Psychotria Cloning

[komet]

Hi,

I am about to do my second lot of psychotria leaf cloning (viridis & alba)

The first time was a great success, I just dropped the leaf vertically into the soil, got the environment right and now some months later I have many fresh shoots.

But I have since heard it is possible to dissect the leaf further before planting - ie. you don't have to plant the whole leaf?

And another Q :lol:

I noticed first time around that the new shoots almost exclusively came from the length of the leaf's mid-vein....which causes the new shoots to become quite crowded. So, is it ok to plant the leaf horizontally so the new shoots which come from the mid-vein are not so crowded when they surface...I hope that makes sense.

A big thanks to everyone here...it has been a great source of information in my year-or-so of lurking.

 

[dreamer042]

your doing the good work there propagating the medicines

I've read that you can cut about 3/4 of the leaf off at an angle and it will take root faster since it does not need so much water/nutrients and stuff to feed a whole leaf. I'm not sure if it would work being completely horizontal but planting diagonally might be an option.

 

[SnozzleBerry]

But I have since heard it is possible to dissect the leaf further before planting - ie. you don't have to plant the whole leaf?

I can only comment on cloning cannabis hydroponically and in this case, yes, it is commonplace to snip the leaves about 1/3 or so of the length from the tip. Trimming the large fan leaves reduces transpiration, thus lessening the demand on the newly forming roots (initially your clones take in moisture through the leaves). This allows the new plant to deal with less vegetative material while in the very delicate state of cloning. Additionally, it means there is less nutrient/water demand on the plant as a whole.

I couldn't really read/analyze your second q as I'm at work, but, how do you mean crowded?

 

[komet]

SnozzleBerry
I couldn't really read/analyze your second q as I'm at work, but, how do you mean crowded?

This picture might describe it best. You can see the new shoots rising against one-another. As they are getting older, new shoots continue to rise, which is going to make it difficult to separate them in the future?

I was thinking, if the leaf is planted horizontally, then they would grow more freely and easier to separate later.

Note: I removed the soil because these are now growing in a run-to-waste hydroponic system...they are doing well by the way.

SnozzleBerry
I can only comment on cloning cannabis hydroponically and in this case

Funny, cannabis cloning is where my knowledge base also comes from. I'm a moderator at Gardenscure.com

dreamer042
your doing the good work there propagating the medicines Smile

I've read that you can cut about 3/4 of the leaf off at an angle and it will take root faster since it does not need so much water/nutrients and stuff to feed a whole leaf. I'm not sure if it would work being completely horizontal but planting diagonally might be an option.

Thank you. What you say is interesting...I guess I should probably try a few variations. But I am curious to hear what others experiences are or what they have heard.

 

[komet]

Well, I tried a bunch of things. I used both psychotria viridis and alba; some leaf was planted vertical, horizontal and diagonal. Some leaf was left whole, some was cut down further into smaller pieces.

50/50 perlite/vermiculite
water ph 5.5
86f sealed up for 48hrs with 100% humidity

I will update and report what performs best.

A plant from the first picture now in hydroponic medium:

 

[endlessness]

good luck on your grow

and yes you can definitely cut the psychotria leaves before cloning them, it works perfectly

(im not sure how much is the ideal to cut, but Im happy with the tests you are doing, will be glad to read the results)