"BIC" wrote in message
...

"Peter Sutton" wrote in message
...
I have just carried out an experiment with cuttings of Salvia 'Mystic
Spires' made 10, 11 and 12 days ago. The cuttings were all treated in
the
same way in a heated propagator at 27C and 100% humidity inside a light
box.
Of the 10 day old cuttings not a single one showed any root. Of the 11
day
cuttings 6 out of 8 showed some root. Of the 12 day old cuttings 4 out
of
6
showed root, and on average it was a good bit longer than the 11 day
cuttings. Am I right in assuming that cuttings spend a long time in
preparation, and then the roots themselves are produced fairly quickly
at
the end. I also put a number of cuttings in water, but after 12 days
none
showed any sign of root.



does it need to be a cutting,

There was a good post, a few months back on here, where a poster told the
story about a bay tree he removed from his garden. He cut the main trunk
and
left it as a pole/post in the garage. If I recall his story, a year or so
later he planed it and turned it into a post to put a house name/number
on.
After hammering it into the ground, a few week later it was sprouting new
growth...........some cutting that.

Its a huge subject, and I was really only questioning the speed at which
roots form. I had always assumed that they grew at a linear rate, ie after
10 days the roots were twice as long as after 5 days. But my recent
observation implies that for 10 days nothing appears to happen, then two
inch roots can suddenly grow in only two or three days.