# How I Root Plant Cuttings



## JimO (May 14, 2010)

This is a short series I decided to post describing how I root and place plant cuttings that I purchase, receive in trade, etc. First, of course, I must state a disclaimer. Although I am a scientist (hydrogeologist) and have always had a love of plant and animal life, I have no formal training in botany. In fact, before setting up my first viv, I had difficulty keeping house plants or garden vegetables alive, much less having them thrive. But, for some inexplicable reason, I have had great success with keeping vivarium plants to the point where I might have to hire a lawn service come to trim my vivs on a regular basis - JK. 

However, because of this success, I routinely harvest nice cuttings that I simply cannot just throw away. I've also come to enjoy the plants as much as the frogs and now have upwards to 30 species/varieties (in the case of neo broms) of plants in my 22 vivs. I've started collecting unusual plants for my own enjoyment and when they do well, want to share them with other hobbyists. I used to routinely give away cuttings of oak-leaf ficus for the cost of postage, but, frankly, stopped when potential recipients started grilling me with questions about what they were getting for their $6. Go figure. So, now I have been accumulating cuttings until I have enough to sell at a fair price to cover the cost of proper packaging and shipping and have a few bucks left over to buy more plants.

I decided to post this thread so that I could direct folks that buy cuttings from me to a place with some instructions on what to do with their new plants. This is only a description of what works for me. I'm sure there are many successful and perhaps more effective ways to start new cuttings, but this has worked for me with the plants I've sold, so here we go.

*UNPACKING YOUR NEW PLANTS*

When you receive your plant cuttings, remove them from the plastic bags and either place the stems in some water or place them in a quarantene tank until you have time to treat them with a bleach solution. The reason is that many plants, such as African violets and certain species of begonia (ie begonia themae) do not like their leaves wet. Since these are tropical plants, most thrive in a humid environment with a moist to wet substrate, but they aren't water plants and will die quickly if their leaves stay saturated. Even setting the box aside for a couple of days could cost you one or two of the plants.

You can set up a simple quarantene container by using an aquarium (10-20 gallons). The three most important features are:


High humidity (glass cover)
Good lighting
Thick, damp substrate (not saturated).
HUMIDITY

Altough many will disagree with me on this point, I put a glass lid on the quarantene viv that has no ventilation. But, I open the lid on a daily basis to check on the plants. When the viv lights are on and the ambient room temp is in the low 70s, you should see condensation on the inside of the glass. A lot of folks talk about humidity in percent, but that varies with temperature. You want the inside of the viv to have a dew point of 70F or higher, meaning that at 70F the air is saturated and water will condense onto surfaces, such as your grass on a cool morning or on the inside surface of the viv glass in an air conditioned room.

LIGHTING

Probably more viv plants are killed by improper lighting (mostly too little) than any other reason. Lighting requirements vary with species, so I won't get into details about this, but will just state that a fixture with two 23-26 watt daylight CFL bulbs is what I use almost as a standard on my 10 to 29 gallon vivs. There are 27 watt CFL bulbs available, but the Exo-Terra and ZooMed fixtures are rated for 26-watts maximum in each socket. I've found GE brand daylight bulbs in 26 watts at Wal-Mart and Ecosmart bulbs in 23 watts at Home Depot. Both are 100 watt incandescent equivalents (watts IE). I do have a couple of T-5 fixtures, but the main point is that you want 150 to 200 watts IE of daylight (6,500k - 6,700k) lighting on any viv that has the footprint of a 10-gal to 29-gal aquarium and up to a 24x18x18 Exo or ZooMed. If the viv can accommodate a 3-bulb fixture, use three of the same or 300 watts IE.

I have yet to kill a viv plant from this amount of lighting and most are reaching for the lid to get closer to the light.

SUBSTRATE

If you are setting up a temporary "dirty quarantene" enclosure (pre-bleach treated plants), then you can simply place 3-4 inches of wet spagnum moss on the bottom. Add water until the bottom 1/2 inch is saturated and try to keep it at that level. Some plants want to keep their feet wet and will send roots to the bottom, while others will maintain shallow roots. If you do not have time to bleach treat your plants before placing them in quarantene, then this temporary setup can be used to keep them going until you have time to treat them; however, once treated, you need to put them into one of your vivs directly or into what I call a rooting enclosure - or clean quarantene. To save space, I use these enclosures as froglet grow-out vivs, but then I treat cuttings from that viv before placing them in another viv. If you want to avoid this extra treatment step, just keep the enclosure frog free.

For a more permanent clean quarantene, it's best to set up a false bottom and then place the sphagnum moss on top of that. You can manage the water level better and it should be kept high enough that the moss is in contact with water at all times - it will wick upwards and keep the rest of the moss damp. You don't need to mist very often, but you'll want to install a small piece of tubing or PVC pipe to siphon excess water, as needed.

In the next post we'll look at techniques for treating the newly arrived plants and the difference between "dirty quarantene" and "clean quarantene" enclosures.


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## puremanb (Apr 10, 2009)

What about rooting hormone? You never use it?


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

I apologize for taking so long to continue this thread. It's been a busy month with lots of travel. 

*RECEIVING NEW PLANT CUTTINGS*

I will probably cover the preparation of potted plants in a later post, but for now I want to focus on plant cuttings because they need to be prepared and placed on substrate quickly after they are received. First, as stated above, don't leave the plants in their bags or containers after you receive them. Many plants do not like their leaves wet. Since most plants are shipped in plastic bags with some moisture, the leaves will likely be in contact with the plastic, trapping moisture on the leaf surface. Have you ever noticed that certain leaves quickly die and rot when they get stuck against the glass in your viv? It's the same problem.

Open each bag and remove the plant cutting(s). I wrap the roots in damp paper towels when I ship plants. This should be removed so you can examine the stems and roots. After examination you can cover the stem and/or roots with the damp towels until you are ready to rinse the cuttings. Don't let them dry out. Take each cutting and rinse it thoroughly in tap water. Try to keep as many of the roots attached as you can, but try to carefully wash off any dirt, leaves, and substrate that might still be attached.

At this point, you will be ready to either treat the cuttings to be placed in clean quarantene, or you can place them directly into dirty quaratene and treat them later.

*BLEACH TREATING PLANT CUTTINGS*

There are other ways to treat plants, but this is the only one I've used. I'd like to invite others to describe their different methods on the thread. A lot of people know much more than I do about this subject and I welcome the input. I should also make the disclaimer that it has been reported to me that a 10 minute bath in a 10% bleach solution is not sufficient to kill chytrid spores entirely. I don't have any references one way or the other. All I can say is to get plant cuttings from trusted sources and if you ever have chytrid in your collection, please don't sell or give away plant cuttings from your vivs.

I use a 10% bleach solution to treat plants. That is one part bleach and nine parts water. If my math is correct, that's a tad over 3 cups of bleach per gallon of water. A "tad" is an obscure unit of measure between a "dash" and a "swig". Use plain bleach, which is a solution of sodium hypochlorite and water. Some pool products contain the same compound, but at a higher concentration. For this reason I recommend sticking with normal bleach. And, pool water does not have enough chlorine to treat plants. A lot of name brand bleach products contain thickeners, detergents, and other ingredients. Don't use these because some of these ingredients might leave persistent residues.

*CAUTION *- For those who don't know - never mix bleach with anything containing ammonia (like Windex). The resulting reaction will release chlorine gas, which can cause severe respiratory damage and even death. I say this because a lot of folks use ammonia-based products to clean and sterilize aquariums and enclosures and because at my day job I work with safety professionals and am regularly reminded of the many hazards in my home. You should have seen their faces when I told them that I collect poison dart frogs!  HA!

The bleach treatment can be as simple as submerging the cuttings in a bucket of solution for 10 minutes and then rinsing. However, most plants float and plants like bromeliads are rigid and have many nooks and crannies. To get a thorough treatment, I place some bleach solutions in a plastic ziploc bag, drop some cuttings in, and close it with as little air as possible. Then I gently tumble it to allow air to escape from the "nooks and crannies" (another obscure volumetric unit of measure).

Let the plants soak for 10 minutes. Remove the cuttings and rinse thoroughly with tap water, and I don't mean for 10 seconds. Give them the smell test and rinse again. Have a bucket of tap water handy to drop the cuttings in after rinsing. Don't leave them in the water for more than an hour or so. At this point, the cuttings are "treated". Even after all this, you can usually detect a faint odor of bleach. Sodium hypochlorite will break down in the presence of oxygen, but in can take a day or two. Like most chemicals, even small concentrations of bleach can kill frogs. For this reason, I don't recommend placing the plants in your viv for at least a couple of days after treatment. This is also why I have clean quarantene frog free containers. For the short term, this could be nothing more than a cup with some damp sphagnum placed in an empty, covered, and lighted aquarium. You can fit quite a few cuttings in a 10-gal aquarium in this manner.

*CLEAN QUARANTENE*

Once the plants are placed in quarantene, I just leave them alone until I see new growth. If you want to plant them in the viv after temporary quarantene, do this with as little handling as possible. At this point the plants are stressed to the max and they need to recover and establish root systems. If you go the dirty quarantene route, you should treat them as soon as you can. Otherwise, the cuttings will begin grow delicate root hairs, which will be destroyed during treatment.

I realize that the majority of common viv plants can be run over by a truck, passed through the digestive track of a lizard and, with proper moisture and lighting, sprout defiantly up in the middle of the viv from a clump of sphagnum. I don't recommend this method of treatment, mind you, but you will find that a lot of plants are great survivors, despite our efforts.  But, I handle all plant cuttings as though they are delicate, because some of the nicest plants are.

If you receive a cutting with no roots, do not despair! The leaves of some plants, like Pilea species, will be really droopy and might even die back, but new growth will come bursting from the stem if it is placed in a clump of damp sphagnum. You know, damp sphagnum must be magical. I've clumsily knocked begonia leaves off my plants while chasing a froglet around the viv (I know you must be thinking that I have to be a pretty small guy). To my amazement, when the last bit of the leaf turns brown, I typically see a tiny little plant emerge from the moss. Perhaps sphagnum is the secret to regeneration of human tissue. If you cut your lip off while shaving - slap a chunk of damp sphagnum on the spot and grow a new one.

I'm getting punchy, so I'll continue this another day...

Sent from my Clump of Damp Sphagnum using Peat-a-Talk


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

I almost forgot to mention. Do not bleach-treat mosses, liverworts, or similar plants. They typically cannot tolerate it. If you have any doubt place a very small pinch in the bleach solution and wait 30 minutes. If the color has faded, then you'll need to try some other method. It's best to get these plants from frog-free sources.


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## mrzoggs (May 27, 2012)

Thanks! That was nice to read and easy to understand. Im putting this in my favorites because im in the process of building a couple vivs and it will be time to plant them soon.


oh and this:

A "tad" is an obscure unit of measure between a "dash" and a "swig". 


had me laughing out loud.


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## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

I also have to say thank you, I've been looking forward to this next update (and any more you care to share with us!) I now have a solid understanding of what I need to be doing and how to do it. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!

This one had me laughing!
"Sent from my Clump of Damp Sphagnum using Peat-a-Talk"


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## kingfisherfleshy (Mar 17, 2012)

After dipping can plants go directly into the vivarium so long as there are no frogs? I plan on planting, and then adding frogs.


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## LarryLee (Jan 15, 2012)

good read Jimo!!, I posted a while back about my creeping fig dying and my old plant bulb burned out shortly after that... I went to ace and bought a Sunlight bulb and put in my24 in fixture.. my brom shot roots everywhere, the ficus came back to life and my arrowhead plants put on some awsome colors and went nuts..
Larry


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## kingfisherfleshy (Mar 17, 2012)

Bump to my question?


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

Yes, as long as you wait a few days before the frogs go in.


kingfisherfleshy said:


> After dipping can plants go directly into the vivarium so long as there are no frogs? I plan on planting, and then adding frogs.


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

Thanks JimO!

I was just mentioning earlier that learning to trim and plant cuttings is one of the next things on my list to do. I have a 150 gallon(1st viv) that I started a few months ago. Some of the plants are starting to get some good growth and a couple are starting to hit the top glass. I'd like to start a growout tank for cuttings to help stock future vivs.

Appreciate the shared knowledge, experience, and education!

Thanks, Chris.


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## kingfisherfleshy (Mar 17, 2012)

Thank you very much!


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## CJW (Nov 14, 2011)

this is some fantastic info!


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## Jeri (Jan 3, 2016)

I just came across this thread and was a little confused about setting up a clean plant quarantine. It says to use a false bottom and let the spagnum wick up the water. So my understanding is to put spagnum right over egg crate? No screen used?


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