The "Mother" plant will grow more plants after it has been re-potted. I make these pots in ceramics and they work very well.
The Operating Theater
Surgery to cut the whole top off, leaving two rings of leaves for new plants to grow on the stump. The cut top and a leaf are transplanted into vermiculite. The single leaf was a surgical "victim", snapped off accidentally by my being all thumbs. Oh the brutality!
The Recovery "room". This little tent goes into a place where it won't get direct light. In about four months I'll know if all this effort works out. Fingers are crossed! The table cloth was due for a wash anyway, so it's prettier than a black plastic bag. And.... there you are....
I've been known to propagate, using the "leaf stuck in sand" method. I've also heard of using a wide hairpin and pinning the leaf and a vein down into sand, but if I tried that, I don't remember. I have also been known to use an aquarium for humidity, instead of a tent.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the "whack off the top of the plant" method. Pretty harsh.
Hi K, yes I have to agree; it's pretty brutal.
ReplyDeleteWhen my mother did this, she would take a mature leaf, cut a slit up the stem about a half inch with an exacto, and put it into a jar filled with water that had a foil cover with a hole cut in it for the stem. In a few weeks, two tiny plants were there on each half of the stem that was completely under water.
That's also how I propagated these plants over the years,including the mother plant I cut the head off of in the post pix. It's originally a start from my mother's lovely old violet.
The videos of one grower on YouTube show a really brutal approach to propagation, though it has to be said it's evidently been successful for others ,too.
I always considered them too fragile to manhandle. I guess they aren't!