Starting curry trees from seed

[larry_stewart]

Now that you made all these cuttings, are you leaving them inside under lights, outside until it gets cooler ?

I made a few cuttings today, some directly in soil, others in the hydroponics ( which worked for my figs). and planted about 6 seeds.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, Yesterday I put those in some water with a few drops of KLN - a small container of rooting hormone I keep in the fridge. And today I made up a batch of soil mix, to start these in. I trimmed that bark from the lower 2" or so from the cuttings, then 2 I coated with turmeric, 4 with a rooting powder, and 4 with a rooting gel, before putting them in the 1/2" holes. And while trimming all those kaffir lime branches, I got the idea to try those - not that I need more, but just wanted to see if it would do the same thing. So I have two of those rooting, as well.
Curry tree stem, peeled, ready to be rooted. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Curry tree stem for rooting, coated with turmeric, to compare to the powder and gel compounds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

These I put up near my curry seedlings (still only 3 out of the 8 seeds sprouted), but not under the light yet. When I start seeing the leaves forming (speaking optimistically) I'll put them up under the LED.
Ten curry tree cuttings, and two kaffir lime tree cuttings, put in the soil mix on 10-20, attempting to root. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

I hope they all take, but especially the turmeric. That would be cool.

 

[larry_stewart]

So, I went downstairs where my Hydroponics set up is to check on my parsley. its been about a week since I checked cause I was kinda busy, and too be perfectly honest, I forgot. I can see that they have start to sprout and then realized that I totally forgot that I was attempting to grow cuttings from my Curry plant. Sadly, the cuttings in the hydroponics are not looking good ( dried up) except the one all the way to the right. That one shows possibility of taking. Then I remembered that I also tried some cuttings using the method in one of the above videos, by cutting branch segments and basically submerging them in moist soil and stared some from the few seeds I had from the mother plant. These were in the boiler room, which is right next to the hydroponics, but with a closed off door so I totally forgot about them ( haven't checked since 10/20/21). After putting them in the moist soil, I put a clear plastic bag over them too retain the moisture and humidity. With the seeds, I covered it with a clear plastic tray for the same reason. This room stays at about a constant 80 F, so I figured things would dry up quickly ( and I'd likely forget, which I did).

I peeked under the plastic bag, and to my surprise, the branch cuttings are at a %100 success rate ( I still have time to kill them, but this was literally with no effort at all. I hope they take completely, so I can prune it correctly this time around and keep it bushy, not leggy, was its the leaves that are used primarily. I wish I knew and tried this years ago. The best way to compere this would be the same way I do figs ( which also take very easily). Anyway, hopefully these will mature to good sized plants.

only one of the seeds took so far. Im actually surprised , as this dried out almost completely ( the one with the small branches was still moist).

 

[pepperhead212]

That's great that you have those shoots off those curry stems, Larry! It's been just over 2 weeks since I put mine in the soil, and I don't see a hint of sprouts on them, and I have been misting them at least twice a day. The 3 from the seeds are growing very slow, but are maybe 2 1/2" now.

 

[larry_stewart]

That's great that you have those shoots off those curry stems, Larry! It's been just over 2 weeks since I put mine in the soil, and I don't see a hint of sprouts on them, and I have been misting them at least twice a day. The 3 from the seeds are growing very slow, but are maybe 2 1/2" now.

Im totally considering it beginners luck. I completely forgot about them until about 1/2 an hour ago, when I couldn't sleep so I was wandering around the house trying to find something to do in the middle of he night ( still got to get my oyster mushrooms out of the fridge so they start to produce. Forgot about them too. Out of sight, out of mind).

Im not sure if it was the humidity, temperature or whatever. Hopefully at least one survives .

 

[larry_stewart]

Update on my curry plants.

The ones I stuck directly in the soil still alive. Not growing rapidly, but have a decent cluster of leaves starting .

2 more seeds germinated. Also, not growing rapidly, but kinda funny that one seed germinated within a week or two, and the others waited another couple of weeks to grow. All planted at the same time under the same conditions.

2 out of the 6 plants I tried to root in the hydroponics are showing signs of life. These were the thickest of the bunch ( about pencil thickness, or slightly larger). The thinner ones dried up and show no signs of life. I didnt lift them up to see if there are actually roots forming yet.

 

[pepperhead212]

I still have no sprouts on any of my twigs, and I still mist it a couple of times a day. The 3 seeds are still growing, but very slowly, and two of the remaining seeds have popped up, but don't seem to be growing.

 

[larry_stewart]

The growth all around seems very slow, compared to the videos where they had much more rapid growth. Ill be happy if I keep them alive .

I still have to cut the mother plant down significantly for it to bush out ( like in the video), but I just wanted to make sure these cuttings were a go before I got aggressive.

 

[pepperhead212]

Yeah, I remember one of them starting out "In a few days" these sprouts start...

 

[pepperhead212]

Here are those 3 plants, started from seed, plus another small one, down in the right corner. I had given up hope on them sprouting, but this one just started!
11-20 - the curry trees, started from seed on 9-29. Very slow growers! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Mine are all about the size of your lower right one
To their defense I haven't been paying much attention to them, but this weekend, other than planting some flower bulbs outside, Im going to turn my attention to my indoor plants, and plants that are ultimately coming indoors ( currently in their transition home in the garage, but soon to make it in the house). Hopefully, under better conditions the curry along with other stuff will thrive. But for the winter, may main goal with any of the plants is just keeping them alive until I can get them outside again.

 

[pepperhead212]

I FINALLY got some green showing on 2 of those curry twigs, though still very slow. Here's the best looking one, and it's just barely noticeable:
Finally got a few greenies - 11-25, Thanksgiving day. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Better late than never!
Hopefully they survive long term.

I had one more seed germinate just the other day, at least a month later than the others. All from the same plant, planted the same time under the same exact conditions ( light, soil, temp...).

 

[karadekoolaid]

All this looks very encouraging to me. It´s going to be tricky taking back a cutting to Venezuela,but I´m definitely going to get hold of some seeds to see what happens. Given the tropical climate over there, I might have a bit more luck than you guys - we´ll have to see.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Interesting. I thought "curry" was a combination of spices?

 

[pepperhead212]

Roll_Bones The curry tree is where the curry powder got its name, even though it's not in the powder! It's been around a lot longer - the British came up with the curry powders in the 18th century, during the spice trade, when they wanted Indian food back home made easier. The leaves are called karhi leaves, or kadi patta, and are in countless of those spicy dishes of south and west India, and the British sort of named the curry powder after it.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Thanks.

 

[pepperhead212]

I finally gave up on trying to root those cuttings - even those ones with minute growths never developed any more leaves, and nothing had any roots on them. Maybe I'll try again, if there's a market for them!

Amazingly, all but one of the seeds sprouted, the last 2 much later than the rest. So I got 7 of 8, but two were much smaller, and very few roots, so those I threw out. Those two that I sprouted before putting them in the soil were 2 of the largest, but one of the soil planted ones got the largest mass of roots of any. I transplanted 5 of them - I added a bit of worm castings to the mix, and wetted it down with some hydroponics mix, plus some Bt israelensis, to prevent fungus gnats. I'll see if they grow faster now.
Curry tree seedlings, started from seed. Ready to be transplanted. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One of the larger curry tree seedlings, showing the roots on it, before transplanting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Curry tree seedlings, transplanted, 1-14-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Nice ! yours look better than mine, but 4 out of 6 of my seeds are doing well. The cuttings have leaves but have stopped developing and almost look like they are starting to dry out