Will aerial roots turn into regular roots?

[Gabler]

I'll be tearing out this wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) this spring. Do I need to collect an intact rootball, or can I just take a giant cutting with lots of aerial roots?

 

[Colorado]

I do not know anything about that species. But gut feeling is that it looks very promising - looks like a species that does not hesitate to send out roots.

Still, the safe play is to get an intact root ball, if you can.

 

[Gabler]

I do not know anything about that species. But gut feeling is that it looks very promising - looks like a species that does not hesitate to send out roots.

Still, the safe play is to get an intact root ball, if you can.

I'll probably end up doing both. I'll pull up the roots and also attempt some giant cuttings.

The species is a highly invasive vine. It takes a long time to gain any girth, but where it's been allowed to grow for decades, it's not too hard to find some decent-sized trunks.

 

[Oddly_Aude]

I've got one I'm pulling out this spring too! I pulled out one earlier this winter and chopped it into multiple plants, and it hasn't immediately died. Both the one with root balls and the aerial root ones!

 

[penumbra]

Aerial roots differ dramatically from species to species, so I would not put great stock in it unless I see it. Example, the climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea petiolaris, develops large mats of fibrous aerial roots. But I have not been able to get those roots to form soil roots.

 

[19Mateo83]

I would see how those aerial roots do in an air layer first before I did any big chops. Do the layer with something clear so you can see how fast they turn into actual roots.

 

[Ken Duncan]

I have been successful rooting big cuttings from the one I have growing on a fence in my yard.
I use pure perlite for cuttings and it works best for me it is sterile and holds a lot of moisture.

 

[Gabler]

I have been successful rooting big cuttings from the one I have growing on a fence in my yard.
I use pure perlite for cuttings and it works best for me it is sterile and holds a lot of moisture.

Nice! What time of year are you making those giant cuttings? That looks like a winter photograph?

 

[Ken Duncan]

Nice! What time of year are you making those giant cuttings? That looks like a winter photograph?

I took the pictures today. Late Winter early Spring is when I take cuttings and put them in sifted perlite, outside and out of the wind. I water my cuttings every day with my Bonsai when it gets warmer. I have found that if you use liquid fertilizer on them after they leaf out they make roots quickly.

 

[Gabler]

I took the pictures today. Late Winter early Spring is when I take cuttings and put them in sifted perlite, outside and out of the wind. I water my cuttings every day with my Bonsai when it gets warmer. I have found that if you use liquid fertilizer on them after they leaf out they make roots quickly.

That's great information. I'll be sure to give it a try myself. The vines are long and sinuous, so there's lots of great pieces of trunk to use for gigantic cuttings.