rooting hoya kerrii
georgette77
18 years ago
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lydia
18 years agolydia
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Hoya Kerrii?
Comments (9)Hi Denise, Well since you've asked ... My main & largest Kerrii is in the bathroom west window (frosted). Every year it throws a long bare stem, easily 3 ft+. Usually the bare stem grows into the shower stall, the 1st yr. it did so (3 or 4 yrs. ago), I had a houseguest during Spring for a week, had he not been a plantsman himself, I'm certain the Kerrii would have been all over the shower floor, but he was very careful getting in & out from the other end & it was OK, I cut it back soon after he left & started a 2nd pot from that bare stem once it had 1 leaf. 2nd yr. the same happened & I cut it again into a third hunk of it. The one in the bathroom I let dry out pretty well, water it once every 10 days-2 wks (in a 5" pot, large for my Hoyas) The other 2 I keep more wet, each in a cup w/in another cup or cachepot, in which I keep a layer of pebbles which I keep wet (most of the time); water these weekly, maybe 2.5-3" pots. The ones not in the bathroom, get a bit more difuse light, each being abt 8-10 ft. in from the west windows, one in kitchen, other on top of a highboy. Maybe the others are faster 'cause they have short stems to start, maybe 7-9" tops. They tend to have leaves at more frequent intervals than the parent plant. Interestingly, the parent plant (in the bathroom window & kept drier which is also hooped) is finally putting out baby leaves at the tip end of the bare stems (never did that before), that's after I believe 2 waterings w/ VF-11 (& no misting). On inspection, I'm reminded that Kerrii stems have a lot of both aerial roots & leaf nodes. I notice the 2 smaller plants are planted on an angle, not straight up. Perhaps they're being angle in the pots (had to do w/ how the older leaves were angled, so I planted in on the same angle, not straight up & down); allows for more node tissue in contact w/ the mix & more leaf growth, the 2 younger ones are definitely leavier than the parent. Who knows!...See MoreI think I might be a bit confused
Comments (10)Golden, I was told by a professional grower that the only way that a Hoya leaf will produce a plant is if you get some of the stem tissue with it. Now it's possible when you pull a leaf off that you will get just a bit of the tissue, enough to eventually get some growth from it. When a leaf pops off a plant, I always pop it in the pot, and they nearly always root. But in the 30+ years I've been growing, I've not once gotten a rooted leaf that produced new growth. I continue to do it only because I figure those rooted leaves hide the soil and give the appearance of a fuller pot. Denise in Omaha...See MoreRooting Hoya kerrii ?
Comments (3)FB, Leafless cuttings don't typically root, but that doesn't stop me from trying sometimes. I'd do it in pure perlite, though, or hydroton. Either way, keep some water in your saucer to keep it moist until it roots. It could work, but if it doesn't, you've done nothing more than waste a bit of rooting space. And cutting off that long leafless vine will encourage new growth, so it'll be good for the mother plant. Denise in Omaha...See MoreWhy does my Hoya Kerrii’s baby leaf look shriveled up?
Comments (15)When it comes to vegetative propagation, more specifically - leaf cuttings, a few plants have preformed primary meristems on the leaves, often referred to as 'foliar embryos' - like Bryophyllum pinnatum. These embryos are already a complete plant with root initials and a stem or shoot bud. Other plants which can be cloned by leaf cuttings, like Begonia, form wound-induced secondary meristems that arise from the process of dedifferentiation of groups of cells and their redifferentiation into a meristematic region which can then give rise to any of the plant's organ tissues. If you know something about the ability of human stem cells to be guided to differentiate into healthy cells which can then be used to replace diseased cells of specific organs, it might help you with the concept of dedifferentiation and redifferentiation. Or, think of potters clay. When wet, it can be molded into a large bowl and allowed to dry until it holds it's shape; or, it could be rewetted and molded into a figurine. If the plant has neither of the 2 capabilities I outlined, it would be necessary to include at least 1 meristem from the stem the leaf is attached to. Many plants are capable of growing roots on the leaf petiole (leaf stem), a 'blind' cutting, but w/o a meristem along for the ride, no shoot can form, no matter how long you wait. Before I was aware of this, I tried starting a leaf from a schefflera. It rooted within a couple of weeks, but after 3 years and a quart of roots - no stem developed. I'm a curious guy, so I went looking for answers so I could answer the question when it arises, as it does from time to time. If May (the OP) is still around: It's quite normal, not at all unusual, for the first 2-3 or 4 leaves on any new branch or stem to be very small and internodes between these leaves very short. Each consecutive leaf will be larger and each internode will be longer as the branch extends (within the limitations imposed by other cultural factors - light, temperature, nutrient resources ..... until by the 5th leaf or so the leaves are capable of reaching full size. Some of these tiny leaves grow no larger than 1/5 the size of a mature leaf. Al...See Morecanttype
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