I am pretty certain your experiment will not work.

You need leaves that are ripped off all the way down at the crown... They'll actually be white down on that end.

I have rooted hosta eyes that have ripped off down at the crown and it worked. I had them in my small water feature with a pump, but no filter.

I've not ever tried doing it with a single leaf.
I have, however, been told that this really only works in the last half of the hosta season since that is when hostas are working on putting out new roots.

Oh

OLE!!!!

mel.. you are wrong..

she is trying to root ONLY A LEAF ...

mel.. you are right.. it works.. ALLEGEDLY.. only when you have a piece of crown attached ...

so.. i suggest ... a leaf or two with some crown .... to see if that will leaf ... but i doubt you can put the crown material 3 inches under water.. but wait.. lol... put two there.. and try to get two at water level some how..

man.. i love experiments.. two thumbs up for the scientist ...

i see now.. GT will be the key one...

keep us posted

ken

not sure if I lost my first attempt to respond? will try again..

First of all I am a he, so nobody will get mixed up about that. ;)

its all about fun, and going against the current ! there is nothing to lose by trying. I do like the idea of Not getting any of the bottom core, but like I said the Golden tiara came out that way, and I figure its probably hardy and might be a good type to give and edge to..

maybe I will add a GT with no base material to the experiment as well, I must admit I can think of about 50 different ways to test , haha

broken high,broken low with base material, v cut stem,flat cut stem, I will be out of room and have no leaves left on the donor plants !

maybe I should try some GRAFTING, uh oh..this is going to be trouble ;)

@leafwatcher: I'm looking forward to seeing your results. I have about 25 leaves on the windowsill right now. Some with crown, some with a clean cut well above the surface, some with rootone, some without, some established leaves some new growth.

I made a matrix of questions and variables to test and was amazed to see it was over 100 individual tests! So looks like I'll only be testing a few variables this year :)

{{gwi:1066107}}

What a great posting and Leafwatcher I applaud your approach. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. With the rooting hormone and 2 hours of sun you might get a bad algae bloom which would destroy the experiment before the hostas can respond effectively.

It is hard for my feeble mind to conceive that a leaf that will survive in water so long after being broken from it's parent can not be forced to root. There are so many variables that failure should not mean it can't be done. (sorry Melissa-nothing personal intended).

It seems to me that to be as prolific as the species have been in China, Japan and Korea hostas must have found many ways to survive over the centuries in some rather hostile environments. They are very obviously water dependent.

Keep us posted please. It wasn't that long ago that we'd never heard of hydroponic farming.

Les

I have to go with Ken. I've put a broken off leaf in water before,and they do,indeed last a long time,but eventually just turn brown and disintegrate. Good luck,anyhow! Phil

BTW ... while contemplating this.. and my bellybutton.. AT THE SAME TIME .... go figure on that .. lol ...

the tiaras are rhizome type ... so in theory.. that isnt crown at the bottom of the leaf ...

ken

It was HOT again today ! Not like last week, but a real test on the leaves.

They are looking ok so far, Heaven knows I was feeling the heat of it all...

Leafwatcher- what perfect handle for someone trying to root leaves. And you too, hostacat, that looks like the right amount of water. A number of us will be waiting to see what happens. I may try a few myself.

tj

A thought for future experimenters: If you are using the aquarium approach for mulit-leafs you might considering going to any home improvement center and getting an eggcrate lighting diffuser panel. Its a 2'x4' plastic diffuser for fluorescent lights,an open latice with 1/2" grid. Just cut it to the aquarium size to fit on the cover lip on the tank. Then just slide your stems into the opening. You can add water right through it when needed. The cost is very reasonable. Even if you hang leaves with pieces of crown, rhizome, or stolon attached.

Les

great idea, i even have some somewhere from an old aquarium project...

Well , its day 6, and its been so hot and muggy I am not sure how the leaves still look this good,
but they do !
here is a current pic.

I'm interested to see how this turns out! I have a 10g aquarium (with fish in it) so I might be willing to give it a shot too if you have any success.

@leafwatcher: You mention the leaves are in "aquarium water."

What is aquarium water?
[A Google search did not bring back any definitive answers.]

For those of us who keep tropical fish, we need to change a part of the water frequently because fish and plant waste causes a buildup of nitrates and ammonia that is toxic to fish (but makes great fertiliser for plants & it is already to pour on the plant). This water rich in nitrogen is aquarium water.

Les

what les said !

I have a homemade 240 gallon tank, so I can ALWAYS find some nutrient rich water when I want it ! i can grab as many buckets as I can carry up the stairs..then refill the tank, and the fish love me as much as my plants do.. EVERYBODIES HAPPY !

Thanks for the clarification Les, that makes leafwatchers experiment even more interesting.

It will really be fun to compile results of all these tests.

Leafwatcher, how about a photo of your giant tank for the pet thread?

Here is a link that might be useful: Post your pets on the conversation side!

I posted an aquarium pic here.. with some other info... http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/con0720035013961.html?4063

I never tried to root a hosta leaf in water, however, as an experiment I planted a leaf with base "nodule" intact but no root. I planted three or four different varieties at the base of my bird bath where they get water nearly every day. They grew a respectable amount of roots in one year and had 3-4 leaves the following spring.

Not exactly sure why my link isn't HOT above, but here is the aquarium pic... 2 feet tall, 8 feet long, 2 feet front to back.. All the fish are hiding..OF COURSE.

That is cool, Leafwatcher! Once about 30 years ago, I was in someone's home who had a large aquarium mounted in the wall with a picture frame around it, like living art. They accessed the aquarium from the closet on the back side of the space. I've always wanted to do that since then.
Karen

I posted in the "conversation side" and it popped up here in the hosta forum so I obviously have no idea what I am doing. Am I right in assuming that with all the rocks,caves and flat surfaces you have cichlids Leafwatcher? That is a typical cichlid setup.

Lea

And where do I find the "conversation" side?

I used to have about 200 assorted malawi in there, then I went to Frontosa, I had been adding a few fancy plecos, and some Clown loaches here and there.. I traded a few fish, sold a few, some died off..I loaded up on clown loachs by trading Bristlenose plecos I was breeding....So now I mainly have my left over silver dollar (dither fish), and maybe 25 Clown Loach..A couple large clown Plecostomus.. Some of the Loachs are decent sized..But they hide so much I am never sure !

The leaves SOMEHOW still look good! I am noticing sort of a break down look at the bottom of the stems, I can't say it looks like roots though. I don't know if the plants injury is getting worse or maybe trying to root?

I KNOW I won't get a good shot with a camera.

In the constant heat I almost feel mean leaving them in water..hahahah
I wonder if I should try planting at the two week mark? and hope they put their energy into rooting into the soil?

I hate to let the heat cook em before I get them in the dirt...

Leafwatcher: My first batch of leaves are approaching the 3-week mark, and already I've had a few yellow and wilt away.

Others are still looking "ok" but no sign of roots.

The batch that is in peat and the batch in compost are looking pretty bad. The ones in sugar water look the best right now but they are not showing any sign of rooting... yet.

I'm adding a few tests a week, perhaps I should get some "aquarium water."

You are doing way better than me without any AQUARIUM WATER I would say ;)

I once was breeding cichlids too, also african rift lake cichlids. I have one 55 gal tank left which houses my grandson's 7 goldfish over winter.

About rooting, there are no nodes on cut-off hosta leaf stems from which roots could sprout, piece of crown would do it. Read up on 'hosta tissue culture' via Google as a viable way to get more hosta.
Bernd

Ok, so I have a question. Here's a hosta leaf with a bit of crown that I am trying to root.
Is the node that is showing in the picture a root node or a leaf node? I don't know if I should be putting this node under water or above the water; I don't want to rot the crown....

Thanks,
Wendy

Wendy, that's a root node. See how the stem is white? That has all been underground and should be replanted that way.

Thanks Melissa!

Well, with all this heat I started to notice a slight decline in the Striptease leaf,, So I have planted the leaves in a small spot of the yard...I am sure they will go downhill fast now. I will continue to water them, and we will see if POSSIBLY something comes up next year ! no hosta have ever been planted where they are going..so that SHOULD avoid any confusion...
here is a pic just before i moved them to soil 8/2/11 which is 12 days of time in the fish tank outdoors.

Looks like all they need is a blindfold and a last cigarette. ;-)

tj

hahahahah, great comment !

They probably have about the same chance of surviving !

@Leafwatcher: any plans to continue the experiment?

---------------------
While I have week's worth of testing left (playing around) a few anomalies so far:

All experiments in leaf-mold compost or mixtures of leaf-mold compost and other media have died or are in the process of dying.

Young (center most) leaves of H. Undulata are looking better then outer more mature leaves. Statistically I am not seeing this with other cultivars used.

Regardless of how much crown material or how high up the petiole the cut was made, cuts using a scalpel are doing better then leaves "ripped" or broken off the crown.

I am going way out on a limb here. I visualize hosta as a plantthat is like other deciduous perennials but with its main stem, trunk, whatever squashed like an aluminum can going to the recycler. Nodes appear on the squashed trunk (crown)and from these nodes, like on the other "normal" deciduous perennials that have nodes on their trunks or stems, either leaves or roots can grow. This is how stem cuttings are propogated. Leaf cuttings can be propogated from leaf blade tissue, but not petiole, which is the stem that bears the blade. I have done this with hydranga.

Is it possible that the nodes on the crown select to become either a root or a leaf by sun penetration, similar to the way tuberous plants petiole find the sunshine through the dirt? Those in the dark become roots and those in the light leaves.

This is fun - truly - and I think we all suspect might be futile. Maybe we should be experimenting more on leaf blade cuttings instead of petiole cuttings.

I like Tanganyikan Cichlids. I bred Malawans back in the 1960's along with riverine haps as they were coming into the US. The first person out of Africa that tried to breed M.auratus spent a thousand dollars on stock but had only the yellow and black females and no blue and black males. No guys - no kids. After years we realized we thought the males were a different species and auratus weren't so hard to breed afterall. There must be an analogy here somewhere. (lol)

Les

You can find home tissue culture kits all over online. Link below is to one of them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Tissue Culture kits

@hostaLes: That is a great idea and a whole new set of tests! Any chance you'd be willing to take on that project? I unfortunately already have 100+ leaves to deal with :)

On a side note; I do have as part of the existing tests, crushed, shaved and sliced petioles. (This must be like a horror movie to some of you hosta lovers!)

@franknjim: I don't believe any of the experimenters here are doing this as a method of propagation but rather as a learning experience. There are definitely easier ways to divide plants. This is more or less trying to find out what conditions enable a leaf-cutting to root, as claims have been made that others have succeeded in doing so.

hostacat - Sure as much as I can. Is there a secure way I can be contacted via e-mail to discuss this? I trust all of the Hosta Forum people but not snipers.

Les

Les, you can get me at hostacat _at_ gmail _dot_ com.