I recently saw a post where a member had several coleus cuttings rooting in water. Eureka! I was excited!



I have several large plants that won't survive the winter, so this seemed like the answer! Sure enough, the stems rooted right away.



So what's the problem? Well, during some late-night research, I read that "water roots" won't adapt when planted in soil. Oh. Now I'm perplexed. As an experiment, I also stuck some cuttings in potting soil under fluorescent lights.



Can't tell if they've rooted yet. My question is: which way do you think is better? I'd like some advice before I do a lot of whacking. Thanks for your help.

Yep! I've done that. And, most of the time, the transition is made without much problem. Unless the fact that the cutting has to root all over again is a problem...

The best way is to slowly replace the water in your jar with potting soil. Get the potting soil wet and pour it in. At first, the soil will swirl down and mix with the roots without much work but as the water is replaced by soil, it becomes more and more difficult. Try not to disturb the roots or move the cuttings in your container as plants can't root in shifting soil. You might want to move your cuttings to a container that you can gently lift the plants out of after the new roots have grown. Otherwise, you will be breaking canning jars (been there).

The cuttings you have in soil will not put on new top growth until they are rooted. As long as they don't wilt or rot, all is well.

When rooting in soil or in water/soil try to find potting soil without added fertilizer. After your new plants are established and growing, feed with 1/4 strength fertilizer.

Have fun!

When moving water-rooted cuttings to soil, it is important to maintain a delicate balance between moisture and oxygen around the fragile roots as they make the transition. Use small pots with a porous mix of 3 parts peat moss and 1 part perlite. Then keep the soil damp but not wet or dry. They require constant monitoring until the transition is made. Experimentation and experience help a lot.

BTW, I know the conventional wisdom is to discard Coleus at the end of summer. However, they can be maintained quite nicely indoors through the winter. In the fall, they do start to fade as the daylight is reduced. However, if you prune them back sharply, keep them on a sunny windowsill and maintain the soil moisture they will come back nicely and quickly and look good through the winter.

I tend to sound like a broken record on the subject of rooting cuttings. I prefer the Forsyth Pot method. (Lots of information all over the internet.) I use Vermiculite as the medium and, after the cuttings have formed roots, I do not remove any Vermiculite that adheres to the roots. Just plant the rooted cuttings in your preferred type of planting medium and...no problems yet.

I first learned about this method from zuzu'spetals when I was a member of PlantSwap.net:
http://www.plantswap.net/forum...

https://www.extension.umn.edu/...

By the way, the originator of this method...his surname was Forsyth...not Forsythe. And of course, he was Scottish.

I was thinking about the Forsyth method but couldn't remember the name or exactly how to do it. Glad you popped in Greene.

I understood GrammaChar's problem to be that she had already rooted the cuttings and was wondering what to do next, hence my solution.

Coleus are perennial - I have kept them as house plants for years. They take a lot of pruning to keep a reasonable size.

DaisyI said:
Coleus are perennial

Yes, Coleus aka Solenostemon scutellarioides are perennials in a tropical climate, sold and grown as 'tender perennials' in some areas, and in many areas are sold to be grown as annuals. Yes, we can keep them alive by bringing cuttings into the house.

Thanks to all for your replies.
@WillC - The coleus *could* be discarded, but there are several colors that I might not be able to replicate next spring. Plus I'm cheap....I mean thrifty. And I hate to see a plant go to waste.

@Daisyl - I have not yet done any major pruning because I wanted to experiment first with just a few cuttings. Having never done coleus before, I was worried about ending up with a bunch of mushy stems. Your note about "house plants for years" has given me hope.

@greene - BRILLIANT! I'm off tomorrow to buy vermiculite. I am very excited to try this method!!!

You guys are great! What a wealth of information! I appreciate all the good advice

I keep some Coleus cuttings in water until spring. They fit easily on windowsills that way. This allows me to have hundreds of plants to use in the spring.

I stick them in water and in soil. Both work. If you want to grow to plant in soil, leave only 4 or 6 small leaves. If you are growing in water to enjoy, they can keep a large amount of leaf. Both methods work very well.

I stick them in water and in soil. The ones in soil become plants as pretty as they were outside, but bloom so much I remove most of the flowers because the blooms are larger than the stems, and I fear the plant would grow better without that competition. The ones in water are lovely too.

Yes, the other cuttings of mine that aren't in water (which are only some) are stuck directly in pots.

I grew up in Moscow (huge city with cold winters and no soil). The only gardening was indoors. Coleus was one of the most easy plant to grow. We used water rooting. No hormones, no vermiculite, and no problems in transition to soil. What I like about water method is that you can put whole bunch of cuttings in a jar and they can sit there for couple months. Yes the roots will be huge, but it saves a lot of space. Now I use just water for clematis and roses. It works!

Thank you for the process @Greene. I will be trying this one. Finally I have a use for some vermiculite in the shed. Sounds like the smoothest method of all.