mirage leaf rotting

11 years ago

just was checking on my tray of streps.... and theres four varieties in one tray.... two of them i cut into three leaf sections each and two of them i cut into two leaf sectioms each. 7 leaf sections lool great but all three of the Mirage leaf sectioms had rot creeping up the center vein. so i quick removed them and cut the rot off and had to discard the entire center vein on two sections so that left me with 5 pieces instead of 3. and four of those pieces are awful small. i stuck them back in the soil though, making sure i put the side that was cut off the center vein back into the soil. is there a chance they will make it? i will be disappointed if the whole leaf rots.

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Comments (4)

User
11 years ago
There is always a chance as long as the leaf is green. I have in the past successful rooted and got plants with leaves that are normally considered too small to root.

As for Mirage leaf rotting. This can happen to any strep leaf and not limited to this variety. Sometimes the leaf being propagated is old, sometimes for some unknown reason it will just rot. When putting down a leaf I will dust the cut end with cinnamon. Cinnamon acts as a anti-fungal, it will not always prevent a leaf from rotting but does increase your chance of success.

Another important factor is a the medium the leaf is planted in. It should be damp, not too wet. Too wet will encourage rot as well especially if the leaf is domed.

Another method of propagation to try in the future is planting the leaf with the stem like you would starting a AV leaf. You will get on avg. 2-4 plantlets from the leaf.

Dave
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User
Original Author
11 years ago
i have it domed.... and i had dusfed them with cinnamon... i did it again with the new cuts. i open the dome about once a day just to check on everything... should i take the lid off completely?
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User
11 years ago
No, not until they are rooted at the very least. Taking the dome once a day allows air to circulate and reduces the risk of rot.

Dave
User thanked User
Rosie1949
11 years ago
Would like to jump in here,,,even though I don't have any streps now I have had them. I remember my friend used to root the entire leaf in a glass of water (just covering the bottom, kind of like you do with an african violet.). She did real well with them that way. I tried to do it her way, but every time I got the leaf to root, it would grow for a while after I transferred it to soil and just when it started to grow,,,,,,,it would die! Time and time again.

I also read somewhere where you could lay the entire leaf on barely damp soil, make small cuts every so often along the stem, place a small amount of soil OVER the cut and roots form where the cuts are. You just have to make sure there is contact with the bottom of the cut and the soil. Then the little babies push thru the soil on top. I did that and it does work. It worked better for me than the above method.

I have never cut apart a leaf into pieces like shihtzu4su has done. I will though when I snag a leaf or two (or three or 600!!!! lol) I would like to compare the different type of propagation just to see what happens! Rosie