Aaron how is your Ocotillo doing? Still have it?

It died, just too cold here, but have I seen two big ones Boise ID, but I think the cold last year got them. 😐

Dang. Thought about trying one; but my goal is to avoid plants that I have to baby all the time so I am not sure. Likely too cold here too.

Dang. Thought about trying one; but my goal is to avoid plants that I have to baby all the time so I am not sure. Likely too cold here too.

You have a better climate for them, may not hurt to try one or two, if you can find them cheap enough. 😉

Ya maybe I'll give one a whirl. Guess it couldn't hurt.

Aaron I found 3 cuttings of Ocotillo on the world wide web. Gonna try my hand at these. I'm a sissy, this is probably as much zone pushing as I'll do 😆

I've read so many sites saying they are cold hardy anywhere from 15 and some sites saying 0, so I'll give em a shot.

So my plan is to plant them in pots with rooting gel until they form good roots and then plant them in the ground in a year or two. Does that sound like I'm approaching this correctly?

Aaron I found 3 cuttings of Ocotillo on the world wide web. Gonna try my hand at these. I'm a sissy, this is probably as much zone pushing as I'll do 😆

I've read so many sites saying they are cold hardy anywhere from 15 and some sites saying 0, so I'll give em a shot.

So my plan is to plant them in pots with rooting gel until they form good roots and then plant them in the ground in a year or two. Does that sound like I'm approaching this correctly?

I'm not sure, I have never tried a cutting before. 🙂

What temp/duration finally killed your Ocotillo? There are inversions that sometimes set in the valley in winter and are 2-3 weeks long sometimes of high temps in the med to high teens. That's what worries me.

What temp/duration finally killed your Ocotillo?

It looked good all winter, it was in the late winter/spring that it started to rot. It was a cold winter, and I had it covered. I'm not sure what temps did it in.

Most plants can handle cold weather, most of the time it's the duration of the being frozen that kills them. So a zone 7 down south is going to much better than a zone 7 in Idaho. I would say if you find one from it's colder parts of it's range, I bet you might have a chance. They do survive the winters in Albuquerque NM.

Received my Ocotillo cuttings in the mail today. Put some rooting hormone powder on them to assist with growing roots. They were good specimens. Picture doesnt do them justice. They are fresh cuttings, and even have leaf buds starting to form on them. Came fresh from someones yard in AZ.

Well see how they do; time will tell. Wish me luck!

This will be a good test, and lots of fun to watch. 😀

I can never figure out how deeply to stick the cuttings into the soil.

Yeah, you can see the buds.
Have you got a nice dry-ish spot for them, say, under an overhang, or a high spot in the yard?

Barb

I put mine in about 5" below soil line to root.

Bato, I would be careful with your soil. It looks peaty, I recommend adding perlite or DG to increase the drainage.

Thanks. Should be fun. From what I read on the web, I planted apx. 4-5" deep.

For the soil it may be a little on the Peaty side but I don't believe it is as bad as it looks. I took standard potting soil and added apx. 25% perlite, and 25% sand. It does drain fairly well. What about adding crushed granite at some point? I would prefer not to disturb cuttings as much as possible. Also, perhaps with cuttings, a soil like this may work better to generate roots than a soil that is too gritty? I've never messed with cuttings. I will keep an eye on it and everyone posted. Thanks for the heads up.

Messing with cuttings will not hurt em. Its more important to get the soil right so that you dont have to bare root em when you plant em. I dont use a true gritty mix either just make sure once the soil is completely dry and you water, that the water goes straight through. Peaty soil will resist water at first, then hold water too long rotting your roots.

And sand can actually keep the potting medium too moist as it packs.
Gritty stuff is better, I've experienced that myself.

Agree with your comments, Chad.

Barb

Planted my ocotillo cuttings in my test bed. Hope they are as hardy as they are reported to be.

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