Here's a good discussion and some great pictures all about the Black Gold sans. Enjoy!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2149409/which-is-the-best-black-and-gold-type?n=12

Yes Mary, I think it was....but then I've seen so many pics of midnight shine lately. Good luck on finding one. I'm sure one will pop up soon. It's when we aren't looking for something that we find it!

Well entero... I did end up buying that one. Can't wait for it to arrive; I'm crossing my fingers that it really is a Midnight Shine... (The seller had no idea what type it was)

i still have this ('midnight shine'

If you bought the one on eBay you got it for a decent price with s&h.

Woodnative, are you still willing to part with it? The one I ordered may or may not be Midnight Shine. The seller had no idea what type of Sans it is.

Well I was in the back yard this evening checking a pot of cylindrica cuttings that have grown leaps and bounds. I found that a leaf that broke off from a friend's sans rooted! Friend was reporting a few weeks ago when a leaf broke off, she threw it away so I grabbed it thinking I will give rooting a leaf another try. So I stuck it in the pot of other cuttings.

New plants from leaf cuttings is always a fascinating process for me. Been doing it for over 20 years now and it never ceases to amaze me.

Do you know the species or cultivar of your leaf?? I don't recognize it, offhand.

Russ

Russ, may be s. kirkii coppertone. This was just before I received one from a wonderful enabler on gardenweb. I probably should have photographed the inside of the leaf. It looks like the inside of the received coppertone. But.

Mary if it ends up not being 'MIdnight Shine' let me know I will send you a piece for postage.

Thank you so much woodnative, I will...

I see the Coppertone in that leaf now, thanks. Mine are very slow growing, I'd expect new plants from the leaf to be the same. But it's a beautiful cultivar and well worth the waiting.

Russ

Russ, I'm just so tickled that it has roots. So this and cyndrical I can root. They're actually in a pot of 50/50 mix of MG potting soil and perlite that's kept pretty moist. The pot is mixed in with other plants outside in a shaded area and watered daily due to the dry high heat we have. It will be exciting to see what develops.

Hello everyone!

enterotoxigenic and woodnative, my plant arrived, the one we hoped was a "Midnight Shine;" honestly, it's beautiful, but I have no idea what it is... Any ideas???

Hi Mary, it's Midnight Shine, and a beautiful one at that! Congrats!

If you happen to break a leaf by accident or cut a bad leaf off, propagation of the leaf will produce this same plant but without the yellow margin. A pretty cultivar in it's own right which is officially named Midnight, NOT Black Robusta.

Russ

Hi Russ, thanks so much, I'm so excited! And yes, I will try propagating a leaf when the plant rests for a bit, and see what I get... I also have a large "Black Robusta" that enterotoxigenic mailed me, the color is a very rich dark green and I love it; I tend to like the dark/black ones...

Have a great evening!

Great info Russ!

Always the encyclopedia of plant knowledge, Russ. Thanks for that.

Mary, beautiful plant. Russ, great info.

Update on the Whitney leaf that made 2 plain pups. Glacially slow growth in this drought.

I have a couple of Whitney leaves producing the same plain offsets, Tiffany.

I assume these are Chahinian's Midnight, aka Black Robusta.

Russ

I've been trying to grow cuttings in water all summer with no luck. Are you supposed to let them callous over before putting in water? Some get mushy and i pitch them others just sit there. Wish I had the luck you all are having.

Rob

Rob, I didn't let mine callous. I just put it in about an inch of water and stuck it a window sill. Roots came in just a few weeks and a pup shortly thereafter. I changed the water about once a week. I used a hahnii leaf.

Rob, I often let them callous first. One thing that helps is warm temperatures and bright indirect light. Those that just sit there, don't give up as long as they did not get mushy in 2 weeks they will probably soldier on and root, Those that get mushy, try cutting above the bad tissue and callousing. Put them their own separate container, though you might want to switch to a rooting medium such as sand or perlite water only with a spray bottle and only enough to give it slight moisture.

Hi Fred, I was hoping you'd chime in here and help Rob since I know you're experienced with rooting in water. I can't recall what kind of plants the comment was about, but someone posted that they stir in a tablespoon full of rooting hormone in the water. They said plants root much faster. I don't remember how much water they used, I'll see if I can find the post to verify. Pretty sure it was a post on rooting aglaonemas.

Katrina, changing the water is probably good advice to keep the leaf from rotting. Makes perfect sense to do so. I don't root sans in water (or anything else), so I'm pretty much out of my element here.

Russ

Most of the leaves I've tried have been out of desperation. The plant I got them from has died. I tried water route and putting in the soil perlite mix. both at the same time. The soil efforts seem to rot. Guess I need to try sand or perlite next time. Just learning as I go. Thanks Rob

Rob, if you didn't let cut ends dry before putting in soil/perlite, you should try that next time. You might also have better luck with pure perlite altho it's hard to tell if it's wet or dry. I'd add just a little peat or fine bark that at least will change color when wet/dry. I wouldn't use fine sand, but a large-grained sand would be okay if you can find it.

Which species or variety of sans were you trying to propagate? Species and hybrids propagate true from leaves but varieties might or might not.

Russ

Some I tried to dry out not more than one day. Those were in soil. The ones in water just put them right in the water. Metalica, Dawei on these two the leaves still look good in the water. Crane's Black Sport this one they all failed , GRAY LADY AUREA This one I think all failed.Those were The four I lost. I have had luck sticking leaves in a pot with Dooneri Striated and Fischeri roots but no plants. Other leaves I have tried were leaves that got Damaged And tried for the heck of it. USDA H-13 , gold flame. and Lillian True all failed.

I guess I thought it was a little easier than I am finding it. I wonder if one of those home made cloning machines would work? I saw people having luck with landscape plants.Link

Thanks Rob

As I mentioned, if the cutting is still good after say 2 weeks, odds are very good that it will eventually root, some times this can take a very long time. I have had Sansevieria Trifasciata Laurentii root in about 3 weeks, but I have also had Hahnii cuttings take 6 months or more.

When I use sand I use a small container and only an inch or less of sand, but then I am usually using a small cutting of 3 inches or less. I mist the sand very lightly only every few days so that the sand does not stay damp. Sand , at least for me works better with Haworthia or Aloe. I read a note by a Botanist PHD that said he used cuttings without callousing in Horticultural sand. He also said polarity is critical, in other words the bottom of the cutting must be in the rooting medium- it will not work if you flip the cutting upside down.

I have had some good results using Peat pots _the small rooting ones_ with a mix of potting soil, perlite and grani grit "crushed granite" (tractor supply sell it; but don't get the crushed shell type get granite). I water it and then allow it to just dry then water. The peat pot allows the mix to dry and air gets to the roots better than a real pot.

Rob, what kind of water are you using to root in? Tap? If so, is it municipal water or well. Do you allow the water to come to room temperature before using?

I have some chicken grit. Also I bought some turface they use in bonsai soil. Next time I'll get some sand. I just use municipal water. just out of the tap. I did after reading on here add a little charcoal from the pet store. No I don't let it get to room temp. Thanks I'll try these Ideas. Rob

I have in the past added sand to my potting mix- it was a disaster. Might work if you can get truly Horticultural sand. I use sand for rooting now, though I still experiment with small amounts added to potting mixes- it generally too fine even though it is sold for plants and other uses.

One thing to remember with fast draining soils- they need more water or the roots will desiccate- with things like 511 mix you should use plastic pots.

Fred

'Moonshine' leaves making tiny pups. I dug up the one on the R to play with.

It had 2 pups.

I snapped them off of the mama leaf.

And put them in this ridiculously tiny pot to decorate mini garden.

Very Cool! I wonder if you left them in the small pot would it dwarf them? Like a bonsai. Rob

Tiffany, To my knowledge it will stun them and may rot. Not truly a dwarf, since if recovered, they will resume normal futura robusta growth. I think you may have removed them too soon. Let me know how they work out. The light color may be low light condition. That's another look and see what they develop into.

Glad you are doing this, we all learn that way.

TY, Rob! I hope so. The longer they stay small, the more fun that will be.

Stush, the white parts were under ground. I'm not trying to demonstrate how to make an ideal specimen, I just did an unusual thing with these babies for amusement & temporary cuteness. I'm one who always says the bigger the pot, the better for fast growth, trying for the opposite here. Nothing I've done to any has resulted in any deaths yet.

I guess I was wondering about the last pic in this thread. ( http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2145664/thai-sansevieria-club-tsc?n=8 } I thought that's what you were trying. I guess you would have to start from a pup Like you are doing. Rob

Tiffany, I understand. I love all experiments with sans. That's how we learn. I'm being taught right now by you. Keep us informed. What I meant by the lighter color is `Moonshine' usually reverts to `Robusta'. Note the word 'usually' so it is interesting to see what happens.

I agree, definitely entertaining/interesting. I'll leave the name discussion to the rest of you. I'm trying to stay uninvolved in that so I'm less susceptible to collecting. There's too many big styles for me to go there, just don't have the space. This is not easy...

An update on these babies:

And yella' fella's group has been excavated this past weekend:

I decided to keep everything connected, until further notice :+)

Tiffany, I think this 'yella' fella' is going to make it. There's enough green in it to maybe survive. This is going to be an interesting plant indeed. Smart to keep it connected as long as possible.

An update:

So sad he didn't make it.

Hi Tiffany, can we assume the yellow one bit the dust? These green ones look very healthy.

Russ

In case I have been confusing... The little pot with polka-dots is only about an inch tall and wide. They are from propagating a 'Moonshine' leaf. Evidence that the cultivar can only be reliably increased by root division/waiting for pups, and that underpotting can reliably retard growth.

The propagated yellow-edge leaf and its' 2 plain & 1 albino pup was in a 4" pot. And yes, the albino/yellow one finally shriveled away a few months ago. I tried to track it in 1 discussion but I don't see the post-mortem post on that here so it must be in another discussion. The 2 healthy-looking, normally-colored pups are in the ground somewhere now until cold threatens again.

Wonderful little plants Tiffany! The tiny pot should help keep the little guys little for awhile. Your area is much hotter than mine though so......

I have several small Sansevieria plants that stay small due to their small pots and my cool dim conditions. I have a S. Trifasciata Laurentii that is 10 years old and only half it's potential stature. I keep it in a medium sized pot and it only goes on summer holiday every couple years!

No doubt about the heat. Whew!

Here's that propagated yellow-edge leaf with its' 2 plain pups, and now a 2nd generation pup, at bottom of pic.

It looks like it could as big/tall as any other rosette of the plain species. We will see... The white bits are rain-splashed sand.

An update on this 1" pot. Without room to grow larger, these 2 plants remain minuscule, compared to their ancestors and siblings. I guess it's a Sans bonsai.