Hi Komi,

I don't have the chiritas you have but I rooted Chastity in a 1:1:1 spagnum,perlite and vermiculite mixture and it did just fine.

Larry

oh good. They came wrapped in a bit of damp paper and they didn't look too happy, so right now they are in 100% perlite. I can't believe I found space for everything. *help*

Chirita leaves are really easy to root, provided they are healthy. I am a little concerned that you said the leaves, wrapped in damp towel didn't look too happy. They may have been kept too wet. Anyway, I have been rooting a lot of chirita leaves lately. I do it in a mix of perlite and vermiculite. You can root the whole leaf or you can cut the leaf in two and plant the bottom half and the top half. You can leave the petiole on the bottom half or you can trim that off. I plant the leaves up in 2-3 inch pots and place them on the trays that have domes over them, and put under lights. So far I am finding I never lose a leaf cutting and get one or more plant from each leaf. They root within a month and can send up new plantlets in two months or less. These leaves are quite succulent and really are easy to propagate. In fact, I have just discovered that I can make (ahem) three cuttings from a leaf, one with the petiole and base of the leaf and then the bottom half and the top half of the leaf. But, this is taking things to extremes and for your first efforts I would just root the whole leaf. Petrocosmeas also root very easily from leaves. Those tiny leaves will put up plants with very little loss, and even quicker than chiritas sometimes.

Jon

Well, I've done it again.

I trimmed the leaves again before putting them down - there was only a bit of unhappiness at the cut, so I don't think there was any problem with the original leaves. However, they browned up completely within a couple of weeks.

I put them under a propagation dome, though not the most humid one. Could it still have been too humid in there? Too warm? It's a flat with a tall dome and lives under one shoplight. Both the gemella and USBRG 098-083 are dead, but the latifolia is still good (pic below) and so I'm wondering if I should leave it alone or move it or something.... I can't believe I have so much trouble with these.

Chirita sinensis in all its forms including latifolia is easier to root than the other two. I don't know why they failed though. Perhaps they had "issues" that came with them. Your leaf looks good in there. I would be surprised if it didn't send up one or more plantlets. You can even take off some of the tiny leaves as the plantlets grow up, and put them down. Getting the hang of rooting chiritas is not hard, but it is best learned by taking spare leaves from your existing plants so that you can try different things without worrying about losing the leaf entirely. The other day, I took a great big leaf from one of John's hybrids and cut it up into small pieces which filled four 2 1/2" pots. Each piece had a nice bit of vein with it. I am really curious to see if I get many plants or none. I also took some leaves that were beginning to turn yellow. From past experience I find I often get plants from such leaves though they are slower to produce.

Hang in there,
Jon

Jon - thanks always for the tips.

Actually, I do really badly with Chiritas (excluding tamiana, of course). I have a sinensis that is still alive but not doing anything - in fact it has grown smaller.... I think I may beg a leaf from a friend to try. One of these days I'll learn to grow these.

I rooted and got babies from sinensis a while back, but I was really unsuccessful at potting the babies up. None of them had roots when I separated them even though they were, I thought, quite big. And they didn't want to grow roots when I potted them up, either. Maybe I should have domed them? I hate domes, though.

I have all my chirita leaves and small plants under domes. These domes fit on the 10/20 trays so are large enough not to cause problems. I suspect that growing the baby chritas out in the open was the problem, even though they are quite succulent. Since I got my C. sinensis 'Betty' last July I have had lots of fun rooting leaves this way and that, and all the resulting plants have survived and grown. Now, I am getting leaves from them.

You should see my little petrocosmea leaves. I line them up, two to three abreast in little 2 1/2" squares which I line up in the trays, four abreast. I face all the leaves the same way towards the direction of the light fixture, all lined up like little soldiers. In the midst of my my generally chaotic growing style they are so neat and orderly. Soon, I hope to see little plantlets popping up like gangbusters.

Jon

Too much time on your hands, Jon... ;)

-Mo (WV, pretending like I don't play with my plants too)

I followed Jon's suggestion and sectioned a leaf 3 ways. Planted in vermiculite/perlite at 80F with high humidity, it rooted quickly to give me 6 new plants. Some are out of sight.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:832513}}

Fun, huh! Don't you just love the way they willingly send up new plants.

Did you water them before putting them under the dome? And then not water them until they sprouted?