Does anybody knows how to propagate Podophyllums ?
Today I went again to the same plant fair where I originally bought my first P.veitchii 'marbled leaves' in the hope I could buy more of them. But I had no luck.
I would really to like to have more of them.
I have no idea, but those are wonderful looking! I wonder if they sucker off?
I haven't seen them doing that Pagancat. I thought it might flower this year, but I haven't seen any sign of that yet.
According to Wikipedia, it grows via a rhizome, so I would bet that it will spread at some point (hope, hope, hope!) and provide you with another shoot and a piece of root with it.
Huh, I didn't know that was what a "Mandrake root" was. They're very popular in fairy tales... >smile< ....
Thanks pagancat. Yes, they do have that fairy tale aura and I guess I'll have to practice more patience!
You're so welcome, I hope your patience isn't overly tried!
I wonder if the root is anything like that of Podophyllum peltatum. In that case, it travels horizontally and every few inches or so throws up a stalk, flowers, and fruits. You can cut up the root, leaving the "eye" or whatever it is called and replant. I would think it would be okay to gently dig it up and check and see what kind of roots it has.
Paracelsus, your idea is excellent, only that I wouldn't dare to dig it up in the fear of loosing it. According to the grower I bought it from it is nowhere else available and that seems to be true after I did a search on Google.
Well, if it fruits, you can propagate it from seeds. Just try getting at the fruits before the chipmunks do, though! I have found that here, where P. peltatum grows wild, the chipmunks watch the state of the fruit on the plants very closely, and as soon as they are ripe, they come and harvest them and don't even leave any half-eaten fruits around. I tried harvesting some fruits that were not quite ripe yet, but the seeds didn't sprout.
What are chipmunks paracelsus ? I looked up in my dictionary but couldn't find what it meant.
Could it be the beaver what you mean ? If so there is no fear for that as I have a secluded garden in a town.
I'm still hoping for flowers, but until now no sign of that yet!
>smile<
A chipmunk is much like a small squirrel - they're very entertaining to watch, very quick and rather cute, but with the same habits - living in trees, collecting acorns and nuts and such. Here's a picture of one from the web:
Really a lovely animal! Wouldn't mind one in my garden!
Ah, but there never is Just One....
Hey, if you'd like chipmunks, I have millions of them. :( In the summer, they dig into every pot in my greenhouse, often disturbing the roots enough to kill the plants. They don't seem to bug the garden much, but they burrow under everything. I have a neighbor who had to replace her garage, because the soil underneath the foundation was excavated by the little monsters!
BTW, maybe we could do a trade? Chipmunks for root cuttings? :)
How about toads for chipmunks? I have some toads that live in my houseplants outside in the summer and they have killed several plants from digging in them.
lol, Plantaholic! I think I will stay as I am thanks !
Strange, Dylancgc that you had plants been killed by toads.
I have at least a couple of hundred of them in all sizes and I cherish them as my best gardner's helpers as they help me in controlling slug and snail damage very successfully! I never had evidence of them killing plants. In my case it's the contrary, they have actually saved a lot of my plants from being devoured by slugs.
I have several flowers that I sit out on the front porch every year and the toads live on the front porch to catch the bugs that come to the porch light at night.
During the day they 'sleep' in my flower pots. Numerous times I have come home from work and the toads have pushed the dirt out of the pots and uprooted the plants. I have moved the toads to the garden several times and told them there are more bugs there but they continually come back to the porch. I guess they know it is easy pickins there.
I took a picture of one last year that was on top of a plant in a gallon green pot from the nursery and it almost covered the pot. That was the 3rd year this one has lived on the porch. I guess I could just put his own pot of dirt out there with no flowers in it and keep it moist for him.
I think that's a good idea Dylancgc! Perhaps a additional solution would be if you put some stones on the surface of your flower pots to discourage them to make a sleeping place of them?
Tried that. They just push the rocks out of the way and crawl in anyway. The extra pot sounds the best.
The 1st year they lived there, I put my shoes on that had been sitting out to dry after wading in the koi pond. I put one shoe on and felt something , dumped out a toad. I put the 2nd shoe on and dumped out a toad. Must have been the little brother. That fall I moved plants back in and they had been in about a week when I walked by and there was a little face in there.
The next year they were there, they were too big for the shoes & I also quit leaving the shoes there. They grew big that year, I watered the plants and sometimes they would come out of the dirt, rubbing their little eyes.
Last year I had the same toads, one has a messed up leg where I stepped on it the 1st year. They were too big for the small pots so they moved up to the big pots. I couldn't figure out why one of my plants was dying so I dug around and sure enough there was my toad. The big guy almost covers the top of a gallon pot. I guess he's getting lots of good bugs when the porch light is on.
I kinda like seeing them. DH saw them 1st last year and hollered at me that my toads were back. I had been concerned because I hadn't seen them. I never knew toads got so big. I look forward to seeing how big they are this year.
Sometimes we are entertained by the simplest things.
That's a good thing - prices at Disneyland are really high, I hear!
Thank you for posting about your toads. I have never had so many. I did have some sweetgrass growing in a Rubbermaid tub, and a toad took up residence there. Every time I would walk by, I would hear it jump in, but I never actually SAW it. Very shy.
bonitan-not sure if this will work, but you could take a leaf and lay it flat, rightside up on some soil and make several cuts across the veins and put some dirt on top of the leaf to hold the leaf down on the dirt so that the places where you made a cut across a vein will be in contact with the soil. They may throw out a new plant there like with rex begonia leaves. Keep the soil moist at all times.
The leaf, just from the picture, looks like it may work.
