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Philodendron cuttings under lights

johnva
19 years ago

My wife's boss had a philodendron at work that was many feet long and a lot of it without leaves which she periodically trimmed and threw away. She is a career military officer had been growing it for about 15 years, carrying it with her to each new assignment. It is a beautiful varigated leaved plant so I asked for the cuttings the next time she trimmed it.

I was a bit surprised the day my wife brought home a paper shopping bag full of Philodendron cuttings.

I bought 2 - 6x14 inch pots and put about 30 cuttings of the Philo in each one (each cutting with 2 leaves to insure their survival. I threw the leafless vines into the trash can where they sat for 2 weeks.

One day I thought "I wonder if those vines would grow?" so I pulled them out of the trash and cut them into lengths with at least 2 leaf nodes in each one. I then placed them into 3 - 6 Inch pots (about 18 in each). All of the cuttings were put on one of my light shelves (each with 4 - 40w floro's.

They sat for a month or so with nothing happening, I just made sure they were kept moist. Finally after 6-8 weeks I noticed that they were starting to develop leaves. Of the total abused leafless pieces I only lost a total of 4 and each set now has it's own hanging pot to excel in :)

I am often amazed at how well things grow under cool white shop lights :)

John

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