How to make khatcuttings

[amanito]

Yeah, I have this khatplant wich is about 60cm or something. I wanna make some cuttings. I thought of taking green branches, put them into water and let them root and afterwards put them in some earth. Will this traditional method work?

Advice needed, thanx in advance

Greentings from Belgium

[Prophet]

NO that method wont work for khat. You will have to plant the cuttings in a sandy well drained mix (like a cactus mix) and don't overwater them. Place them in a semi-shaded place until they produce roots. Rooting hormone would also be beneficial but not necessary.

peace

[Benzito]

ditto. :D

[Pisgah]

So is that woody, or non-woody cuttings?

[Tryptameanie]

They also layer well. If you've got coppicing of supple shoots from the base,just tie them down (you can use a fencing staple or a rock or whatever you've got lying around). Roots form quickly from the area touching the ground and you can then sever the base and pot on the "cutting" which now starts with a bit of an established root system. Unless you're planning on chopping up the whole plant and making heaps of cuttings, this way is good as you get quick establishment and 100% success, as there is no point at which the clone is rootless.

[amanito]

Gonna give it a try in cactus soil. Any ideao how fast they will root?

[Torsten]

and be patient. don't peek! Just wait till the roots emerge from the base of the 75mm pot.

[Andrew]

Yes you can root khat in just water.I,ve done it several times over the years.This is my secret khat rooting technique,works fairl;y well for non-woody tip cuttings,the ones everybody say,s wont take.If you only have a small plant with new tips and no woody growth on it then this is the a good way,rather than waiting for your plant to grow.Change the water every couple of days and be patient as this method cantake a couple of months to grow roots,dont chuck it out too early,I once had a couple of them sit there for about 4 months before half of them rooted.This is not a foolproof method but I can guarantee that it does work if you dont have woody cuttings available.

[gomaos]

Interesting.

I might try that on my narrow-leafed khat which isn't very woody yet....

also I find the easiest quickest way for khat is to find a piece of the plant that has a little piece of root with it, say find a small branch directly connected to a piece of root, and cut off including root, then let sit in half shade for a while and mostly they just keep growing without even any loss of leaves....

[amanito]

Huh,

So if you choose soil, you'll have to take woody cuttings? I thought you always had to take non-woody cuttings.

[trucha]

I've found khat is rather easy to root (woody or nonwoody cuttings) so long as its kept from drying out, is in a warm shady place with bright ambient light (like under a cactus table for instance) and left undisturbed until actively growing.

I've used cactus soils, regular garden dirt, potting soil and old pots with soil that have formerly held plants. All seem to work fine for me.

I had no success when using Oasis grow-wedges though.

I think a lot of times people have trouble with this one is when checking to see if its rooted and damaging the roots that are just starting.

[Khatman]

I recommend layering. Knick the base of each stem with a sharp knife, cut diagonally about half way into the stem. Rub the cut with rooting hormone, which you can get from a nursery. Then dump potting mix around the base of the plant. The trick with taking cuttings is patience. I have screwed up many-a-cutting by digging it up to check for roots. At least one month is probably a good time to wait.

[Khatman]

People may also be interested in the following:

Long-term feeding effects of Catha edulis leaves on blood constituents in animals

Phytomedicine

Volume 11, Issues 7-8 , 25 November 2004, Pages 639-644

M. Al-Haboria, , and M. Al-Mamaryb

"The common adverse effects of Khat use include insomnia, anorexia, hyperthermia, mydriasis and endocrinological disturbances (Nencini et al., 1983; Brenneisen et al., 1990). The detrimental effects of the active principle of Khat in men and animals have been described (Kalix and Khan, 1984), and its mutagenic activity has been demonstrated in bacteria and rodent cells (Hannan et al., 1985; Qureshi et al., 1988) and recently in the exfoliated cells of volunteers who chewed Khat on a regular basis (Kassie et al., 2001). Khat-induced analgesia has also been reported (Connor et al., 2000), although it is not known whether the mechanism is central or peripheral. Acute autonomic responses, such as elevated blood pressure and tachycardia, have been reported (Duke, 1985; Wilder et al., 1994)."

"A clinical trial has shown a delay in the gastric emptying period after Khat chewing (Heymann et al., 1995), and Khat is reported to produce constipation and antispasmodic action in whole mice and on isolated guinea pig ileum (Makonnen, 2000). In addition, the high tannin content of leaves has been suggested to be responsible for the observed gastritis (Halbach, 1972) and the apparently high prevalence of esophageal carcinoma in Yemen (Drake, 1988; Gunaid et al., 1995). Recently, the toxicological effects of C. edulis leaves, both short- and long-term, have been reported (Al-Mamary et al., 2002; Al-Habori et al., 2002) in an animal model. Intragastric administration of Khat or its alkaloid fraction induced changes in free-radical metabolizing enzyme activities (Al-Qirim et al., 2002)."

If you go to Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en&lr=&q=&btnG=Search) and look up health effects of khat there is lots of other literature.