Today i did some major updates to my online notes on How to Grow Tea in Hawaii, in particular a new page on Tea Plants: Propagating Cuttings, putting together everything i’ve learned so far with some more digging into the Ghosh book on Tea Cultivation.  Conclusion: Although results have been terrible so far with trying to root our own tea cuttings, there are many new things to try.

My latest batch of 36 cuttings from my own plants:  They were cut on April 28, with a few more on May 15.  As of August 3 (~10 weeks old) around 50% were clearly dead, and not a single one had produced roots.  This is despite using the cubes, root hormone powder, and daily watering.  I tried breaking open a few of the root cubes, and sure enough, not even a hint of root:

It’s frustrating, but rather than just give up this batch, i went ahead and potted the 18 best-looking ones in pots.  At worst, they can only die:

As the notes say, i can try disinfecting, try liquid hormone solution, try more shade, try different enclosure for moisture, maybe even try EM … i must somehow solve the problem.