Re: Reducing leaves on cuttings

From: Davidogray@aol.com
Date: Fri May 07 1999 - 12:11:02 PDT


Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 15:11:02 EDT
From: Davidogray@aol.com
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1572$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Reducing leaves on cuttings

First, thanks to Cliff for his informative and well-thougth series of
articles on culture. I hope this inspires others to write as well.
I have a little tip I learned when I was propagating hard-to-root shrubs in
college: if you plan to reduce the leaf area, cut the leaves back a few days
BEFORE you take the cutting off the mother plant. The cut surfaces of the
leaf transpire huge amounts of water through the cut vessels and open leaf
tissues at first. By letting the plant close these wounds while its still
able to replace the water from the root system, the cutting undergoes less
stress after being severed. I've found this makes a big difference in
wilt-prone plants; try it and see if it helps your propagating efforts
Cheers,
David O. Gray



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:57 PST