Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Indoor plants at Mid Atlantic April 2013, 4 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
ss--
I think your cutting was too long. As most growth is at the top, you need only about a 7" or 8 cutting.
The number of leaves? I would leave 2 sets of leaves. That would be 4.
BUT--You stillhave to pay attention to the nodes at the bottom. Must have one or two nodes for roots
to grow from.
If your AW grew in inadequate light--it may have been leggy and that would also make the leaves
further apart. I cannot give you any exact number of leaves.
You could re-cut the long cutting and put it in water where you can see through the glass when there
are leaves and then pot it up in fresh Potting Mix. NOT garden SOIL! Too heavy for rooting.

1--This is what mine usually looks like by spring. All leggy--lots of leaves have dropped, etc.
See the "nodes" all along the stem? Just like a Bamboo stem. Look at the stem all the way
on the right. I would cut that at, a node, just below the leaves. Cut the stem away down to a healthy
"node" at the bottom. and throw the stem away.

2-- This is what the mama looks like when i am done cutting. These will all re-grow onto a nice, full plant.
This picture is from 2005. I have been doing this for, maybe, 20-25 years. The same plant--always
propagated from cuttings. About every 3 years--I take the whole plant out of the pot and get rid
of really old, non-productive roots. Keep the good ones and re-pot in fresh soil.

3--These cuttings were all rooted and have been potted up. looks nice--no?
4--This is what the totally cut-back AWB looks like in later summer. Usually, you lose
some bloom by cutting off all the ends--as that is where the blooms come from.
However, sometimes the rooted cuttings, after re-potting, bloom really nicely.
5---Like these...These were actual cuttings that are blooming later in the summer.