Verbascum ssp. palmtree

[partisangardener]

This year I found a verbascum plant ( probably thapsis, but I am not sure it was in Italy north of Rome) which reminded me somewhat of the giant lobelias in the Ruwenzori-mountains in Africa. We have them in our Botanical Garden in a special house, where they bloom every year.
This verbascum didn't die after it flowered; instead it grew a new rosette on top.
Did someone observe such growth and was it stable?
I intend to try to make some root cuttings of this plant next year.
I collected some parts of this plant for my Botanical Garden (pieces of the thin branches, which show another small rosette on top and probably contain some seeds).
This verbascum did not intend to die like her sisters of this monocarp species.
Did anybody of you try to propagate monocarp verbascum with rootcuttings?
Which way should I proceed?
The rosette was more than a meter in diameter. It looked much more vigorous than the other plants on around of normal growth. Though it moved a lot in the wind which was created by lorries passing by.

[Paul T]

That's not a verbascum.... that's a Triffid!!   It does sort of look like it is going to pull up it's roots and go walking off. 

Fascinating find, thanks for showing us.

[Richard Green]

I have never tried root cuttings.  However, you may find that the head is made up of several shoots.  I find Digitalis produce the same shoots up the main stem in late summer/autumn.  These shoots can be detatched and treated as cuttings.

[partisangardener]

Thanks for your answers.
I fear when I come next year it will be cut down or broken by a storm or animal.
I have made more pictures of the details and there are indeed small rosettes of leafs on the stem (though they did not look very promising). I hope it will even grow a new ground rosette when cut down, because the roots were well fed through this big top rosettes. It just a hope. 
If I get a chance I try to save something and spread it to some other gardeners.

[mark smyth]

Isnt root cuttings the nursery method of propagation?

[Lesley Cox]

Probably, yes. I've tried root cuttings of several verbascums (not the monocarps, but 'Letitia,' my 'Alstre Hybrid' and a couple of others and have found that to be successful they need to be taken from the new, soft roots. The older woody ones just don't do it. But it's not so easy to get new roots as it has to be in that short time between their being too thin and hair-like, and becoming woody. Where there's an option I much prefer stem cuttings, though, in fact they have no stem at all, just the rosette pulled straight from the woody branch and one must be careful to insert enough but not too much of the base in the cutting mixture, or the whole thing either rots or shrivels.

[partisangardener]

Sorry, what is a cutting mixture? I never used chemical enhancers. Is it a kind of rooting powder and what do you recommend?

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry Axel, I meant the compost mixture into which I place the cuttings. For me, this is some normal alpine compost on the bottom on the pot (about one third), then a further third of the same compost mixed with sharp grit, about 1:4, then sharp grit for the top third in which the cuttings will make their first roots. I don't always, but usually use a liquid product called Liba 10,000 which is not a hormone but is a great rooting enhancer. It was developed by the NZ horticultural industry years ago for very hard to root plants such as Feijoa, Eucalyptus and Protaceae. I dip the lower part of the cuttings in a solution with water, for 5 seconds. PLants which will root in a month make 3 times as much root in two weeks. Plants which I'd previously found impossible or difficult to root, root quickly and well.

[partisangardener]

Thank you very much for your advice. Does anybody know what name this liquid (liba 10 000) might have in Germany?
Sounds very interesting

[Maggi Young]

Axel, here is the New Zealand Product Data sheet for this item....http://www.zelam.com/Zelam%20MSDS/Liba%2010,000%20msds.pdf   which it seems contains Indole butyric acid ,also described as being : Gamma-Indolybutyric Acid as a soluble concentrate



 you may be able  to use this information  to trace a German source of a similar chemical....

[Michael J Campbell]

You can buy it and dilute it yourself,info here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indole-3-butyric_acid

and more info here.

http://www.super-grow.biz/IndoleButiricAcidPlantRootingHormone.jsp

[Lesley Cox]

Wow, Maggi and Michael, you're both onto it so quickly. The websites say Indolybutyric Acid IS a hormone, but Liba 10,000 is marketed here as NOT a hormone. Whatever. I guess the 10,000 is ppmillion, mentioned in the Wikipedia site. while I don't pour it on myself, I do get it on my fingertips as holding perhaps a dozen cuttings at a time and dipping them (I use a 40ml medicine measure), inevitably the fingertips get damp sometimes.

I see the acid is dissolved in alcohol and that would explain when I leave some in the measure overnight, it has evaporated quite a lot by next morning. A 5 second dip is recommended and once when I left a few cuttings in it overnight, they had gone completely brown and dead by morning, so in effect it was a weedkiller. I dilute to 1:8 or 9 for most things except harder material when I would use 1:5. I don't like powders because it's impossible to get enough off the cuttings unless they are very dry which they shouldn't be.

[partisangardener]

Thank you very much. It will be even more hard without a garden if this works as told.
Very fast and indeed professional information.

[gote]

Wow, Maggi and Michael, you're both onto it so quickly. The websites say Indolybutyric Acis IS a hormone, but Liba 10,000 is marketed here as NOT a hormone. Whatever. I guess the 10,000 is ppmillion, mentioned in the Wikipedia site. while I don't pour it on myself, I do get it on my fingertips as holding perhaps a dozen cuttings at a time and dipping them (I use a 40ml medicine measure), inevitably the fingertips get damp sometimes.

I see the acid is dissolved in alcohol and that would explain when I leave some in the measure overnight, it has evaporated quite a lot by next morning. A 5 second dip is recommended and once when I left a few cuttings in it overnight, they had gone completely brown and dead by morning, so in effect it was a weedkiller. I dilute to 1:8 or 9 for most things except harder material when I would use 1:5. I don't like powders because it's impossible to get enough off the cuttings unless they are very dry which they shouldn't be.

It is probably touted as not beeing a hormone because it is not an ANIMAL hormone. Without knowing I would be very surprised if a plant hormone had any hormonal effect on a human. I would be even more surprised if it had any effect through the finger skin especially in the dilution 1:10000.

However, it might be dangerous to use in a foot bath. It would be awkward suddenly to be rooted to the ground. 
Göte 

[Maggi Young]

It is probably touted as not beeing a hormone because it is not an ANIMAL hormone. Without knowing I would be very surprised if a plant hormone had any hormonal effect on a human. I would be even more surprised if it had any effect through the finger skin especially in the dilution 1:10000.

However, it might be dangerous to use in a foot bath. It would be awkward suddenly to be rooted to the ground. 
Göte   

Göte , I could not resist to post this cartoon from Martin Baxendale after this.... it just seems to fit!