mec Posted February 7, 2008 I've been growing a cutting for about 6mnths now, all looks well but it doesn't stand up straight, it folds over and collapses. I have it growing indoors, it gets a little bit of direct sunlight early in the morning and the rest of the day is shaded. I water and spray it every day. The mother lives under the same conditions and is doing well (drops few leaves every once and while). Should I tie it too a stake or maybe give it more sunlight too give it direction. Can't get photos unfortunately. Any suggestions or comments ? would be much appreciated. I grow it in a sand/peat/vermiculite mixture. peace and beans mec Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conan Troutman Posted February 7, 2008 obviously the root system is not enough to support the top weight of the plant...I would stake it for the time being and try some bottom watering to encourage downward root growth Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted February 7, 2008 i'd go with what conan t said, apart that i personally hate staking plants, ok here it goes... let's say you take a plant from an indoor situation into the outdoors, chances are it will fall over and the tissue will be limp. stalking this plant will only stopp this individual from getting strong, and being able to support it's own weight. don't make the mistake to think staking is like a cast on a broken bone or some damaged ligaments. bones and ligaments benefit from being arressted, and if a plant stalk or branche has been broken the same rule applies, but not for limp tissue. if the stem of a plant has been damaged, but not totaly severed, you might do as followes. 1, take some sticky tape or masking tape, say some 10cm of lengh of it. 2, fold a third (roughly 3cm) back, so that you stick the both sticky sides together. 3, now you have a piece of ~ 6cm of lengh sticky tape, halve of it is non sticky, the other halve is. 4, now wrap the non sticky part over the broken area, make it a snug fit, but don't make it as tight as to bruse the tissue. if you use clear tape you can observe how well, the broken parts are joining, and if you see the tissue bruseing you right away reduce a pressure of your wrap. 5, now just keep wrapping the tape over, the affected are till you got hardly any tape left to hold. the sticky part of the tape will make it so it doesn't open up again. 6, once you are allmost done, fold back again a portion (basicly the last 10mm or so) of the tape to make this end aswell non sticky, like this you can easely unwrapp the tape once the section is healed. i used the same methode very sucessfully aswell for grafting, who needs grafting tape, long live, improvisations!! improvising means, saving money and getting the job done right away!! back to the main topic.... a limp plant can only learn to stand on it's own feet by being exposed to the elements, if the wind bends the stem, than the plant tissue will be built stronger as a responce. stalking will avoid this from happening, and you don't do the plant a favor by doing so. hardening of the stem can happen quite quickly, depending on the plant species, many plant stopp limping after just two weeks of beeing exposed to the wind. another factor is that by misting so often, the rootball of your plant has never had the need to "go deep" or to develope proper. the plant has no need to develope a big root system if it gets spoiled with water!! conan pointed that out right away, so heed his advice and water only from the bottom, and reduce the ammounts of misting, and i bet you she will not topple over anymore. viridis however is a plant which need quite some time to adjust to new enviromental conditions, so make this change a gradual one. i have grown viridis in allmost dessert like conditions, and they did very well, as a fact i think the dessert like climat made them strong as hell.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mec Posted February 10, 2008 Thanks very much for your advice, I'll take it on board. I don't believe the stem is damaged, just weak and limp. It stood upright early in its life. Leaves look healthy and green and strong. much appreciated mec Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mec Posted March 28, 2008 As a follow up. I replanted this plant and put it much deeper in the soil and am watering it much less. It is now growing more erect and looks stronger. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conan Troutman Posted March 28, 2008 As a follow up. I replanted this plant and put it much deeper in the soil and am watering it much less. It is now growing more erect and looks stronger. Hope jono didnt hear that.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mec Posted June 24, 2008 (edited) As another follow up. This plant went limp again, so I transplanted it again, this time into a very small pot. The stress of the small pot may stimulate stronger root grow. Last transplant it had barely a stubble. Its been several weeks since and the plant is looking stronger. I had some photos but forgot my disk. mec Edited July 8, 2008 by mec Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted June 24, 2008 could be root rot involved, try to let the pottingmix dry out just a bit between waterings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
