Updates on AV's from leaf, Black Pagoda & droopy Xmas cactus

I laid my first African leaf in the Spring of 2007. I didn't do anything special them and I did not give them any special treatment at all, and yet they have all done well. When I first started laying the leaves, I used a mix of peat, perlite and a tiny bit of vermiculite (I have since cut out the use of peat and moved to coir, and I no longer use vermiculite). I started out by putting several leaves in a small shallow container, but now I use Dixie cups, and plant one leaf per cup. When laying the leaves, I would slice the leaf stem on a angle, and then lay them at roughly a 45 degree angle against the cup. I never put them baggies as I find they rot very fast, but I also have a humidifier running 24/7. I normally just put them under lights, and let them go.


Many people ask how long it takes from the time you lay the leaf to have a blooming plant. The general consensus is about 9 months (give or take a month or so). Mine have followed the average, and they are all getting ready to bloom. I remember the excitement I felt, when my first babies made their way to the surface, now I am feeling the excitement to see what some of these flowers look like.


The cuttings I recieved of my Black Pagoda lipstick plant have rooted, and quite quickly. When I did the "tug test", they were rooted firmly. It has only been 4 weeks, I am very impressed. When I get cuttings from other plants, I always put them in a pot and then in a baggie, and seal it up. I find since I have been using baggies, I do not lose as many cuttings.


I took cuttings from a bunch of Schlums back in November, potted them up, and put them under lights in my humidity dome (I would use baggies as well on these, but they fit in the humidity dome unlike some larger cuttings). All of them have rooted as well, I find these very easy to propagate.


My other Schlum (pic here) has perked up some since this photo was taken. Since there was still one segment that looked pretty pitiful, I pulled it to check the roots and found it was starting to rot.

I have never had this happen before, and I not sure why only one of the cuttings in the pot rotted and the other 2 were fine. It may have been damaged already, or just too far gone when it was potted up.