January 16, 2019

Propagating a Monster

It's been a while since I've checked in but I figured with the new year and all it was time.

One of the things I have been wanting to do for a long time and am just now getting around to is taking cuttings off of this beautiful thing here:



She has come along so well since I got here way back on Mother's Day 2018.


I didn't know how well she would do with the crazy temps and sun patterns here in Northern Iowa. So far this has been a fairly mild winter but the temps have kangarooed around from the low 10's to almost 40 above. We barely have any snow this year and most days are sunny. Still, inside my apartment, it's been hard to regulate the temp for the plants. I tend to like it cooler, but I try keeping the air above 70 degrees and humid just for the green things.

Like I said, I have been wanting to take cuttings from Monster but was never sure exactly where to clip her. Finally, I found a video that clearly showed the best spot to cut:


Still, I am a bit unsure if I clipped from the right place. The mama Monster has a lot of the nodes the video mentions, but they are all on stalks with a lot of leaves. I didn't want to cut from the biggest stalks. I wanted to do my first try in a smaller bunch so... I finally found one with a small - very tiny - node (I think anyway) and clipped.
LEFT: you can kind of see a little node at the bottom there
So, fingers crossed.

The rest of the plants are thriving. For the most part.


 Both Pothos plants are doinggreat. One is trailing in the living room while the other is atop a kitchen cabinet. I have clippings from both mother plants.

I got the cactus from a grocery store while in Arizona for pre-Thanksgiving.




I did kill the Caladium but that was out of ignorance. It's a beautiful plant but the stems are too long and thin for my liking.

My pineapple plant is still going although it's not the most pleasant one to have around. I keep running into those sharp spiky leaves. I've also just started an avocado pit to see what it will do. Ever since I heard about them from a friend, I have been wanting to start growing microgreens for nutrition. I see that Amazon has seeds and growing kits. They mentioned that Sprout House has good seeds to start with.

I will be back, of course, to update on the progress of the baby Monster.

Peace
--Free

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