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Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 1, 06 at 22:05
| About six weeks ago I received a nice cutting of Nematanthus "Champagne Jam". I stripped the largest of the leaves before planting the cutting. I couldn't bare to just throw those leaves away so I dipped each in rooting hormone (Dip-N-Grow), put them in potting soil and covered the container with a plastic bag. I check them often but now I realize that every single leaf has rooted. Many of them have sent those type of "furry" looking roots out on top of the soil. My idiotic question is...what do I do now??? Put more soil over the exposed roots, moisten the new soil and replace the bag? Put more soil over the exposed roots, water and leave out of the bag? Leave the whole contraption alone until plantlets appear? Help! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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| Holly - any of your suggestions will work. Eventually you will want to put them all together in one pot so you will create a nice full specimen plant and keep cutting the tips and sticking them in a soil until you have your pot full. I found that for me a nematanthus is the easiest gesneriad to grow - may be I just didn't get any exotics yet. They take more sun than the rest of gessies - they even bloom better, they do not mind occasional dryness and propagate like weeds - just stick the cutting in whatever pot you have - potted palms can have a nice shiny carpet of N. in their soil. TGIF Irina |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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| Rooting the leaves is easy. However growing a plant from the rooted leaves has proved much more difficult (at least for me!). Please report back on progress Good luck! |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on
Fri, Jun 2, 06 at 21:38
| Will keep you posted. This one is just so unusual. I'm really hoping to make more plants. I'm going to remove the bag, cover the new roots with soil and keep moist. Stay tuned. |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by korina 9b, Sunset 17 (My Page) on
Mon, Jun 5, 06 at 12:39
| Holly, you might not want to use rooting hormone on leaves. The hormone used is one that encourages roots but discourages sucker growth (i.e. new plants). Gessies usually propagate fine on their own. Good luck and have fun. Korina |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on
Mon, Jun 5, 06 at 19:58
| Rats. Wish I'd known that before. I'm a patient person though. I just wait out the rooting hormone. Meanwhile the leaves are nice and healthy! |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by jon_d Northern Calif. (My Page) on
Wed, Jun 7, 06 at 14:33
| No, I think your experiment is interesting. Using hormone--I would never have thought of that. And, I have always thought that nematanthus will not grow from leaves. But, prove me wrong (hopefully!). While hormone has proved to act as Korina mentions when used on AV leaves, perhaps with nematanthus it has gotten the leaf past the first stage--making roots. I have grown aeschynanthus from leaves, when I rooted fresh leaves in media, enclosed and under lights. I found that aeschynanthus leaves rooted but not enclosed rarely did anything further. So, I would suggest you keep your leaves enclosed. Or leave one or two enclosed and the others in the open. Your climate is so different from California, that I really don't know what would be best for you. Another suggestion is to gently fertilize your potted leaves, so that they get the additional nutrition needed to initiate the sprout. I have found that feeding sometimes helps rooted leaves of other gesneriads to sprout. BTW, I like 'Champagne Jam'--its not commonly grown. I think it was first distributed as cuttings at the AGGS convention in Tampa, circa 2000. It is one of Hans Wiehler's hybrids. It has quite large leaves with beautiful leaf backs--green with a large red blotch in the center. The flowers are large, on 1" pedicels, mottled red and yellow. Jon |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on
Sun, Jun 25, 06 at 23:02
| Hi Jon, Have been absent for a while. The leaves are very, very well rooted but no new plants. It is unbearably humid and hot here. They are now uncovered and outside and seem happy. I just read your post and so I am going to fertilize to see if I can coax plants from them. Any suggestions? The leaves ARE spectacular...so big and textured. Thanks so much for your original ID on the plant. Everyone else was at a loss for it's name and/or origin. |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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| Cut the leaves! 1/3 off - this stimulates planlet growth. See my blog witepage.com.au/domeman or the image below for a plantlet which developed from rooted leaf which previously refused to do any more than grow roots. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Plantlet after leaf cutting
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on
Tue, Jun 27, 06 at 6:15
| Ok....here goes! Cutting and feeding 1/2 of them, leaving the other half intact and feeding. |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on
Sat, Jul 29, 06 at 9:15
| Just an update. Still waiting. I cut half of them and fertilized all. They are so well rooted though! Surely there will be plants eventually. I'm a patient person. |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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| That's a fascinating experiment. And patience is a very important quality for a gardener! Too many people give up if something isn't performing the way the think it should and pitch it. Keep on with the updates! We're rooting for you and them! (And I sure know what you're talking about with the humidity. Really makes me nervous when the weekly weather forecast says two or three days will be humid, like those will be worth meantioning and the rest is just normal. Plants like it though.) |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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- Posted by holly_c New Orleans, LA (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 2, 06 at 17:22
| Have lost three leaves (one cut, two whole) to what is basically...rot. It's so wet and hot. Still waiting. I think I will bring them indoors and put in the window. I just can't believe that I won't get plants eventually. Greenelbows...If I get a plant, I'll share! Geez, it IS miserable out there, isn't it?! Fighting the battle of the lubber grasshoppers now. Do you have them? Horrible creatures! |
RE: Rooting Nematanthus Leaves
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Holly, I appreciate the offer, but I think I have it. I bought a very strange looking rooted cutting, labeled 'Champagne'. I bet it's really 'Champagne Jam'. It's not very large, but starting to grow now, and after a bit I'll probably cut off the tip and root it and add it back into the pot. I'm glad you posted about it, 'cause I'd rather have an accurate name!
It is indeed miserable out there, but there are sure a lot of plants that love it, especially when we get rain. I've always been told here you can keep plants alive with the hose, but they only thrive with rain. Just hope for more; seems like there have been showers all around us, but not here. Not really comfortable watching Chris, but if he just brings some nice soaking rain I will be grateful. Good luck to you over there! And maybe we have other things we could trade--tho' I don't seem to be very reliable about sending plants. Promised my sister some ages ago! |
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