Just a PSA for you all, im rooting dormant cuttings in water and they are all leafed out more than in your photos and DO NOT have roots yet.
Leaf break may NOT be indicative of roots…so be patient with those cuttings.
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@jcguarneri Get them good and rooted. I mean really rooted well.
As the bag builds up condensation other than fine mist particles or fog, you need to wipe the inside of the bag for large water droplets. Do it each day if you need to.
Give the cuttings a quick misting and put the bag back on until tomorrow or later that same day to check the water droplet size on the inside bag walls.
Mist as necessary the inside bag walls or cuttings.
Dax
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Good PSA. I know it’s unlikely they actually have roots yet, so I’ll not be disturbing then anytime soon.
@Barkslip my only concern with leaving then in the bag now is it almost looks like callus and root initials forming on the top end. I feel like the high humidity has something to do with that. They’re staying in there for now, but I’m opening the bag for air circulation a few minutes each morning.
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It’s a learned process, I hear ya, Jay.
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I have dormant cuttings in soil with a ziplock bag, as well as bottles, and cups of water. I’ve noticed that in both, the cuttings would callus over but the ones in a cup are forming a thick callus, the cup also gets far more humid than the ziplock baggie, and bottles.
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It’s kind of freaky how they do that. Mine seem to have settled down now, but I was a little concerned because I hadn’t seen that behavior in other cuttings.
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Hey Jay,
Those two upside down cuttings should be planted right side up especially since they’re already callousing on their tops in their current situation. Let them root now, right side up.
If there are roots below, it doesn’t matter. nick them off and stick them again orientated proper.
knowing you have callus now, you’re set for them to grow roots. It’s gonna take some time… at least 40 days is my best guess for them to be ready to go to the next size container whether a quart or gallon which you are judge and jury to decide upon.
Dax
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Hi Sean, once you see white callus material on kiwi’s in water or their first root, be sure to move them to a lightweight soil mix with humidity available to the cutting at all times until it is fully rooted. I’d advise you water from below and use any pot tall enough to stop root rot from occurring dead in its’ tracks. I use for example Anderson band pots that are 5.5" tall and like 2 7/8" across. That’s a good height to avoid rot. Taller is fine, too. I wouldn’t go any shorter.
Best,
Dax
P.s. if your cuttings in water are real long, then cut them to (2) nodes or (1) at transplant time to a lightweight soil mix. Don’t allow a bunch of buds to be on (any) stick. That’s too much stress on the cutting to both set roots and have enough energy later to put on growth. As mentioned somewhere, be extra gentle with cuttings started in water since their roots are fragile and will break off at the slightest bump to the cutting that joggles it while moving it to potting media. You’re best to recognize the cutting at callus and prior to root formation at planting time.
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I guess I didn’t clarify above. I realized they were upside down right after I stuck them and corrected it then. I didn’t wash off the rooting hormone, but I’m seeing the same callus development on the sticks that were always right side up. That’s the part I find fascinating.
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right on
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I have kolomikta kiwis and have to say that for them, I’ve found I don’t need to bother with using fully dormant cuttings.
It’s cold enough here that not all branches and leaders survive the winters so it can be hard to tell if they are living when still dormant.
They are so prone to rooting, I can just take the pruned bits, trim them so there is just one leaf left and then put them in potting soil. ( I have been putting some rooting hormone on the bottoms, but I’m not sure how much it helps. I know it still works without since the first round was done plain)
If the watering is kept up, then most survive but they are small.
That is with the females. The males are much more fragile and especially struggle over winter.
We had a very late, hard frost in 2020 and it really ravaged the kiwi so I didn’t continue the propagation trials but hope to be back at it this year. (Really glad I skipped it since we then had months of drought and just keeping the existing babies going was expensive water-wise)
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@Sean and @Doci
Could you please share your experience with getting callous formation in water? How long do you have them in water?
I tried rooting kens red cuttings in water and I didn’t see any callous formation. I had them in water for about 2 weeks prior to moving them into soil.
Thanks so much.
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@SteadyStan 
im jist starting ro see callousing…its been a month. I change the water once a week. Of the 10 or so cuttings in the jar im seeing maybe 1 or 2 that are starting to show any indications of root formation. Hope that helps!
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Thanks Sean, that’s very helpful. I’m going to start a new batch.
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After taking another look at the cuttings, I’ve realized that my three meader males were the ones that callused over the top, maybe the variety has something to do with the way cuttings react to rooting. I’ve noticed something interesting with my Issai cuttings. I had one issai cutting in soil, one in a cup with a lid, and another in a plastic bottle with a cap. The wood from the two in water began to split in a couple days (next time I’ll keep notes of this process!) It’s been about 18 to 20 days since I’ve started the process. Ken’s red in water hasn’t formed any calluses, but is beginning to swell near the bottom. I’ll take some pictures of the other varieties later, but for now. Here is a picture of a meader male
And an issai cutting on Valentine’s day. 
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You got a lot of etoliated growth going on with Meader. May I ask which process it was going thru?
Thank you,
Dax
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Dax,
This Meader is in a clear acrylic (I think) cup with a lid. The cup is tapered near the bottom and gets wider as it goes up, gets far more humidity my other methods, which I feel also plays a role for the growth.
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So I’m sorry to be any bother but is that etoliated growth from the top of the cutting (of course)?
Is there any root-formation, as of yet?
It’s no big deal to me but there’s not enough information for my curiosity to be quenched.
Thank you, once-again.
Dax
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Dax,
It’s not a bother at all. I agree, there isn’t much info, and even fewer visual aids.
Yes, the growth is at the top on both Meader cuttings. No roots yet, but the portion of the cuttings in the water are beginning to swell on all varieties except for Issai, which seems to swell, specifically where there are bud/leaf nodes. I’ll take some clear pictures when I clean the cuttings later on today.
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Try to add some rooting hormones to the water to see if that will help jumpstart the rooting process.
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