Starting plants from cuttings...

Sun Jun 28, 2009 7:20 pm

I just recieved a cutting of a snake plant and a cutting of bamboo. Can anyone tell me how I get these plants to make more roots? Is it really as simple as putting it in some water and letting it go?

ETA: After further reading, I found out that it isn't bamboo, but Dracaena sanderiana that I recieved a cutting of.

Sun Jun 28, 2009 8:13 pm

I prefer to root plants in a good potting mix, rather than water.

If you have a leaf of the snake plant, you can divide it into 2" long sections simply by cutting through it crosswise. Dip one end of each section in a rooting hormone, then plant it about 1" deep in a container of soil. The sections will root without the hormone, but it takes longer. Each 2" section will produce a new plant.

Is your dracaena cutting a tip cutting? In other words, does it have leaves on one end? Or is it just a section of cane? If it's a tip cutting, you can just plant it in a good potting mix, and it will root. Do not use a rooting hormone with dracaenas.

I prefer to start cane cuttings in moist sand. Cut the cane into sections, each with at least one node. (I personally prefer to leave 2 nodes per section of cane.) Allow the sections to air dry, out of direct sunlight, for 24 hours, so the cut ends callous over. Bury them on their sides in the moist sand, but do not cover them entirely. You should be able to see a narrow strip of the surface of the cane section in the sand. It takes awhile, but each section of cane will eventually start a new plant. Again, do not use rooting hormones with dracaena.

HTH!

Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:01 am

So that is I just cut the snake plant in two long pieces? And the cutting of the dracnea is a leaf on the tip cutting. Thanks for the heads up about the potting mix. I totally have some of that, but no growth hormone. I also have a TON of spider plant plantlets? that this guy was selling. He couldn't give away enough it was so funny. He kept asking me if I wanted to take cuttings of out door plants or a cutting of the 8 foot cactus that lives in his living room! I can't wait to show you all pics!

Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:12 am

No, on cutting the snake plant lengthwise into 2 long pieces. You want to cut it crosswise, into short pieces that are 2 or 3 inches long. If your leaf is 6 inches long, you would end up with 3 pieces, each 2 inches long. If you prefer, you could just cut it in half, into 2 pieces that were each 3 inches long. I suppose you could just leave it whole and plant it an inch deep in potting mix. (I just have a compulsion to get as many plants as I possibly can from each start I'm given. :lol:

)

Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:43 am

mngrdngrl,

Make sure to orient your snake plant pieces the same way they were before, the bottom must remain the bottom. And just so you know, it will be a while before you see a new growing point emerge from the soil. You also have to be careful about watering these, they will rot if you keep them too wet.

Norm

Mon Jun 29, 2009 5:00 am

Thanks for all the advice. I finally got around to potting them up. Of course I didn't pay attention to all of the tops and bottoms of the snake plant, but I got a ton of them in there right we will now see what happens.

This is the spider plant. I put about 6 of them in one pot. I hope that isn't too much...

He also gave me a two golden porthos cuttings...

And my dracnea

Mon Jun 29, 2009 5:26 am

They should do fine. Keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet. Keep them in bright light, but out of direct sunlight. I'd love to see more pictures, when they start to show new growth.

You might want to reconsider having all those spider plants in one pot. I think one to a pot would be better. They get really big, and they grow pretty fast. Consider that each plant, once they get large, is going to have a pretty large root system.