I’m feeling like I might be up for a growing challenge. Have any of you grown a rare plant from a rooted node? Was it fun? Frustrating? Boring? All of the above? Let me know! (Not my pic. Grabbed it off the internet so y’all would have something to look at 😂)
this is something i have yet to try but i’m thinking about doing with a philodendron gloriosum since they’re pricey and i’m cheap haha. i’d love to hear anything you learn along the way, i’ve tried it with pothos and monstera deliciosa and that’s about it so far. perlite works great for me and i’m in the tri-state area. i hear sphagnum works better in warmer, more humid climates, but i try to keep props in higher humidity anyway (either a mini greenhouse tent or near the humidifier)
3 likes One of my local shops swears by tree fern fiber. It’s kind of expensive for a medium, but I may have bought it anyways because I’m also obsessed with soil mixing 😅. I think they mix it with perlite and sphagnum. I live in New England so a humidifier will be a must in a month or less. But this summer has been soooo humid. My plant room has had too high humidity even with the windows open 😅 But regardless, it sounds like lots of people close in their node propagations with a container or cover. I wonder if they still benefit from airflow though. I imagine it’s a delicate balance between humid enough and mold hazard. We’ll find out I suppose lol
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Next time I buy soil I’m totally getting tree fern fiber! I use coconut chunks and cococoir rn and the roots love the texture so I’m sure the grit of tree fern fiber would also be great.
3 likes i usually open my prop containers for a few minutes to an hour each day to reduce to mold risk. and i also loove coconut chunks. i got a plant in some from a local shop last year and have been trying to find some for sale locally since, hoyas especially seem to appreciate the bark-like texture. i’ve also heard great things about tree fern fiber, and i’m a scientist when it comes to my soil mixtures too, i just have a bunch of amendments that i mix depending on the plant nowadays, i used to use premixed soil but this way is much more fun
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My sister-in-law (who’s on this app too, if you see this, hi Sarah!! 😍) lives in the Pacific Northwest, so she's always rubbing it in my face that she can grow all the crazy rare plants and can find them locally and relatively inexpensive. On her last trip here she carried a cutting of her gloriosum wrapped in a paper towel in her carry-on. She surprised me with it and I about fell over. It's so lovely but I'm terrified to even look at it. Every time I water her, I get sweaty palms. 🫠 I had one leaf kind of curl in a little and nearly needed to use my inhaler. I want all these rare plants, but I don't know if I can handle the pressure. 💀
2 likes I've tried to prop from nodes a few times and have failed. My stupid climate makes it hard to find that perfect balance of moisture. My first attempt was with Sphagnum moss but it was drying out pretty quickly, almost hydrophobic when I tried to water it. I may have just gotten some bad moss. And then, of course, all of a sudden it was soaked through. I've had success with cococoir with lots of other plants (veggie seeds/starts, and a rotating tray of microgreens for my chickens) but I have yet to get a node to prop. I think I'll try perlite next. And I might wait until the fall when the weather is more stable. I've been thinking about building a little grow box/greenhouse to start some things this winter.
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So true! Heck I sometimes look for roots the same day even though I know full well there won’t be any 🤣
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