Growing Psychotria viridis

[samadhi_sam]

Having scored a few Chacruna leaves from Chiral in early December 2009 I tried my hand at cloning these and have finally (this week) started to see real signs of success

The leaves were cut in half, some cloning gel applied to the cut edges and these were planted in rockwool which was kept moist and the leaves themselves were misted several times daily.

In mid February I saw signs of tiny rootlets appearing from the leaf cuts so potted the rockwool into small pots with coconut coir.

The abovementioned care continued (pots were given limited amounts of filtered sunlight daily).

This week I have my first baby viridis and I am overjoyed by this success, it took 3 months to happen but just goes to show that perseverance does further!

I am hopeful the other leaf cuttings will follow suit in the near future.

Thank you Chiral

[ref1ect1ons]

That is awesome, congrats. I know the feeling, but dont think this would be easy at all.

Oh, I really like the pic as well, really nice.

Edited March 13, 2010 by ref1ect1ons

[zelly]

Good Job!!

I've had similar success in rooting cut P. v leaves; P. alba / carthaginensis leaf cuts root 3x faster.

I rooted mine in 100% perlite inside a ziplock baggie & under fluorescent's.

[tripsis]

That is very cool! Love the photo, it's great seeing how the little plant is emerging from the leaf. Nice work and congratulations.

[Chiral]

Good stuff Sam...glad you persevered with em it's Trippy how they poke out from the leaf like that hey...now the real test will be to keep them alive as winter is fast coming, need to keep em warm and humid but watch out for fungus gnats if you keep them indoors.

Have plenty more leaf for you to try next season if they don't make it but I'm sure they will.

[planthelper]

congratulations!

funny is that the pic shows that the leafcutting was planted upside down, but obviosly did not stopp the baby plant from emerging.

viridis leaf cuttings are so cool and a single leaf can produce 10 plants if you are lucky!

sama, please be carefull with those plants over the next few weeks, and gradualy harden them out, if you see signs of shriveling and drying up leaves, increase the humidety right away again.

in short, at times the hardening out process of this plant poses more challanges than the actual striking of the cutting.

[samadhi_sam]

congratulations!

funny is that the pic shows that the leafcutting was planted upside down, but obviosly did not stopp the baby plant from emerging.

viridis leaf cuttings are so cool and a single leaf can produce 10 plants if you are lucky!

sama, please be carefull with those plants over the next few weeks, and gradualy harden them out, if you see signs of shriveling and drying up leaves, increase the humidety right away again.

in short, at times the hardening out process of this plant poses more challanges than the actual striking of the cutting.

 

Thank you all for the feedback, that little baby is growing bigger daily:)

I wonder how much more success would have been had by planting the leaves the right way up instead of upside down. (Doh, I feel like a dope but who was to know?)

Love and peace.

[dworx]

Probably would change the percentages. I don't bother cutting them inhalf like that - just lay the whole leaf on wet kitchen towlet in a ziplock bag. Leave em on a window sill and watch the roots form, then cut a peice of leaf off with a dangly root and let that go in soil in a ziplock as well, Good way to get the ten that planthelper referred to.

[rogdog]

Very nice work. It looks like the cutting is planted with the end closest to the branch in the air, and the leaf tip side in rockwool. I have always planted leaf cutting the other way around, and had success. Strange, it looks like the cuttings aren't fussy about which end gets buried.

[Uda]

I just received a handful of viridis leaves (with due thanks to sethomopod) and I'm wondering the best approach to grow them. I'm guessing this isn't the best time of year to try, with rains and lower temps, but beggars can't be choosers. I'd be quite upset if I messed up this opportunity to grow some happy little viridis'. Oh, I'm also not much of a green thumb (yet?).

I've got enough leaves to diversify if I'm not recommended a single method, or decide not to put all my eggs in one basket. So what's the go? Cut or don't cut the leaves, and if so what way? What medium to use? How much heat, moisture and light is needed? Stuff at my disposal - Amgrow seedraising mix, Clonex softwood&semi-hardwood cloning gel, paper towel, baggies, think I have some fine perlite, and a big clear plastic storage tub I can use as a greenhouse.

Halp computer!

Sorry if it looks like like I'm expecting spoonfed info btw; I've read as much as I can, and would be happy to have a shot with what I've read, but it always pays to ask the experts when lacking certainty.

Peace,

Uda

[samadhi_sam]

I just received a handful of viridis leaves (with due thanks to sethomopod) and I'm wondering the best approach to grow them. I'm guessing this isn't the best time of year to try, with rains and lower temps, but beggars can't be choosers. I'd be quite upset if I messed up this opportunity to grow some happy little viridis'. Oh, I'm also not much of a green thumb (yet?).

Peace,

Uda

 

Hi Uda, a month ago today I placed 2 leaves (and a few bits of leaf) onto moist paper toweling and into ziplock bags.

These received filtered light for 12 hours per day and kept within 20 to 25 degrees C.

Roots have developed at both leafstems and on an area of each of the bits. Root growth seems to be quite slow but I am confident of success.

pics to follow

peace,

sam

[Alice]

I just cut the leaf into 2 or 3 sections across the veins and bury them half in half out of seed raising mix. The last lot I babied for months, misting daily and shit but nothing happened, so gave up and moved the tray outside, was going to put the lot in the compost bin but forgot about it. A month or two later I checked on it and whatdjaknow, tonnes of little plants. It really is that easy, so go with whatever method appeals to you.

Viridis tends to take a bit longer to throw roots than carth or alba.

I like Sam's method, because you can see the roots forming. I'd probably go with that if you're the impatient type who might be tempted to dig them up to "just have a look" if roots have formed under the seed raising mix.

[planthelper]

so all this stories tell us is, that all paths lead to rome, so for anybody who hasn't tried this methode of probagation, just have a go, it's not rocket sience.

there are some different opinons arround, but that ought to stop nobody from just doing it.

slightly different methodes, all have there merits because of each individual aproach.

for example, some people say bury the leaf only slightly, whilst others stick them deeper into the pottingmix. but none of those actions can be ruled as superior, as a deeply buried leaf might get better results if humidety is lower, than a leaf just place on top of the soil.

the two major factors, are temperature and humidety, lack of ample temprature is probably the biggest cause of failure, meaning if you are putting down psychotria cuttings right now, you will need an additional source of warmth, otherwise the procedure might fail.

if temps are low, they need much much longer to strike and to establish themselfes.

some bottom heat devices are good for that, or you place the cuttings close to the heat radiating from the fridge.

an other methode, favorited by sab for example, is to take normal tip cuttings,

as they produce bigger plants faster.

[samadhi_sam]

I was going to take a pic of leaf on paper toweling in a ziplock bag but the roots aren't easily visible and it's a bit boring to see otherwise, I did however take a few pics of my previous leaf clone results and thought some might like to see the current situation. Now to get them through winter, next challenge.

Peace, sam

[GingaNinja]

yeah IME viridis leaf cuttings are shit easy but slow was fook.

but you get literally get hundreds from 1 plant so it kinda pays off

[Uda]

Just did what I could with my bunch. Turns out that handful was 23 leaves I put most of them in baggies, with some of those on paper towels, some on slices of rockwool blocks and one on cotton buds. Put the rest in small pots with seedraising mix, some of these getting cosy with rockwool, some not.

Ready, set, grow!

[samadhi_sam]

Ready, set, grow!

 

Good luck Uda! I would love to see the outcome a few months down the track.

peace,

sam

[gerbil]

can't remember if it was established knowledge or just experiments, but i seem to remember (and did it) that if you slightly break the main vein in the leaf multiple times (whilst keeping the inner bit still in tact, you will see a little stringy like cord) you can achieve greater number of plant shoots from a single leaf. If i recall, each snap had the potential of a shoot development. I could be way off though.

[klip247]

I have a P.Viridis ordered from SAB a couple of weeks ago, the leaves were slightly bent and yellowing, ive been misting daily and keeping the soil moist for the most part but it seems the leaves are still yellow at the tips and seems the younger shoots are dull greenish not that deep green I see in the pics above, anyone know if this is a sign of an unhealthy plant? If so what would you recommend I do to get that green vitality back? Should I re-pot as its still in the same pot I got from SAB.

Edited April 17, 2010 by klip247

[Alice]

klip, it just needs to get used to its new environment. It will be fine, they just don't like a change of conditions. Stick it pot and all into/under a shrub, so it gets filtered light and humidity from the shrub. Or jam it in between some bigger pot plants. Microclimate etc.

[klip247]

The plant is indoors under some fluros over the winter but I will be putting her outside when the weather starts to heat up again.

[planthelper]

i recieved the same plant from sab a while ago, and my leaves where even more yellowish.

i used small ammounts of liquid fert on them (plus folar feeding), and the leaves are already getting much greener and she started producing good new growth.

the pic shows clearly formost a nitrogen deficancy, but just a little fert and she will pound away!

[klip247]

I have some slow-release fert pellets, its for the cacti/bonsai... would this do or should I use something else?

[Alice]

Use a diluted liquid fert for an immediate feed. Nutrients are only taken up by the plant if they are dissolved. Thrive, miracle grow etc will be fine. Avoid long term use in potted plants, you'll get quite a bit of salt build-up, you'll see it only the soil surface when this happens. A good flushing with water every now and then will help.

[planthelper]

well said alice!

one could use slow release pellet fert under this circumstances, but it would take much longer for the fert to have any (positive) effect on the plant.

you could aswell use manure pellets, but again, it will take much longer for the plant to be able to benefit from this action.

a liquid made with the use of worm castings and water, could be an alternative, as worm castings are said to contain nutrients which are available to the plant right away to high degree.

alice makes a good point, don't be afraid of using liquid fert, but don't use it often, as it results in salt build up and destroys the soil to some degree.