My tiny little two-leaf cebu blue was rotting on me a couple weeks back! And then I thought of your perlite prop boxes and made my own out of a Tupperware container! So far it’s looking fantastic and I even spotted a new leaf unfurling 👀 all thanks to you, Fern! Thank you so much! Can’t wait to use this method with other cuttings! 🌞🪴
Hey, thanks so much for making a video about the actual maintenance of prop boxes. So many people make videos on how to make them but forget this crucial part, how to keep them going. Do you have a video or any insight to share about how you choose which plants to prop in perlite vs spaghnum? Thanks again!
I love that hastatum behind you. Mine's so small and it's been a very slow grower for me. By the way, after months of watching your videos, I finally figured out who you resemble. Suki Waterhouse.
Superthrive has IBA in it which is what one of the things we use in tissue culture to get roots. It’s a rooting hormone. If you look at rooting hormones, that’s usually the active ingredient.
Hey quick question plant community! I have a beautiful LARGE prop box and have 20+ varieties of cuttings (mostly tropical or subtropical and love humidity) and most have been in there for 4-6 weeks and little to no issues. They reciee 10-12 hours of light from a full spectrum grow light (attached to the lid via velcro). However, the tips seem to get "soggy" and brown/black in the last few days? Unsure why I spray it when it gets dry-looking and I also treat the whole box with Neem oil once a week. I get some mold sometimes. Any help on what's happening? Is it leaf rot? Does it need to air out more than once a day for at least an hour? I love the box and it will be my primary source of propagating.
I have a question for you Fern. I have pothos wet stick propagations that have rooted and produced 1 leaf and are working on a second in perlite. Is it safe to pot them up now or should I wait for second leaf to completely open? I don't want to lose the second leaf. Thank you for any help you can provide.
@@wildfern thank you. I have a raphidaphora tetrasperma wet stick, rooting in perlite. It has two new leaves but minimal roots. I think I'll wait a bit longer.
I put wet sticks in both perlite and sphagnum! I’ve had good luck with both. I did just find a couple rotted in my perlite box though :( so use caution lol! I’ve also had great success. It’s not 100% guaranteed of course, but I have a pretty high (maybe 90%) success rate with both perlite & sphagnum wet sticks. Perlite is faster.
I'm 36 years young, and I watch Fern's videos religiously. I recently started using propogation boxes, with perlite, and I'm happy to say it's worked out incredibly well. If you haven't tried it yet, DO IT.
@@PoisonB478 Absolutely! I just thought the comment was asking how often to put fresh perlite into the box. Anytime I use it in cups, I boil it after taking out cuttings and putting in new ones
@@wildfern thank you! I think I’m understanding why 100% humidity doesn’t work for me. I’m trying this with chonks and that’s too high of humidity for those but perfect for smaller cuttings. Thanks for the reply, that’s the confirmation I needed. Appreciate ya
Ok so I still have a question 😅 anddd maybe you could do a video on this also but how do you prepare your plants for the prop box? Because I tried again and I’ve rotted three stems and one has mold within three days! There was no standing water and the perlite was only rinsed and there’s wasnt even a spec of humidity showing like your boxes 😅 I don’t think I have the touch hahaha
Huh interesting!! I usually just cut and pop them right in. Sometimes I let them callous for an hour or two if they are oozing (like Hoya etc) It's fascinating how everyone has such a different experience! Good luck x
@@wildfern maybe it’s the size of some of the pieces... and if they’re dry or not before I put them in the box. Idkkk. I’m going to wait and see what happens and just leave the boxes be lol
I've gotten mold everytime I've tried perlite. Same w prepping. Just rinsed the perlite. Wasnt super wet. No water on lid etc. And within a few days everything was molded. And a few rotted
@@KaylasPlants I have no idea! I live in Georgia which is humid. But my house isn't. House stays about 72 consistently in summer and 65ish in winter. Especially in summer there's plenty of air movement w the ac. The containers I've tried were small Tupperware so maybe size plays a factor. I forgot I had 1 success w perlite.. it was a large Starbucks cup that I put perlite in and put a hoya krimson queen clipping in.. then covered the top w plastic wrap. The only difference was that clipping had already started rooting and I planted it in soil but it wasn't taking to the soil(after rooting) so I put it in perlite and it did speedily gain more roots for soil. But all my other clippings I've tried in Tupperware failed. So im too hesitant to root perlite cuz I don't want to lose my clippings
I try not to disturb mine very often. But I think once a week-ish is okay! I haven’t really had any negative effects from it. Sometimes you just need to peek hahah :)
Once mold spores are in the house, air, objects, soil, ect it’s hard to never have it again. I deal with mushroom spores bcuz I grow mushrooms in monotubs in my grownroom (opening the tubs after 1 month to check mycelium growth). Spores are a HOLE OTHER LEVEL 🤣 growing mushrooms/spores is a HARD THINGGG that only few can achieve ... (like me 😎🙌😎💋)
Yeah algae can definitely happen! I haven't had any major issues with it. Once the plants in it are rooted you can boil the perlite to re-use it and I find that gets most of the algae off.
And it will act as a rooting hormone! The only concern I can see is that cinnamon is ground fiber, so when combined with heat and moisture, it can become rather gelatinous 😫😫 I haven't tried it in a prop box though so 🤷🤷
Oh no! Sounds like it was a bit moist 😫😫 Things that I've had rot in spahg do root for me in perlite! I have one box of each and certain plants I've had better luck in one or the other