Hello

I have a Pink Princess philo that I would like to propagate. I am thinking I could stick it into water to root, but something tells me it isn't that simple.

I have a Cobra Philo that I rooted with rooting hormone powder, vermiculite and a baggie tented over it recently and that took forever - actually not all of my cuttings rooted and I started that one October. I am wondering if I am going to run into this with my PP. Thoughts? Has anybody rooted PP before with success? I would like to hear how you went about it and how long the process took.

Carolyn, good luck with her. I had no luck at all and eventually my stock plant died. I have no idea what I did wrong. I can not wait to see how you are doing. That is one beautiful plant.

Do you have a pic? My plant isn't big enough to propagate yet but it IS a cutting, as I think any PP plant would be. Doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would have enough volume (profit) to use lab methods.

Technically, my plant could be made into several plants at this point, but it's not of a size I would like to cut, if that makes sense. The store where I got it has a GIANT one, and in Jan I asked if I could buy a cutting and got the privilege of visiting "the back" where they'd already put many cuttings in pots.

In structure and habit, it's exactly like another one I have that I've propagated many times that just doesn't have spots on the leaves. Philos in general propagate easily, no hormones needed. PP on the right, NOID burgundy Philo on left. The plant on the left is several cuttings from another plant. (Huddled in the baby pool under a cover where I do repotting so they aren't drowning in all of the rain and water standing/flowing through the yard.)



The nodes are where roots form. Aerial root nubs are visible along this stem.

Tiffany

I cannot tell if your pictures are of the same plant as mine. I understand what you are saying about philodendrons, however I had problems getting the cobra philodendron to root. I started out with water and cuttings in a glass and then after awhile planted them in vermiculite with a tented baggie and it was under a fluorescent light. The cobra philo took forever to root - I mean months.

The Pink Princess reminds me very much of the cobra, instead of the white patches on the leaves that the cobra has, PP has pink patches. I am thinking my best bet is to probably root it in the vermiculite under a tented baggie, like I did with the cobra.

Love, love love PP - but I really don't want to lose it.

That newest leaf is a beauty!! These philos are similar because they are cultivars of P. erubescens.

This plant isn't large enough to propagate, IMO, with just 2-3 nodes below the growth tip, on the part in the forefront. The other section's stem isn't visible. But that's just a matter of personal visual preference, and you should do what you want no matter what I would prefer on my own plant.

You could allow stems to lean on the soil, which will encourage the aerial root nubs to form actual roots, and is how it would grow along the forest floor in nature until finding a suitable trunk to climb. When a node takes root, it usually also sends out a new growth tip. Since there are 2 stems, there's no reason you should fear losing your plant by trimming one of them. As long as the stump you leave has a node above soil, it should grow a new tip.

As these plants are epiphytes, they don't need much soil, or for the soil to be moist constantly. The loss of the older leaves so close to the growth tip (a sign of root impairment) concerns me that your plant might like to dry for longer periods between waterings.

A humidity tent shouldn't be necessary in summer, outside. Restricted air flow is the milieu of fungus and other pathogens.

The parts circled in purple are the nodes, where the aerial root nubs are (circled in red, if my eyesight is interpreting the pic correctly.)



Here's another piece of the plain burgundy Philo from above, a leafless section of stem stuck in this pot about a year ago.



Here's the plant on the left from above pic, the 2 stems are coming from the same section of stem although one starts under the soil surface. After about a year, it's going to discard one of its' first leaves (and has sand splashed all over it from all of the rain lately.) You can see the aerial roots searching for something to attach to, not necessarily soil. (They will adhere to metal, wood, walls... in addition to the natural plan of a tree trunk)



This plain green one may be one of the ancestors of the new cultivars. Rescued from "the ICU" at a garden center a few months ago, only had a couple leaves per stem. You can see the similar stems and aerial roots.



When I brought it home I repotted it and the stem was too long to fit how I wanted it in the pot. I removed this piece and stuck it in the soil. Looks like it's about ready to make a new tip.



Heart-leaf Philo has a great example of what happens when a Philo's tip is removed. A new tip will form somewhere, sometimes multiples.



Unless the air gets too dry, aerial Philo roots will grow indefinitely until they either reach soil or something to which to attach and provide stability.



HTH give you an idea of what your plant can do!

Tiffany

I was thinking about perhaps laying the vine on top of the soil - the other vine that is going to the left in the photo is much longer. I have used bobby pins in the past that I just open up wider and use them to anchor stems to the soil so they root. I know I will have to repot this baby too. The longer vine keeps pulling the pot over.

I like your Burgundy philo - has that started to send any new vines from where you stuck it into the soil?

Thanks, Carolyn! Glad you asked that, I didn't make it clear that all of the 'chunks' of that burgundy Philo came from leafless sections of a REALLY long stem that I cut into pieces. I didn't show any pics of the mama because she got frost bite, losing all of her giant old leaves, and now just looks like one of these new babies. So the growth you see is known to have occurred over the past year.

If you are interested in trying that kind of propagation, I used pieces with 2 nodes, and stuck them at about a 45 degree angle, so the buried node would be closer to the surface, giving the potential growth tip from that node the easiest possible route to out of the soil. If you just want to remove a tip, no more ceremony than sticking the cut end in in a pot should be needed. No harm in putting it in water first, but an unnecessary extra step and adjustment for the plant.

The stem I can see on the one part of your plant is impressively thick, should have plenty of stored vigor. Cool to hear it extends farther than I thought. Agreed, if it's tipping, something should be done.

One can also use some type of trellis or pole for the vines to climb, like they usually do for Monstera (swiss cheese plant.) See the aerial roots attaching themselves to the wood? Climbing instead of dangling can also encourage larger leaves, more quickly.



It's about time for me to find something for my PP to climb, it's leaning, and I'd like to see bigger leaves.

Look forward to seeing pics at some point after you've decided what you'd prefer. Lots of fun things one can do with these kinds of plants.

Tiffany

I so agree and find that I would much rather be doing this type of thing than many other things that one has to do.

This is the other vine coming off to the left - it really was a lousy picture, which is why I did not include it. The plant is in a small 4 inch or so pot, so it is probably pot bound as well. I would like to see this plant in a larger pot with multiple stems coming up out of the pot.

I had not thought about giving it something to climb on, but that is a good idea and I do have things here that I could put into the pot with PP.

It looks like that stem does have 2 growth tips, 2 new leaves forming. Is that right?

Tiffany

I does have two new leaves at different locations of the stem that are putting out leaves. I am thinking I can cut there....

Not sure if you're saying your cut would include both existing tips, to leave a stump, or if you are considering cutting between the growing tips. If the latter, can't see clearly enough to see if there's a node between them. As long as there is, that would be fine, just make sure the node is included with the cut-off part. If you did that, you could cut the other part too, including the next node under it, and leaving a stump to grow a new tip. That would give you 3 total plants from that one, instead of 2, whatever suits your taste.

I need to check to see where the nodes are, but I am hoping to end up with 3.

Put up another pic if you want. Even if the last node ends up still having a leaf attached, it can take root. If I didn't have the other plant to play with, I'd be chopping up my PP too. This discussion's giving me urges. I have very few big plants because I have too much fun chopping them up to add it to other pots, giving pieces away... Sending good vibes!

Tiffany

I haven't cut mine yet - need to do that and definitely need to repot. I have some others that I have been dividing and repotting, so I need to get to PP. As you can see, PP is in desperate need of repotting. The last photo shows a new leaf, but if you look below, you can see an arial root that is starting.

I haven't traded anything in awhile, my husband has been having health issues. I am getting the urge myself though.















Carolyn

So sorry your hubby isn't feeling well. Hope that's not the case for long!

Yes, a definite root! There is definitely more to those plants than it looked like in the first pics, plenty of mass for propagation. Don't you just love that bright color on the new growth!? Between that and the pretty pink spots, such beautiful plants!

I think I do want to cut the tip off of mine soon, to see if that will inspire it to grow more than one new tip from the lower nodes left on the "stump." I'm stuck on the idea of it climbing up/attaching to some kind of support though, so it will be a small piece that is removed. The alternative is a more full-looking pot of shorter pieces. Both are worthy, just a matter of one's current desires and ideas for experimentation.

I totally agree, Tiffany. I think the fuller pot will eventually grow longer and perhaps trail - but I do like your idea of something to climb on. I need to deal with PP and I have a Peace lily that is desparately in need of repotting too. I need to get cracking!

Well I did end up wanting to chop my plant after this discussion. I figured the sooner I do it, the sooner there will be multiple tips. Next spring I'll find some type of trellis for it although the stems are very stiff, hard to imagine it leaning at any point.


Hope your DH is doing better. Have you had a chance to do some of your repotting?

Tiff - I did mine yesterday as well. I am hoping they take well enough. What kind of lighting do you have your cuttings in? I typically have my plant in a north window and thought when the sun was shining it may be too much with the cuttings in the bag. I dipped the cuttings in rooting hormone and then stuck them in moist vermiculite with a baggie over the top. I have wooden skewers in the pot to keep the baggie off the cuttings.

Something in the air about getting these things done, good to hear. Good weather for propagating, IME, with all of the humidity, warm temps, should go well. Mine wouldn't snap, which I prefer so always try that first, so used my pruning thing and snipped off the top, removed the lowest leaf and stuck it in aside the bottom part. It already had a root in the air there, which got buried, so I'm 99.9% sure it will take off. I moved it to that spot to take its' pic, but it sits under the cover of my potting area. The sun hits it, but kind of blocked by tree branches, late in the afternoon for about an hour. I think that would be too much if the branches weren't blocking/dappling the light so much. It wasn't getting sunburned like is apparent in the last pic until I put it in the grass to get rained on late one evening and forgot it until the sun was shining on it for hours, until after lunch the next day. Oops!

I did snip mine - the garden clippers were right there when I did them. I had a couple of roots trying to form as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had 2 separate plants going in the same pot as I had to repot the whole thing too.