As usual, my last round of cuttings in water are not performing as well as the ones harvested before plants were subjected to a few colder nights (40° or below.) BUT snips from the same time that were stuck in pots with other plants already growing are 100% successful.

I didn't grab much late this year because I'd already gotten new starts going of some of each type that wasn't already in a pot somewhere, by the end of Sept. Not many individuals to compare from a late group this year, but it does track with what I've seen in previous years.

Can I ask what size of pot you use for rooting?
I am thinking the ones I did are too small. One has lots of roots sticking out the base already. Those ones are a similar volume of a coffee mug, inside. Too small?

Do I pot mine onward to bigger pots or just leave them be?

Are you asking about potting unrooted cuttings as solo pots? I rarely do that, and don't think I ever have for Coleus. When I put Coleus cuttings in a pot, it's always a pot that already has other plants growing in it. I can't offer much to compare.

A coffee mug size is much smaller than almost any Coleus cutting that I do. I think that's mostly because a 2 foot cutting can be inserted all the way to the bottom of the pot and still stick up and out of the way of whatever plants were already growing there. Or if it's going into water, the lower 8-9" (how tall is a beer bottle?) will be in the bottle, so there needs to be enough stem so the foliage is not in the water. When they're shorter than that, I leave the top few nodes out and submerge whatever is under, either in soil or water, all the way to the bottom of the foliage that is going to stay on.

Not saying it's the best thing to do, and this isn't advice, just saying what I do and the results of it.

Oh gosh, I did not think to mention the size I used . Pretty much spot-on the same as in Bea's tutorial. Perhaps 6" cutting with the bottom 2-3" buried.

I kept one on a heat mat in a warm room with grow lights, and one in a colder room on a sunny windowsill. Oddly, the heat mat one has flourished with lots of extra branches and leaves being made, but almost no roots poking out the bottom. The colder windowsill one, though, has very little if any growth on top, but a big mass of roots coming out the pot base.

I may have to repeat the experiment, or have my current ones switch places for a bit

Definitely, that's interesting. Let us know what happens. I don't pay that much attention to compare, and if there are roots coming out of a pot, I have no idea which plant is making them, usually. Some roots are obvious among just a few friends.

You guys are my go-to for anything coleus, now. Hope that is OK.
My "problem" is that the coleus I dug up and potted, as well as the cuttings are doing too well.

Do they normally grow like crazy indoors? They also will not stop flowering. I figured they would quit that over cold months. But no. I am constantly running round with scissors cutting flower stems off before they can mature. It is getting hard to keep up with them. I fear a Jack-and-the-beanstalk incident might be a couple months away, at this rate.
Also, they adore being watered. All the time. Thirsty little things.

What do you guys do when they are indoors? Do you keep them in more shade to allow them to grow slower? Or do you cut them back once in a while? (My potted original is on a windowsill, and both cuttings are under grow lights on heat-mats as I thought that would encourage rooting).

Mine are at a very sunny kitchen window and have done very well. They'll do fine and resume their vigorous growth in mid February. I do use this time to take cuttings for summer.

Some do insist on flowering despite our best attempts to halt that process. I cut back any that try to flower.

Thanks. Perhaps I shall do that too, make cuttings of my cuttings to keep them small enough to manage.

I have a hard time cutting off the blooms. A few flower bits on the floor in rooms where nobody goes but me aren't much of a bother. In a more visible spot, I could understand a different plan.

If it's height that is at issue, keep pinching the 2 newest leaves from the tips to slow the upward mobility and cause more side branching. You can remove older, bigger leaves if they're blocking too much light from something else. Try to keep 'em rotating if not packed too tight.

Pinching sounds good, too.

Yup, ditto. Cuttings, pinching.

LorettaNJ said: Yup, ditto. Cuttings, pinching.

They are so easy! Even many, many years ago when I lived in an apartment, I grew lots of coleus (and other house plants) They root in water so easily.

I only plant the rootings in soil. I've had better luck with soil than water.

Arlene, they start in water here only because I am usually racing the bad weather plus it takes up less room for a little while. But it would be better if I started them in soil in the long run.

I went through it far too many years but lost too many, all my own fault. I tend to be more careful with actual plants than rooted cuttings.

Since I started observing a loose rule of doing water for cuttings done before the nights in the 40's arrive, but sticking to soil for plants that have been exposed to those temps, my success rate has gone up. I haven't kept any notes, but I've done that the past few yrs and have ended up tossing very few fails. Being more realistic about the amount of light has helped too. A shelf across the room from the window isn't going to cut it, no matter how great it looks on day 1. They need a lot of light over winter.

My interest in using water is because they take up so much less space, it's free, and it takes just seconds to pop them into the ground later - which is where I want them. Tending pots of Coleus over summer is too hard here, too much watering.

Here though, the roots will rot in water most of the time. I should boil it first and see if that helps. I used to.

Tomorrow I'll visit Rosy Dawn coleus and give myself a nice Christmas gift.

Arlene, will you only order 3? It looks like a dangerous site to me!

Probably many more than three.