LittleDingus
Omono
I've often claimed jade and fake jade (and many, many succulents!) can be cloned from a single cell. Since covid has me working from home these days, I decided it was time I did a little documentation to back up my statements
"From single cell division" is a bit of an exaggeration. I actually started with this
They will start from a single small leaf, but if they have a bit of a stem stub, you can poke them into the dirt and they don't float around as much when you water them Also, if they have a live bud or two they can start growing immediately and you don't have to wait for new buds to form. These, as well as my crussala, routinely clone themselves from broken off leaves that have fallen into the pot.
This cutting was taken off my daughter's plant on 8/26/2020. I didn't take a picture of the mother plant at the time. But here's a picture of it today:
It hasn't changed much since August...more on that later...
I potted my cutting in a 4" nursery pot in Miracle Grow potting mix. Here is the progression thus far:
8/26/2020
10/4/2020
10/29/2020
11/16/2020
12/12/2020
You can see from today's picture that the plant has developed quite a lean. This appears to be phototropic from the blurple LEDs that I'm using to supplement light while indoors. I've "straightened" it many times and it keeps bending back over. The curve to the bend suggests the plant is intentionally turning vs leaning due to gravity. As it leans and continues to grow, the plant is getting top heavy in the small pot though. So, I potted it up to a 5" pot and "straightened" it again
I do expect it to slow down some until February or so now. The LEDs I have on it are only supplemental, more photons come from the south east exposure. We're entering the part of winter where the sky is overcast more often than not...which will cut a lot of the natural light. The temps will soon start to dip low enough outside that the cool air pouring off the window onto this guy will also slow it down some. I'll need to start cutting water back to prevent root rot as the plant slows down.
I'll try and keep this thread updated as long as I have this plant. I don't know that I'll necessarily do much with it other than grow it as a house plant. Likely by the end of next summer it will be too bit to fit back indoors and I'll gift it away. I'm not a fan of p afra. Maybe were it a corking variety I'd try and do something more with it. Mostly I just wanted to document some of my assertions about growing these guys from cuttings so that I had a thread to reference when future questions about their growth comes up
"From single cell division" is a bit of an exaggeration. I actually started with this
They will start from a single small leaf, but if they have a bit of a stem stub, you can poke them into the dirt and they don't float around as much when you water them Also, if they have a live bud or two they can start growing immediately and you don't have to wait for new buds to form. These, as well as my crussala, routinely clone themselves from broken off leaves that have fallen into the pot.
This cutting was taken off my daughter's plant on 8/26/2020. I didn't take a picture of the mother plant at the time. But here's a picture of it today:
It hasn't changed much since August...more on that later...
I potted my cutting in a 4" nursery pot in Miracle Grow potting mix. Here is the progression thus far:
8/26/2020
10/4/2020
10/29/2020
11/16/2020
12/12/2020
You can see from today's picture that the plant has developed quite a lean. This appears to be phototropic from the blurple LEDs that I'm using to supplement light while indoors. I've "straightened" it many times and it keeps bending back over. The curve to the bend suggests the plant is intentionally turning vs leaning due to gravity. As it leans and continues to grow, the plant is getting top heavy in the small pot though. So, I potted it up to a 5" pot and "straightened" it again
I do expect it to slow down some until February or so now. The LEDs I have on it are only supplemental, more photons come from the south east exposure. We're entering the part of winter where the sky is overcast more often than not...which will cut a lot of the natural light. The temps will soon start to dip low enough outside that the cool air pouring off the window onto this guy will also slow it down some. I'll need to start cutting water back to prevent root rot as the plant slows down.
I'll try and keep this thread updated as long as I have this plant. I don't know that I'll necessarily do much with it other than grow it as a house plant. Likely by the end of next summer it will be too bit to fit back indoors and I'll gift it away. I'm not a fan of p afra. Maybe were it a corking variety I'd try and do something more with it. Mostly I just wanted to document some of my assertions about growing these guys from cuttings so that I had a thread to reference when future questions about their growth comes up