BLACKED DRACELA, YUKKU, BOKARNEYU

Cutting is a popular and easy way of propagation

Today our regular contributor is a biologist, collector of indoor plants Natalia SEMENOVA, will tell about the features cuttings of such popular plants, like a bokarney, dracena, in vain.

UPPER CUTTING

When the plant reaches the maximum permissible size or when the decorativeness is lost, formative pruning is carried out, after which the stems can be used on cuttings. Healthy shoots tops root well in water. It is enough to add a little "Kornevin" (how much will stick to the tip of a wet toothpick) and keep it clean. The length of the cuttings of bokarnea and dracaena with narrow leaves is about 10-15 cm, in yucca and broadleaf dracaena - 20-40 cm. The lower part of the shoots (and, what's in the water) must be free of leaves - must be removed to a height 3-5 cm or cut along the already bare part of the stem. Roots, usually, appear in a month, then the plant is planted in the ground. If desired, to avoid trauma to the roots when planting, you can root shoots immediately in the ground.

If the apical cuttings were taken from a diseased plant, there is a high probability of decay. Then it is better to root them in a slightly moist mixture of equal parts of peat (coconut) substrate and perlite. Peat soil must be pre-steamed. After planting, the cuttings are placed in a greenhouse..

INTERMEDIATE CUTTINGS

Often, after cutting the crown off, too long hemp remains on the plant, they can be shortened to the desired length, and try to root the cut parts. Intermediate cuttings about 10-20 cm planted vertically, without confusing top and bottom. Or cut into fragments of several internodes and lay them horizontally on the substrate, pressed down to about half the thickness of the stem. Then they put it in a greenhouse, sprayed periodically, the substrate is kept slightly moist. Roots are formed later 3-4 weeks, then the buds wake up at the top of the cuttings.

SIDE PROCESSES

The lateral processes that occasionally appear on the main stem and are cut off close to it root in the same way, like apical cuttings.

Important points

1. Specimens grown from apical cuttings and cut lateral shoots will develop into one trunk, branching occurs only after cutting off the crown or flowering, which is extremely rare at home. Plants will be the same single-stemmed, obtained from horizontally rooted intermediate shoots. Grown from upright intermediate cuttings will have a trunk, equal to the rooted part of the stem (it won't grow up), and a few side shoots.
2. The hemp remaining after pruning should give new shoots., and the cut pieces are the roots. In both cases, growth is possible, but there is no complete guarantee of success. There is a possibility of losing both parts of the plant, so do not cut off all the shoots at once, start with 1-2, and when new buds wake up on them and begin to grow actively, start trimming the rest.

WITH. Yukki, bokarnei, Dracaena deremskaya, after pruning, usually form many lateral shoots at once, which will form a lush crown in the future. In dracaena bordered more often only one or two shoots continue to grow actively, the crown does not get thicker, but an ugly "knee" appears, therefore, it is better not to cut it unless necessary.

4. Intermediate cuttings are propagated mainly by dracaena and yucca, since bokarnea grows more slowly. Caudex is usually less pronounced in bokarney grown from cuttings., than seedlings.