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Post by doug on Jun 7, 2008 15:25:54 GMT -5
I have been learning how to start new plants by leaf cuttings. Here is a new one.
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Post by dvg on Jun 7, 2008 15:58:15 GMT -5
That's very nice Doug. I haven't tried to propagate Drosera through leaf cuttings yet, although a lot of the sundews can be cloned by that very method. Would you share with us, your successful technique?
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Post by doug on Jun 7, 2008 17:33:00 GMT -5
Very simple technique. Cut the leaf off of the plant and lay the leaf on some wet sphagnum mos with the stem in some water. Wait 2-3 weeks and you should see a small plant starting to grow. I am not a expert yet, I have only 5 new plants so far, a success on every try.
One question for the experts, do you get more that 1 plant per cutting?
Doug Stewart
PS I Just tried a new batch, and this time i cut the leafs into smaller pieces. I want to see how small a piece will still sprout.
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Post by dvg on Jun 7, 2008 18:19:04 GMT -5
I'm actually surprised where the plantlet is growing on your leaf cutting, pretty much in the middle of the trap area. Any leaf pullings I've ever done, vft or ping, have always sent up new plantlets from the base of the leaf, the white part that attaches to the mother plant. This is very interesting with the Drosera, and I don't know how many plants you can get from sections of the stem. Keep us posted with your results, and thanks for sharing.
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Post by lloyd on Jun 7, 2008 22:13:32 GMT -5
A while ago, someone mailed me some D. diehlsiana. When it arrived there was no visible plant. Under a loupe, I could just make out a little bit of plant debris. Whatever bits were there regenerated into about 6 plants.
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Post by sdeering on Jun 7, 2008 23:03:45 GMT -5
That seems to be how they are DVG. They sprout new plants out everywhere.
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Post by dvg on Jun 7, 2008 23:24:29 GMT -5
Well Stephen, this is just as surprising to me now as it was the day you told me that vft's in tc sprout new plantlets up through the middle of the traps. Kind of like giving birth, in a way I guess. Nature never ceases to amaze me.
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Post by doug on Jun 8, 2008 8:36:58 GMT -5
This one has 2 and maybe 4
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Post by mabudon on Jun 8, 2008 9:02:00 GMT -5
from what I have read, supposedly the "tentacles" are the part of the leaf that becomes the new plant, so theoretically one could get numerous plants from a single leaf in perfect conditions
That being said, every time I have done successful cuttings it has SEEMED to go like DVG said, the entire leaf seems to "melt" and wherever the "cut end" was is where the new plants will appear, NOT on the original leaf at all seemingly
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Post by doug on Jun 8, 2008 10:03:43 GMT -5
mabudon said "from what I have read, supposedly the "tentacles" are the part of the leaf that becomes the new plant"
Yes looking at my full resolution picture it is very clear that each of the new plants in the trap area are growing from the base of a "tentacle".
And I have also seen the trap area completely die and then and the a new plant grew from the side of the stem not the base end of the stem.
These leafs were cut off of the plant and as such there is no white end where it joined the main plant, like there would be if I pulled the leaf off.
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Post by carnivoure12 on Jun 8, 2008 12:58:06 GMT -5
|Cool, seems like a successful way to reporduce them, can anyone tell me how to get new plansts from VFT cuttings?
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Post by doug on Jun 8, 2008 14:18:47 GMT -5
Hi carnivorure12. I can only repeat what I have read. You must lift the plant out of the growing medium and then gently pul down on a leaf so that it separates right at the joint where it was attached to the main bulb. The new plants are supposed to grow from this joint area.
I have never done this so if someone who has done it would correct me or add to what I have said I would be greatfull.
PS I have 1 leaf that I am trying now but no plantlets yet. I have it sitting on live sphagnum with the joint end partly covered and quite wet.
Doug
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Post by Rick Hillier on Jun 9, 2008 9:03:53 GMT -5
I've had success in propagating many drosera by just taking the "tentacled" part, chopping it into smaller pieces, laying the pieces over wet sphagnum, bagging it up putting the whole thing under lights and forgetting about it for a while.
I could get around four to six plantlets from a single drosera rotundafolia leaf that way. With larger ones like capensis, I could get many more from a leaf for obvious reasons.
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Post by doug on Jun 11, 2008 12:37:57 GMT -5
Here is the same leaf, and now you can see three plants, and a red tipped root growing out of the biggest plant-let.
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Post by reptileguy5 on Jun 11, 2008 12:55:58 GMT -5
good work! ;D
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