Philo verrucosum....

...I took the plunge and finally propagated it! Not by choice mind you. During this last horrible winter we had, my original plant was growing about 8 ft up the greenhouse wall. It got some stem damage and defoliated where it had rooted to the wall so I had no choice but to take it down. I topped it and replanted the best part, which was a really thick stem with 4 large leaves. The stem, I chopped up into sections and replanted by just laying them in a large azalea pot on top of some soil and keeping them moist. A couple months later...VOILA!

I am historically afraid to cut stems and propagate stuff. I am so glad this actually worked. I am going to keep it potted I think, all the stems in a large pot with a big trellis to grow up instead of the GH wall.

I'm like you - I really don't like to cut anything up if it can be avoided. But in your case, you had to do something and I'm glad to see you had great success!

Yeah I don't know why I am always so scared to do it. I guess I am afraid if I lose my original plant I may never replace it. I had to do the same thing with all my Vanilla orchids, but like the philo, they just started growing it seems twice as fast! I now have them coming off the trellises I put them on and snaking up stuff like plumeria trees and the like. So even though I lost the display I had them in, I didn;t really lose them and they will now make a new display of their own!

What a beautiful plant.

You know, it occurred to me that if you have a vining Philo (or other plant) that seems to need cutting, while at the same time you are leery of doing so (as I am), an alternative is to bury part of the stem in some good potting mix in a pot or tray, then wait for it to root in there. Once rooted, you can cut it off from the main stem and you already have a rooted plant.

Another option, if you have a trailing or creeping plant that looks like it needs to be divided or cut, yet you are reluctant to do so, works if the whole plant (i.e. whole length, or most of the length) is already rooted into soil. What I've done is to make a clean careful cut where I want the division to be, yet I don't dig the plant up, nor do I cut any roots. I just cut the stem connecting the two "parts" I want to separate. Then I insert a thin piece of plastic into the cut to keep the separation intact. After a month or so (in good growing weather), I notice that the "rear" end has sprouted a new growing point, while the "front" end has just kept on growing as if nothing happened. Now I have a new plant I can remove and pot up, and I don't have to wait anxiously for rooting or rotting.

This message was edited Sep 14, 2010 3:03 PM