Braided Money Tree/ p aquatica question

Can money tree cuttings be rooted in water, also what is the best way to cut the branches from my tree's trunk? I have branches that have sprouted from the braided part of my tree's trunk.

Is this the plant that is also called Lucky Bamboo?

If you are not sure of the botanical name, post a picture, lets get the proper ID.

If it is Dracaena sanderiana then it can grow in water (leaves and stem in the air, roots in the water) or soil. Either can work for rooting new cuttings, too.

To remove growth where you do not want it I find pruning shears work better than scissors- the curved blade holds the branch better. If you catch it when it is very small you can rub it out with your thumb.

I think it's Pachira aquatica. If so, here's some info: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56220/

Yes it is a pachira aquatica, also called p aqautica and thank you.

You're welcome.

This plant comes easily from soft cuttings, but rooting them in water isn't the best idea, unless you intend to actually grow them under some form of aquaculture.

From something I wrote for another thread: Though roots form readily and often seemingly more quickly on many plants propagated in water, the roots produced are quite different from those produced in a soil-like or highly aerated medium (perlite - screened Turface - calcined DE - seed starting mix, e.g.). Physiologically, you will find these roots to be much more brittle than normal roots due to a much higher percentage of aerenchyma (a tissue with a greater percentage of intercellular air spaces than normal parenchyma).

Aerenchyma tissue is filled with airy compartments. It usually forms in already rooted plants as a result of highly selective cell death and dissolution in the root cortex in response to hypoxic conditions in the rhizosphere (root zone). There are 2 types of aerenchymous tissue. One type is formed by cell differentiation and subsequent collapse, and the other type is formed by cell separation without collapse ( as in water-rooted plants). In both cases, the long continuous air spaces allow diffusion of oxygen (and probably ethylene) from shoots to roots that would normally be unavailable to plants with roots growing in hypoxic media. In fresh cuttings placed in water, aerenchymous tiossue forms due to the same hypoxic conditions w/o cell death & dissolution.

Note too, that under hypoxic (airless - low O2 levels) conditions, ethylene is necessary for aerenchyma to form. This parallels the fact that low oxygen concentrations, as found in water rooting, generally stimulate trees (I'm a tree guy) and other plants to produce ethylene. For a long while it was believed that high levels of ethylene stimulate adventitious root formation, but lots of recent research proves the reverse to be true. Under hypoxic conditions, like submergence in water, ethylene actually slows down adventitious root formation and elongation.

If you wish to eventually plant your rooted cuttings in soil, it is probably best not to root them in water because of the frequent difficulty in transplanting them to soil. The brittle "water-formed” roots often break during transplant & those that don't break are very poor at water absorption and often die. The effect is equivalent to beginning the cutting process over again with a cutting in which vitality has likely been reduced.

If you do a side by side comparison of cuttings rooted in water & cuttings rooted in soil, the cuttings in soil will always (for an extremely high percentage of plants) have a leg up in development on those moved from water to a soil medium for the reasons outlined above.

Al

Thank you for the insight Al, I didn't know this. But, I've been rooting my giant pothos cuttings in water for years (even breaking the "rules" with cuttings as long As 12 inches with up to 6 leaves) and I've never experienced any problems or even lost leaf. However, this may just be luck on my part. But, I will keep this in mind for all future cuttings.
What then is the best way and medium to root my pachira cuttings? Preferably without rooting hormone as I've never used it and I've never needed it.

Best use of rooting hormone is very plant specific, so in many cases, growers shoot themselves in the foot by grabbing what's available instead of what's really going to get the job done; so it's likely you haven't really done much to cut yourself short in that regard.

I make a soil others have dubbed the gritty mix, and that's pretty much what I use for propagation. You want a medium that is very airy and doesn't hold perched water; or, you at least need to be sure the proximal end of the cutting isn't stuck so deep it ends up submerged in that layer of saturated soil that commercially prepared mixes based on fine particles (peat, coir, compost, composted forest products, sand ......) all seem to support. Cuttings need to breathe, and they like moist/damp and not wet/soggy.

Good rooting media in no particular order:

1) screened & rinsed perlite
2) gritty mix (see pic below)
3) screened Turface
4) screened calcined DE (NAPA floor-dry)
5) 50/50 mix of grower size crushed granite (chicken grit) or #2 cherrystone and screened Turface
6) Haydite or Haydite mixed with any of the above

Al