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Posted on 6:58 PM by Wanto and filed under
By Lucy Kingston
This is a very different method indeed, and so simple and fool proof that many house plant owners have been using it without even knowing! Each time you pinch out the overgrown shoot of a tradescantia and push the pinched stem end into the soil of the pot to make a new growth, you are taking a stem cutting. Success rates are obviously higher if a greater degree of care is taken, but the process is essentially a simple one that can be carried out almost without failure by the beginner indoor gardener.
Wet the end of the stem where you take your cutting, dip the end in the hormone powder and then firm the cutting into the soil as suggested earlier. These hormone rooting powders assist the formation of roots.
Again fill a pot with the rooting medium, leaving an inch or so between compost surface and the pot rim. Then select your cutting. Choose a strongly growing shoot and cut about eight inches from the tip, preferably at a point just below where a leaf joins the stem. Pull off the basic leaf or two to allow up to two inches of bare stem and insert this in the rooting medium, firming around the base with the fingers. In a few weeks, probably about a month, new roots will have formed.
Keeping the container small means keeping the roots warm and snug and will aid the development of the plant. It will probably not be necessary at this stage to place the newly potted plant inside another plastic bag, but make sure that it is in a warm and draught-free place and that it is never allowed to dry out.
As the young plant grows it will need potting on into a larger container and when it is strong enough it will be helpful to use a potting mixture with a ittle more fertilizer in it, so change the mixture then, but not before.
It may therefore be necessary to slow down the transpiration rate for the first week or two. This can be done by spraying gently with tepid water, thus achieving much the same result by the same method as used in a mist propagation unit in a greenhouse, or again by covering and protecting the entire plant by means of a transparent plastic bag. This time slip the bag over the top of the cutting and clown to the pot, sealing it around the base of the pot by means of an elastic band.
Wet the end of the stem where you take your cutting, dip the end in the hormone powder and then firm the cutting into the soil as suggested earlier. These hormone rooting powders assist the formation of roots.
Again fill a pot with the rooting medium, leaving an inch or so between compost surface and the pot rim. Then select your cutting. Choose a strongly growing shoot and cut about eight inches from the tip, preferably at a point just below where a leaf joins the stem. Pull off the basic leaf or two to allow up to two inches of bare stem and insert this in the rooting medium, firming around the base with the fingers. In a few weeks, probably about a month, new roots will have formed.
Keeping the container small means keeping the roots warm and snug and will aid the development of the plant. It will probably not be necessary at this stage to place the newly potted plant inside another plastic bag, but make sure that it is in a warm and draught-free place and that it is never allowed to dry out.
As the young plant grows it will need potting on into a larger container and when it is strong enough it will be helpful to use a potting mixture with a ittle more fertilizer in it, so change the mixture then, but not before.
It may therefore be necessary to slow down the transpiration rate for the first week or two. This can be done by spraying gently with tepid water, thus achieving much the same result by the same method as used in a mist propagation unit in a greenhouse, or again by covering and protecting the entire plant by means of a transparent plastic bag. This time slip the bag over the top of the cutting and clown to the pot, sealing it around the base of the pot by means of an elastic band.
About the Author:
The familiar indoor gardening houseplant Cyclamen persicum seldom lasts as long in our homes as it should. It likes cool and airy conditions. Keep soil always uniformly moist by watering from the base.
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