Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Leaf rooting experiment, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
Hillbilly, I've done both ways. They are perennial here so I don't need to take cuttings but this year I did since I have a new one (a little insurance). So out of about ten cuttings all made it except one. I put them all in Miracle Gro potting soil with any treatment (did let them callous for a day or two).

Dude, I think you will have better success by covering them. I noticed that trick from my mentor - she simply snips a leaf, puts it in a small jar of water, and places the whole thing in a fish tank with a lid on top or a tray with a humidity cover. She makes it look so easy. I guess this keeps the humidity up and the germs down. If your cuttings were sitting out in the open for a few days you might want to clean the vials again and use clean water.

My own experiment with a few leaves a couple of years ago was a cane (serratipetala), a rex leaf, and a rhizo or maybe another rex leaf. They went in two cups of water and then the two cups went into a glass jar with lid (a fancier cookie jar). This sat on the kitchen counter under a halogen light for months with an occasional addition of water) - roots were long and healthy, no water souring, and not a lot of work was involved either.