Propagation of Ramonda myconii

[Cgull49]

I'm trying to propagate Ramonda myconii from leaf cuttings.  I tried some over the winter under lights but only 1 or 4 took.  The question I have is should I try to remove the tiny hairs on the stem of each leaf prior to inserting the leaf into the soil?  Will that help with the speed of the cutting taking or does it not matter?  The last time I took leaf cuttings I didn't bother using any root stimulant.  Would using root stimulants help or not?  My R. myconii has just now finished flowering and I'm assuming that now is a good time to do this type of propagation.

Thanks....Rob

[Lesley Cox]

I don't think the hairs on the stems would make any difference at all Rob. But what is essential is that you manage to get a little piece of the plant base attached to the bottom of each leaf. In some plants grown from leaf cuttings it doesn't matter but with Ramonda, Haberlea and I imagine Jankaea, it is vital. The easiest way to achieve this is to pull the leaf sideways from the rosette, very gently and keeping an eye on the stem to ensure it has a little of that base. I have found that lifting a large rosette and slightly wilting it for a day or even two, makes the leaves more flexible and less brittle and so less likely to snap off the rosette without some base material. The replanted rosettes don'y mind at all.

[jomowi]

Rob, - I used to propagate from leaves under lights through the winter in a centrally heated house. I covered the pots with a clear plastic lid to reduce the effect of the dry air from the central heating.  It still takes a minimum of 6 months for plantlets to appear, and is in fact no quicker than propagating from seed.  I never used hormone rooting products.

If you have any side crowns developing on your Ramonda, you can save some time by propagating from these.  Slide a knife down between one and the main plant.  It might even come away with a bit of root attached and give you a head start. 

Lesley - I found it was not essential to have a piece of the base - I tried with both methods.  Indeed one theory is that if you prep the stem by cutting it on the slant, it increases the area from which initially a callus will form prior to roots developing. 

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for that Maureen, I'm happy to be corrected here as I've so many times pulled off leaves accidentally when weeding and simply discarded them. I'll know better in future.

[Lesley Cox]

Many years ago I had a friend (she's no longer alive) and quite a posh friend at that, who, when her husband was alive had slept with him, in two single beds but pushed right up close together. She was a great lady for propagating and when ***** died, she used the second bed as a propagating unit with an electric blanket switched on all the time to low, and on top of a ground sheet on the bed, had a number of trays filled with a pumice mixture and many hundreds of all sorts of potential plants from seed and cuttings. She had to keep windows open all the time to counter the condensation, but otherwise it worked wonderfully well and she had the company through each night of her beloved plants. I'm sure Ramonda leaves were among her bedroom "babies."

[Cgull49]

Thanks for your information.  I now have four cuttings sitting in pots covered by zip-lock bags slipped open side down over the cuttings so that they aren't kept too moist.  I'll let you know how it works out for me.  The one cutting that I took in the winter and took has roots but the leaf is dying and no baby yet.  I probably should have kept it covered until the baby appeared.  I'll know better next time.