 10 feet East and eat Yaupon berries, they are nice and juicy red too. Maybe I won't have 3000 little seedlings there to dig up, those are nasty babies with little thorny branches.

I'm picking the berries. I will keep you guys posted if anything sprouts!