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[irmaogil]

Hi folks,
I just translated a guide made by EIRN and I think it is worth posting. This guide was previosly posted on a forum that no longer exist and in order to keep it online and make it available for a wider audience I translated it to english. My english a little rusty so please, if you spot any mistakes just send me a PM and I'll edit it.
I've choosen to keep the word Chacrona as it is written in portuguese but added the more common form Chacruna, used on spanish speaking countries, to make sure everyone searching for it will find it

I also added some information that I learned from personal experience applying the techniques described in the original guide, I hope that's ok EIRN

How to propagate Chacrona (P. viridis) from leaves:
A visual guide

 

This guide was originally produced focusing Psychotria viridis but can be applied to other species within the genus with great success.

Select a healthy and mature leaf without any imperfections (tear, bites or  brown spots).

Remove the leaf from the mother plant cutting it with scissors (very sharp, new razor blades also work very well). You can remove the whole leaf or cut it slightly above the base. If you cut it above the base as shown on the left, roots will appear sooner. Sometimes the bottom part will also produce viable roots and shoots.

Put the leaves on a glass of water or plastic cups (transparent). The leaves should be ½ to ¾ submerged and the water should be changed when hazy/turbid or if larvae appear, ideally once a week. The glasses or plastic cups (transparent) with the leaves should be put in a well-lit, well ventilated  spot without direct sun light.
Usually it takes around a month for roots to appear

When the leaf has a considerable amount of roots it can be planted. It is also possible and advisable to keep it in the water until vigorous sprout form. Usually when kept longer in the water more sprouts form and later can be separated and planted, providing more plants from a single leaf.

Leaf planted just after developing a considerable amount of roots. Compare to the following pictures of leaves left on the water longer until vigorous shoots appeared.

The shoots develop well underwater and there is no need to add any nutrients or fertilizer. Just change the water regularly as advised before.

Side view of a leaf with shoots. It takes several months to reach this stage (about 6 months).

Plant it on a regular potting mix, humus or compost taking care not to bury the shoots. You can plant it with the leaf or separate the shoot and roots from it.
Keeping the leaf seems to provide an added vigor to the new plant but if you separate the shoots and roots from the leaf you can return the leaf to the water and generate a new shoot.

Shoot separated from the leaf.

10-month-old plant from leaf. This is a slow process.

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