I took them out at 3 hr and 50 min and potted them in
1 : 0.75 : 1
cactus soil (super soil brand, palm and cacti mix) : vermiculite : perlite
For each concentration, I did two leaves. One with the main stem snapped in 4 spots, the other unsnapped.
Wow, this has been a loooooooong journey getting leaves to propagate. Before you read this whole thing, essentially nothing new was found
GA3 Experiment Results and DiscussionThe leaves were kept in a propagation chamber at nearly 100% humidity and about 85F (29C).
Please see
This Post for pictureThis turned out to be a terrible way to pot P. viridis leaves. They were too close together in my opinion. Once they started rooting, three problems arose: 1) the roots tangled with each other making the whole tray virtually impossible to separate 2) there was very little room for baby plants to come up 3) upon digging up the leaves, I found that my watering method (top watering with frequent misting) had been completely ineffective as the soil beneath the leaves was practically bone dry. Bottom watering should have been used. They didn't seem to be affected at all by GA3 soaking.
Overall, the results from this whole tray were dismal. A mere 2 baby plants from all those leaves
I repotted those two babies quickly because the whole tray was being overrun with algae (lack of air flow I'm guessing). Unfortunately, upon digging up the leaves, many had rotted below the soil and never produced baby plants.
"Expirement 2" ResultsThis was basically to see if cutting a leaf into sections would be better than leaving it whole after roots had developed.
The leaf that I left whole did the best
Experiment 2 "Control Leaf" (picture #3). Once the roots at each joint were about 1" (2.5cm) long, I potted it in a 6" (15cm) diameter pot using Bach's soil mix (1:0.75:1 potting soil, vermiculite, perlite). This allowed the leaf to lay pretty flat. The majority of the leaf was covered with about 0.5" (~1.3cm) of Bach's soil mix.
This single leaf produced 12 baby plants in one cluster from the very end of the leaf. None of the other nodes sprouted baby plants, I'm guessing because they couldn't reach the soil surface through the leaf. (If I had a do-over, I would try the infamous horizontal potting method).
About 3 days ago, I separated all of the baby plants into their own pots and they're doing very well (picture 1). The other nodes had very healthy roots that were big and thick. Instead of potting it again, I sent it to a member here on STS (they have a near perfect climate for outdoor P. viridis) so they could hopefully use the same leaf to produce more baby plants.
One of the leaf sections, with the stem tip, produced 2 baby plants (picture 2). These are the biggest, thickest P. viridis plants that have come up. It seems that cutting the leaf into sections will drastically reduce the number of baby plants. With this reduction in number, there appears to be an increase in plant size and growth rate.
The other sections of the cut up leaf all had healthy roots and would likely produce baby plants. I sent these to yet another STS member so they can try their hand an P. viridis propagation.
Greenhouse Results and DiscussionFurthermore, I tried a different tray in a greenhouse. These didn't do very well. I'm guessing that the humidity fluctuations (near 90% when warm, down to almost 20% when cool) and temperature fluctuations (90F, 32C when warm and down to 50F, 10C when cool) in the greenhouse were too drastic for P. viridis. The greenhouse is located in a desert environment.
As baby plants would pop up, they would dry out and die back. I covered the tray with a humidity dome and this still didn't seem to help. Unfortunately I am not the caretaker of the greenhouse so there might be many, many other factors at play here.
What Worked Well for HCC?In summary, when starting P. viridis leaves, it seems easiest to start them by:
1) snap the main stem in 4-6 spots
2) plant in 1:0.75:1 of cacti soil : vermiculite : perlite for 3 weeks
3) Put in cup of water for 1 week
4) Cut leaf into sections based on rooted nodes5) Re-plant in 1:0.75:1 (continued in next paragraph)
Using the "vertical" method of potting the leaves, it appears to be better to pot them in individual pots that are large enough for the leaf to lay relatively flat with about 25% of the leaf tip sticking out of the soil. I would definitely try the "horizontal" method in the future.
Greenhouses with large fluctuations in humidity and temperature seem to be unsuited for P. viridis propagation. Consistent 100% humidity and 85F (29C) seem to work very well for leaf propagation.
Furthermore, once the plants were about 4" (10cm) tall and larger leaves have started forming, the humidity can be dropped far below 100%. If kept at 100% humidity, the leaves appear to grow in a curled, gnarled fashion. At lower humidity levels, they seem to grow flat and consistently.
Hcc's Recommendations1) snap leaves in 4-6 locations, don't cut them into sections
2) use Bach's soil mix
3) pot leaves "horizontally"
4) keep humidity near 100% and temps around 85F (29C)
5) patience
6) more patience
7) even more patience
8.) Read Bach's and Gator's recommendations, they know what's up with P. viridis
Happy Growing,
Hcc
Author
Topic: Psychotria viridis propagation (Read 195274 times)