# How do you make cuttings?



## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

OK, I wish this was a thread on how to do it, but since I am not a really good plant person, this idea is unknown to me. Someone mind describing how you make cuttings for plants (procedures). I have a few things that could probably turn into cuttings, but I just need to knwo how to do it so they will thrive. Thanks


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

That is a very broad spectrum question. You mind being a bit more specific? Like, what plant you want to make cuttings of or what you plan to do with the cuttings?


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Antone,
See, that's kinda the problem... I don't know. I searched and searched on here but didn't find anything saying "how to". I guess just a general idea for cuttings that you could do for terrestrial plants and vines (kinda like the ones you sell). So i take it there really isn't one concrete procedure, it varies with the various types of plants?


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## Guest (Jun 7, 2006)

Vines are easy as they root almost anywhere along the, well, vine.
I cut pieces with two or three leaves, at least, and bury one or both ends. Never bury a growing end. Hopefully the cutting will take.

Many other types of plants like dragon tree, Fittonia, Pilea will root if you cut the stem, and put it in water. Take it out of the water when it the roots begin to show, and pluck in the soil.

Aroid like Anthurium, Spath (peace lily), etc.. well just cut and plant. They will be fine. Many Aroids are vines, like Pothos, Sygonium.
Hope this helped.


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Yeah, actually that helped a lot. I have a little of each and will be giving cuttings a shot here soon, so thanks for the help!


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Yeah, I asked b/c different plants have different methods. I've not had success just cutting Aroids anywhere and rooting them. I'll have to try again, I'm sure I didn't do something right.

With vining type plants, its a good idea to cut a few extra leaf nodes worth and pluck those leaves off. Jam that section of the vine into the soil as it will hopefully root at the nodes you ripped the leaves from.

Good luck.


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Rooting hormone can help with some more difficult plants. It can be found at any hydroponics dealer and some nurseries.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I've honestly never had to use rooting hormone on any of my tropical plants... plus I'm not enthusiastic to use it for two reasons - 1) if I can't do it a way nature provided with the plant, I don't feel I'm doing it right, and 2) I don't like working with anything that is dangerous to inhale...

The key word with vining and trailing plants is NODE. This is where the leaf meets the stem, and roots are sent out when the node comes in contact with a moist surface (or in some of our tanks that are super humid, they will develop roots just in the air!). You can make a clipping of a plant off just one node, but its tough on the cutting, try and get a minimum of 3 nodes on the plant. None of the nodes currently have to have roots, but on some tougher varieties you might want to have one node rooted. Simply sit the stem on top of a moist substrate, and the plant should root in short order.

Here is how I break up the propagation "types" of the tropical plants we work with:

This method works with the obvious groups of plants that vine - such as pothos, monstera, non-self heading varieties of philodendron, columnea, Aeschynanthus (lipstick vine), wandering jew, cissus, Syngonium, etc. - as well as trailing varieties of begonia, peperomia, and semi-trailers such as jewel orchids, purple passion, and marantas.

Next you've got plants you can do stem or leave cuttings of. This is literally cutting a stem (that has a bunch of leaves) or leaf off the plant and sticking it into a moist substrate to root. These are the ones most often used with root hormones, but most don't need it. Common ones are african violets and relatives (leaves), non-trailing peperomias (bush types, leaves), non-trailing begonias (leaves), hypoestes (stem), fittonia (Stem), and Pilea (stem).

Then you've got seeds. As I rarely work with seeds, and pretty much all the plants I work with can be propagated by another method, I don't have the experience to really go into this bit. This is sexual reproduction of the plant where all the other forms talked about here are basically "clones" of the mother plant you're taking the stock from.

Last you've got the general group of plants that provide plantlets for you... in one shape or another. Bromeliads due this with pups, whose removal ranges from easy to tricky depending on if they are stoloniferous (out on a branch, these are the easy ones) or held within the axils of the mother (trickier). There are plenty of threads about this.

Next you've got the ariods that tend to have "plantlets" at their base - Alocasias and the generic anthuriums are the ones I've got the most experience with this with. Literally at the base of the plant, little mini plants will develop, and these can be snapped off with relative ease and replanted (the larger the plantlet the better). Aglaonema and similar growing plants (sanseveria, while not really a tropical terrarium plant, grow this way as well) produce offshoots directly off the mother plant that are a bit harder to get off - you have to unpot the plant and cut the offshoots with a knife... easy to say, harder to do!

Other plantlets are produced on runners, such as the ever popular spider plants, and alsobia (I believe some of the gesneriads reproduce this way as well). Runners can be cut off, and the plantlets set on moist substrate where they will root. Some of the ferns also reproduce via runners.


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Thanks everyone for the good feedback. This is all great information that should really help me as ost of my plants are gettingto the "overbushy" stage and need to be trimmed back a bit. Now, instead of throwing away clippings, I can put them to use!


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## Guest (Jun 8, 2006)

> Next you've got the ariods that tend to have "plantlets" at their base - Alocasias and the generic anthuriums are the ones I've got the most experience with this with. Literally at the base of the plant, little mini plants will develop, and these can be snapped off with relative ease and replanted (the larger the plantlet the better). Aglaonema and similar growing plants (sanseveria, while not really a tropical terrarium plant, grow this way as well) produce offshoots directly off the mother plant that are a bit harder to get off - you have to unpot the plant and cut the offshoots with a knife... easy to say, harder to do!


I find it much easier to grow Aglaonema from seed than from cuttings. Well, at least my "mother plant" blooms every summer and produces seeds on its own every fall. I've got 8-9 little Agalonemas in pots and two in my viv. All grown from seed. Also I'm sure this plant can have an entire branch cut and planted in the ground.


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

one of my pothos has little fuzzy root like things sticking out from under the vines on it, so if i understood right, then i can just cut the vine from the main plant, and it will grow someplace else?


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

One thing too Stace... A good way to tell where there is a node is many times on your viners like ivys or pathos or your Aroids is that there are little bumps, those are the nodes. Another thing that will sometimes help is those little bumps form callus, if you scrape a little bit of callus off, that will many times help difficult to root species to root better.

Plants that have canes, (such as dieffenbachia) usually have ridges along their canes. When you plant them make sure that you have atleast a couple of those ridges. Those are their nodes. Same thing goes with the callus on these. You can either plant them on the side, or if you are trying to propogate something such as a snake plant, you can plant vertically, just make sure that you remember which direction was up because they wont grow if you reverse them, due to the "directional" growth hormones in the plants.


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## thekidgecko (Oct 30, 2006)

Heck Titan cut pothos off anywhere but directly on the leaf and they will root in water, soil, w/e. They are nearly invincible lmao.


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

kool, will do then.


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## snakevenom (Apr 3, 2007)

I'm trying to learn more about plants and I was wondering if you can do cuttings on creeping fig ( ficus Pumila)?


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

snakevenom said:


> I'm trying to learn more about plants and I was wondering if you can do cuttings on creeping fig ( ficus Pumila)?


Does a cow go moo? :wink:


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Yep. Just cut and stick. With most climbing plants it doesnt really matter a whole lot where you cut them. You can just stick one end into the soil and away you go. You'll have more creeping fig than you will know what to do with in no time.


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Wow, forgot all about this thread. Almost a year old and still gettin greplies so hope it helps a few. I have gotten most of these issues nailed down but still stuggling with no rhizozomous ferns...


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

What issues are you having with ferns?


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## snakevenom (Apr 3, 2007)

Haha! :lol: Last time I checked they still did Antone. Thanks, Chris


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

well, i made my first "cutting" today, i took it off my pothos in my retf tank. 
here it is


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Well, since you already have a root it will probably be O.K. Generally it’s a good Idea to take more than one node though. The plant will probably wilt for a few days. This is pretty normal, so don’t worry.


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

yea, this morning it looked kinda bad, but, i guess i'll see what happens. I've got it in my chameleon cage close to the top, so maybe the uvb will be beneficial to it.


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

harrywitmore said:


> What issues are you having with ferns?


Oh, just splitting up established plants. Rabbitsfoot and Possumtail types where you can separate the rhizozome (sp?) are fine and easy, but maidenhairs are not so much. I have completely washed the roots clean and made nice even clean cuts to get a nice division and then replanted, but they just seem to brown and wilt after a few days and don't really do well.


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## devin mac (Oct 4, 2004)

snakevenom said:


> I'm trying to learn more about plants and I was wondering if you can do cuttings on creeping fig ( ficus Pumila)?


if it's the standard creeping fig, you more or less can cut it anywhere and just plop the cutting down on some soil. keep it moist and it'll start taking off in short order.


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## Guest (Apr 19, 2007)

Titan, its best to stick that baby in a cup of water until you see new roots.


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

Khamul1of9 said:


> Titan, its best to stick that baby in a cup of water until you see new roots.


ok, will do then.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Actually, "stick it in a cup of water" isn't the best advice... the plants will actually develop roots (and leaves) to adapt to various conditions... and if you change the conditions too much, these roots (and leaves) are worthless to the plant, and can actually hinder the plant's ability to adapt to a new spot. Unless your new spot involves the plant having roots in water, root them on sphagnum moss in a humid container, like gladware, or even a sealed plastic bag. This allows the new growth, both roots and leaves alike, to adapt to the super humid conditions that you're trying to grow them in. I grow my plants in tanks setup like my frog tanks... minus the frogs... so the conditions are similar enough that I can take a cutting straight out of the grow tank and into the frog tank no problem.

Also, the more nodes on a cutting, the more successful the root growth will be, and the more leaves on it, the better the cutting will do (as it will have more energy to work with). BIGGER IS BETTER - always try for the largest cutting possible that you can get away with on your plant. General minimum is 3 nodes on a vine minimum, with preferences for more. The time it takes a 3 node vine cutting to root and show new growth, verse a, say, 6 root cutting, can be the difference of months - with the 6 node plant being faster and healthier. The less nodes you have, the more likely the cutting will fail as well... less plant and leaves to the cutting, the less energy it has to make roots. In cases where the growing conditions are significantly different in humidity, many full plants like to drop a large majority of their old leaves and grow new ones for the new conditions (begonias are a good example of this). The smaller the plant, the less leaves it has, the less likelihood of success when moved because the plants supplying the energy needed for new growth will be dying under the new conditions...


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## Guest (Apr 20, 2007)

Yes, Corey is correct. Its just that for me, the plants don't wilt if I put them in a cup of water first and then at the first sign of root growth, I stick them in the soil.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

The wilting issue is why I recommended putting them in a container with wet sphagnum moss - this is how I root the majority of my plants. The wet sphagnum moss will provide them the moisture they need around the roots, and the humid environment of the bag or container will keep the leaves moist . Having no roots to pull in moisture means the leaves do all the work! So keep them in a super humid container, and they will perk up. Having them root in water is like giving them a head start, then taking it back.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

KeroKero said:


> ...*Also, the more nodes on a cutting, the more successful the root growth will be, and the more leaves on it, the better the cutting will do (as it will have more energy to work with). BIGGER IS BETTER - always try for the largest cutting possible that you can get away with on your plant. General minimum is 3 nodes on a vine minimum, with preferences for more.*...


For the sake of argument, I'll have to disagree with you here. Many plants lose moisture too rapidly to allow large super duper cuttings to root and often times will rot or die. I've personally had the best luck keeping cuttings from 3-5 nodes long or so for most of the vining type plants.

A lot of hardwood plants can't have ANY leaves or anything or they lose too much moisture. Really weird...

A wilting cutting is nothing to be afraid of. They will adjust. We're talking about Pothos here. :lol:


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