You are braver than I am. You cut the tuber in half ????? Just like that ??? Can you root those stems with the leaves???? Boy the things you learn ! Rosie

Oh yes! It is an age old technique, cutting up tubers to propagate as long as the tubers have an active 'eye' on each piece. If you look at a potato, you may cut it up into pieces and grow an all new plant from each piece /if/ each piece sports an 'eye' where new leaves and stems emerge. It is exactly the same with sinningia. The difficulty lies in keeping the tuber from rotting but if you did it right it usually isn't a serious issue. Here's a helpful article by Dale Martens on this topic:

http://minnesotagesneriads.blogspot.com/2010/09/propagation-by-cutting-tubers-into.html

Also, most sinningia can not be reproduced from leaves alone. A few can, such as sinningia speciosa (florists's gloxinia) but many of your species and hybrids require you to take /stem/ or tip cuttings with stem. Which then can often be rooted easily and quickly, especially if the growth is fresh. The older stem cuttings above may not take but the cuttings closer to the actively growing tip almost certainly will root if bagged. Some prefer rooting in spaghnum moss over soil mix however so it's not a bad idea to keep that in mind or add a thin layer of sphagnum over your soil.

I should get a photo of my repotted plant I cut up. While some of the older leaves are yellowing, all of them have new leaves breaking buds on the stems. All of the exposed leads are greened up and turning upwards. ;) I'll probably give it another week or two to get a leg up on some serious active growth before I call it a success or not.

Thanks, Hyn! I will read about it! Rosie

Brave soil you are, chopping a tuber like that. :-)

Never heard of using super glue before. With cacti and succs, I just let cuttings callous over for several days to a week (sometimes more).

I am still pondering the super glue thing. Like Paul, I let mine callous naturally. I don't know that I want to put chemicals on the cut. But wait,,,,they glued me together when I had my last several surgeries. Maybe this wouldn't hurt the plant too terribly much. hmmmm. Still pondering. Rosie

Callusing by drying is just fine /unless/ you have something that will loose too much moisture. In the case of sinningia tubers, it kills the new buds so that's a serious problem. If you have no buds or are willing to loose them, that's fine but why bother when the super glue is a tried and true, well proven to work well? It is especially useful for small items that can't afford the shriveling and moisture loss.

Yes, Rosie. If you look up the history of Super Glue you will read how it was originally meant for clear plastic gun sights. That didn't work, so it was later used as a clotting agent and would sealer in the Korean War. A slightly modified form is now used medically instead of stitches, several decades later. Plants and animals both, it has seen a lot of use with great success.

Also, if you are in a very humid area like I am? Things you are trying to 'dry' often mold and rot so that's also a problem. Super glue fixed that problem for me.

Well, super glue it will be for me! Rosie

Give it a try. You might like it a lot for some things and maybe not as much for others. Some people use it for orchids they have to cut out rot. I find it really useful for my adeniums when I cut them up or trim the roots.

Recently I think Jim Roberts showed what he was doing to prevent rot on ct tubers - he filled the pot with perlite on a side of the cut, and soil - on the intact side.

Need to try superglue!!!

My only problem with superglue is this. I open a brand new tube, use what I need, wipe the tip, screw the cap on and somehow I can NEVER get that cap off again! I don't use it often (so far never for plants) but I also can't get it to glue anything together! I never believed that commercial when they put a drop on a guy's helmet and he is lifted into the air and it holds! haha I must not know how to use that stuff. But it can't be that difficult, can it? I am tired of spending money on new superglue! Rosie

Yes, Irina - that's how Dale Martens does it too. But I think there's less concern for rot this way. Time and practice will tell if I'm right or wrong about it. So far my tuber is doing great and there are lots of new leaves since the cut up.

Rosie, use a pair of pliers to get it off. If that doesn't work, I poke a hole in the side and use a brush to apply it. Sealing it into a baggie can also help so there isn't much air in there. I do not often have trouble getting the cap off though. Keep it wiped clean. If it clogs I use a needle to ram it out. I eventually waste some but you can get a four pack at Walmart for about $1.50 so it's very cheap.

I should take a new photo of this for an update. It's been doing great and growing like a weed. Both halves! I depotted it to check for rot and there is zip. Zero, none. Only thing that failed were a few of the cuttings I had stuffed in around it that were older growth.

Fantastic news, Rusty. Thank you very much for sharing that information. I should soon have a ton more tubers than I really need, especially as I'm about to cut the new growth and root it as well. So I will easily have some to plant outside later. It sure loves full sun and doesn't mind my heat here in the Deep South.