I have some pretty big babies and I'm not sure when to take them from thier moma. And how do you do that?
Also, today I was just looking at my leaves which I had pretty much given up on, and wow, they all have leaves in one of the trays. I am so excited. The first photo shows the ones where the babies are getting kind of big.
Jesse
This photo has all of the rest of the babies that I had put down in this one tray. I was so shocked when I saw them. Some are really small but you can see them.
Jesse
This is a very personal choice :)
Allison leaves hers with the momma for a long time ( I think she said almost a yr?)
I tend to repot them with mom leaf and all when they get about the size of your first photo. :)
I don't pull them until the pot seems to be getting too full!
They need to be big enough to have a fairly good root system. But not so big that the root systems get all entertwined and break when you try to seperate them.
At the Clue Meeting I went to in April, Newbees were bringing plantlets attached to Mom and the Pros were dividing them. They were fairly small and fit nicely into the 2oz cups.
I agree it is a matter of choice. If they are healthy and have a good root system they grow quickly.
I just don't understand where to separate them. I think that is my biggest problem. Do you just separate one little baby at the time? Or do you put several of them together to make a bigger plant? Please help me to know what and how to do this. One of mine had totally over-taken the mother plant leaf and I can't even find her anymore.
Jesse
Jesse
One reason I like them to get large with Mom is to make them healthy and strong good root system .
I have even taken them and put the bunch with Mom in a larger pot to let them grow.
I take a pot with Mom and babies it looks wow so big. I take it out of the solo cups I use. Well one thing I learned there maybe 3-6 babies in the cup all of a sudden the babies look real small. I may take off the good size ones and re-pot the small ones with Mom if she is in good condition in a new larger pot to grow. If I have some babies too small I will keep them together and put them in a new cup/pot fresh soil and let them grow together until they are larger.
When you take the plant out of the cup each plant will have a crown. The senter section of leaves on a plant.
You find the crowns and and all the leaves that go with each crown . Keeping them together I gently separate one at a time. 99 percent of the time I get more than one. I separate them all wick and lable a 2 inch pot for each . Some people use something special to cut them apart. I find if they are on the dry side they come apart real easy. I also find a good size baby grows much more healthy and faster than one taken from Mom too small.
In our Sticky there are many links with pictures showing plantlets being separated from Mom and how to pot them up.
Jesse here is an excellent link on "SEPARATING BABIES." from our Sticky. It goes word by wrod and pictures . The pictures you can mouse on them to blow them up. It shows how to take them apart using a nice size Mom with babies I think it gave like 4-7 babies ! Great pictures and fun information !
http://www.rachelsreflections.com/separate.htm
Thanks Allison. I will read it now although I have read it before. I wish you could take some photos of you separating your babies and suckers too. You explain it so much well.
Thanks,
Jesse
I've been potting up a lot of babies in 1 oz or 3 oz solo cups (with a hole on the bottom)... That way, their little root systems don't have such a long way to grow to fill the pot. With small babies, I've been putting them 2 or 3 to a pot, sorta in opposite corners so it's easy to separate them when they've grown a little bigger.
That is what I have been doing also. I have been using the 3 oz cups. When I was at Bluebird's, I looked at how they are doing theirs. They start them all in one big black tray. Then they move the babies to the cell packs, in their case, the 72 count ones. They grow there and make what they call a plug. After the plug, they move them to the new pots, all in 4" pots, unless they are minis, and then in 2½" pots for them. I asked her about moving them to such big pots to start with but she says that is how they do all of them and their plants look really good. So I'm trying to decide if I want to stay with the cups, or use one big tray like they do. And they use the same type of soil for everything.
I have tried an experiment with some Perlite. I have about a dozen leaves in Perlite in a small tupperware container. They have not made any babies yet but it has not been that long.
Your idea for repotting the babies does sound like a good idea and I think that I will give that a try later today. Thanks for suggesting it to me. I have been in bed since early yesterday morning. I woke up yesterday and could not move and my lower back was hurting so bad. I have not even had a chance to check on my babies yet. I'm still in bed. I did make a few posts last night using my laptop but that caused too much pain so I went back to sleep. I wear a fentanyl pain patch and that did not even help so I had my husband put on 2 of the Lidoderm patches that you place directly on the spot that is hurting. That is the only way I survived yesterday and last night. I am going to be starting very slowly when I get up today and hopefully the pain will not return. Then when I'm up I will look at doing my babies like you have suggested.
Thanks,
Jesse
That's what I do when the babies are too small I posted up top :))
~~ If I have some babies too small I will keep them together and put them in a new cup/pot fresh soil and let them grow together until they are larger ~~~
I have read some vendors do this roo . I have always done it. But when placeing a leaf order from Tina I read all how she progates and she does this also :))
It sounds like a great idea and I want to try it later today. Does each baby have its own root system? That is what I want to make sure that I do is not damage the little baby by pulling it away from its roots.
Jesse
