How Long Should Psychotria Take to Root and Grow New Shoots?

[migraineur]

Hey yo!

Can anyone tell me how long it should take for psychotria leaf cuttings to root and grow new shoots?

I have successfully grown psychotria carthagenensis leaf cuttings and they did not take much time. However, the leaf cuttings I took of the viridis are taking forever and I made them about half way through last year. I made about half a dozen and one only recently started to grow some new shoots.

I think it might be because I didn't have much new growth to use and I used older leaves when I used the viridis. However, at the time I had no choice because someone snapped the stem and in order to save my plant I made a bunch of leaf cuttings from what was left as well as a couple of stem cuttings. The cuttings I took from the stem were successful.

Should I throw them out and use fresh growth that I have access to now?

[in_spirit]

Yes mj.e too forever, got roots but plantlets took forever to arrive. They then died from lack of care while i was not present..

[mr b.caapi]

should only take a couple of weeks in the right conditions.

[migraineur]

Yeah, the carthagenensis only took a couple of weeks. They were made from recent growth though.

[Distracted]

As long as the leaf is green it has the capability to send out roots so don't give up on them till they are shriveled and look dead.

I was given a mixture of alba and cartha leaves and some took at least 2 months to shoot out. I don't know how long it took to root as I had them sealed in a container.

I'm not sure whether I was given fresh or old leaves but i'd guess they were fresh.

I think it depends on how easily available new leaves are for you? If it's taking half a year maybe it would be more worth your time to take some fresh leaves?

Hell, why not take some fresh ones and keep the older one still going, see which one shoots out first

[Roopey]

I've done Viridis leaf cuttings and it took like 6-8 months to shoot.

Be patient.

Edited February 3, 2013 by Roopey

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

The cuttings roopey sent me over a yr ago also took 2-3mtha.. From memory I introduced a heat pad and had action after a few weeks

[Sallubrious]

I root mine (leaf sections) in jars of water and they normally take around 4 weeks to get roots.

I let the roots get to about 10-15 mm long and then plant the rooted leaves in a soil mix that is kept in a humidity dome, then it normally takes about 5 or six weeks for them to start sending up plantlets.

[Shamanistic]

Roots will come quickly but shoots can take a while. I put a leaf cutting in some soil like 5-7 months ago and only now am I seeing shoots which is a whole longer than other psychotria I've tried leaf cuttings with.

[LokStok]

a heat pad will speed the whole process up.

[planthelper]

as lokstock say's, how fast they root depends foremost on the temperature, and other enviromental conditions.

around this (summer)time, it should go fast, even if you, don't utelise bottom heat.

[migraineur]

They are in a heated humidity chamber and they have a fluorescent grow light on them which I turn on at night.

[Sallubrious]

Maybe they were too old as you suggested.

New growth is best for most cuttings, so it wouldn't hurt to knock up a new batch now.

[planthelper]

old and fleshy, thick leaves is what i use, i never have used very young leaves, maybe they root faster, don't know, but one thing is for sure, young leaves are, not very tough.

if you can't work out, what went wrong, just put down another batch, as you already mentioned.

maybe the potting mix, you use, and the enviroment, was not ideal.

i think they might fail aswell, if it's very soggy. i use friable mixtures (searls seed raising mix).

but generally, with those viridis cuttings, one often thinks, it's taking too long, hehehe.

best, to almost forget about them, and the time frame involved.

edit: didn't see above post, once i started composing.

only very old leaves, which went, "thinn again", i would not use, they do root, but not very well, because they have hardly anything left in storage.

i use only the, nicest, fattest, best colored, leaves for probagation.

Edited February 4, 2013 by planthelper

[Sallubrious]

Yeah, maybe I stated that wrong in my last post PH

You want hardened leaves from this years growth, not the soft sappy new growth.

[endorfinder]

Inspired by this thread, tonight I took a 2.5" leaf from a baby nexus sapling, including the heal on the stem. After breaking the stem in about 6 places, I put a few drop of water in a zip loc baggie, moistened the leaf and placed it somewhere warm out of direct sunlight.

Tomorrow I will mist with some dilute rooting powder (IBA/NAA/fungicide), as i need to do with a few of my current clones anyway, and continue to keep them sealed without media... I was thinking of using sphagnum but I don't think there's much point. I like the visibility of the plastic bag, even if the results aren't necessarily optimal.

Hoping NQ temperatures are enough for these guys to root quickly without external assistance. Does anyone think it's worth doing a carth leaf at the same time for comparison? -ef

[migraineur]

DO EEEET!

[Yeti101]

I've got some Nexus plantlets going. How long should I keep them in the humidity dome? I don't want to kill them by trying to harden them off too soon.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Hardening off is just that yeti! Slow and steady wins the pace and it starts at opening the terrarium/bag/dome for 15mins a day for a week, then 30mins etc etc. personally I wait til there are 2 sets then start with the hardening off process.

D00d

[mindperformer]

in my small greenhouse the chacruna makes many long aerial roots:

it does well with 90% humidity and 27°C

outside here we still have european winter-temperatures, but waiting for spring ;-)

Edited April 5, 2013 by mindperformer

[endorfinder]

DO EEEET!

That one rooted from the leaf base in a few weeks, although I never ended out planting it in the proper concertina fashion or even using rooting hormone. It's now in a pot seemingly doing well.

I also just checked on about 10 leaf cuttings I've had going for about 4-6 weeks now. None of those are showing any signs of shoots but they're more than healthy and still alive.

Let us know if you need more prop material.

[migraineur]

I made a couple of cuttings and I had some left over leaves of various size. I left them in a jar of water and did nothing. They all started to root in the water, even tiny pieces of leaves were growing roots. I ended up planting a few of the bigger ones and I chucked out the rest. It always seems to be the way though. I wish every plant was so easy to propagate.

[mindperformer]

the plant even seems to prefer vegetative propagation, as we know the seeds are hard to germinate...

maybe because the amazonian shamans did so for centuries with the many cultivars, the wild populations may be escaped.

As they are so closely related, it is also possible that P. viridis is a cultivar from P. carthagensis

Migraineur, did you test the juice as eye drops against headache, like the Machiguenga?

Edited April 8, 2013 by mindperformer