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[Mangrove]

A friend of mine in IL is growing some gat (yeah, it's called gat here; khat is what they call it in countries where it's illegal, I guess...), and I wanted to know how to go about propagating it from branch/stem cuttings without the use of rooting hormone (if at all possible). I wanted to also know how one may go about taking a viable cutting and successfully mailing it, keeping it viable for as long as possible. I appreciate any/all advice which you may be able to offer on this subject.

,תודה
Mangrove


PS: if there are duplicate threads about this subject, please merge this post with them.

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[cunningplatypus]

Mangrove,

There's a lot of excellent Catha knowledge to be found over at the Corroboree. I would search through threads where Planthelper (a former member/admin) chimes in, as he used to be known as somewhat of a Catha guru. Think he's retired from the scene now, however.

The following information was hoisted directly from threads at the aforementioned site:

Cultivation
Propagation is from cuttings, which are relatively straightforward but are better taken from the alternate branches, which are the main growth stems (opposite branches being the flowering stems which may root but are not ideal for cutting growth). In some areas, cuttings should be taken over Autumn (Fall) and re-potted in Spring when the new growth starts. Standard rooting hormone (preferably as a gel) can be used, and the cuttings placed in a humid environment.
Division of plants can also be undertaken, when a plant is cut back frequently to create bushy growth many new shoots can develop, usually at the base of the plant. These can be carefully dug up and replanted.

and

catha edulis showes two differnet types of leaf formation, spiral alternating for young growth and binniate for mature growth. binniate is no good for cuttings, but with the broad leaved ones still works pretty well. however the narrowleaved strikes pretty much only if you use cuttings which have leaves in the spiral alternating fashion. now comes the catch the narrowleaved produces very fast a lot of useless branches, and in short a mature plant doesn't provide you with any the material you need.
so you have to rejuvinate the plant, prune it hard, and use the regrowth.
another methode of probagation is my suckers, look for tiny shoots at groundlevel and just pull them out. some will break, some will pull up fine with some roots already attached. chances are that by pulling out the suckers, more suckers will be produced.

and more generally


broad leaved catha edulis is a very easy cutting, take one 30cm long stem and cut it into 3 node cuttings and leave one (ore two) halve size leave per cutting. the tip cutting naturaly will have more than one leave left but is pruned back a lot aswell.
semihardwood is a good source, it might not strike as fast as tip material, but it never damps off either.
just put the cuttings into humidety dome for a while and wait...
for just a few cuttings the pet bottle glasshouse works very well.
t's a fairly easy cutting to strike, and is made just like other cuttings...
3-4 nodes most leaves removed/reduced,
semi hardwood,
high moisture enviroment (softdrink bottle glasshouse or brocoli foam box with a sheet of glass on top),
might take more than 5 weeks to take good root.
if it's too cold they will not strike,
place in a bright spot but avoid too much direct sunlight, good luck!
as a general rule plants and even cacti show a decline in strike rate the older the cutting material get's.



Dunno if that's any help at all, but it seems the takeaway is to strike cuttings with ALTERNATE LEAFING as opposed to OPPOSITE LEAFING.  Or even better, scratch around the mother plant's base for rooted suckers. From there on, propagate like any other plant (humidity, etc.)

I'm not sure about keeping your cuttings fresh whilst in transit, but I'd assume wrapping the cut ends in damp paper towel, and putting the whole kit-n-kaboodle into a zipped plastic bag would keep it happy for a week or two.

 

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[Mangrove]

How would one prepare an unrooted cutting to be shipped, assuming 2 to 5 days in transit? Is it possible in any way to prolong viability of cuttings whilst being shipped to a month or more?

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