I bought a Sansevieria Cylindrica by mail order and I must say, I do love it. It has four big leaves (spears) with a little one coming up and then a whole separate, smaller two-leaf plant.
I wanted to separate the two plants and put them in separate pots but when I got it unwrapped, I found that the smaller two-leaf baby was attached by a very thick, yellow rope of root to the larger bundle. I chickened out and planted the whole thing, both of them together.
CHICKEN!!!!!!!
Should I have just cut the little one off and put it in a separate pot? Where would I cut it? At the proximal (close to the big plant) end or close to the little one - I guess that would be the distal end? Or divide the yellow root in half? I've never done a division before and I'm terrified. What if the yellow root is essential to the plant's well being? If it's ok, I'll do it next spring after my plant is happy and settled here.
Thanks in advance for your help.
And sorry for not taking a picture. I'm kicking myself for that!!!!
Need help dividing Sansevieria Cylindrica
The longer you leave that "umbilical cord" the healthier the baby will be, but I don't know if the mother plant will be drained of energy. If she looks "drained" then removing the pup might be in order.
I'll go out on a limb here and say that if the baby has its own roots there is no problem separating the two. When I have plants that want to multiply like that I just cut the umbilical in the middle. The baby has a fat root to use and the mother can do as she wishes... maybe even give you a new pup...
I'll go out on a limb here and say that if the baby has its own roots there is no problem separating the two. When I have plants that want to multiply like that I just cut the umbilical in the middle. The baby has a fat root to use and the mother can do as she wishes... maybe even give you a new pup...
It’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the sudden stop at the end.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Oh good, then this is how it's supposed to be with new babies. I had no idea...
So then I think I should watch the new leaf coming up and if it seems horribly slow or has bad color or just doesn't look right, I'll go do a c-section and get the baby out of there.
Thank you so much, Harriet ~ I'm encouraged and excited!
So then I think I should watch the new leaf coming up and if it seems horribly slow or has bad color or just doesn't look right, I'll go do a c-section and get the baby out of there.
Thank you so much, Harriet ~ I'm encouraged and excited!
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JeffWhiteDevil
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:37 am
- Location: Northern Illinois
I only have one Sansevieria, also S. cylindrica, but have some experience with other stoloniferous plants like aloes and euphorbias.abudoggie wrote:So then I think I should watch the new leaf coming up and if it seems horribly slow or has bad color or just doesn't look right, I'll go do a c-section and get the baby out of there.
That growth pattern is typical for Sansevierias. Once the plant gets to a certain size, it starts putting out stolons, which are basically underground stems. When the stolons get to a certain length (or in captivity, bump into the side of a pot
) they start to grow vertically and grow a new plant. Even though the new plant is physically attached to the old plant, it's not dependent on the old plant for resources.As Harriet mentioned, you can cut the stolon basically where you want. For a Sansevieria I'd recommend (based on what I've read) that you leave the surgery victims for a week before repotting them, but Sansevierias are very tough plants, so two days or two months probably won't make a difference
HTH,
-R
"A chance to cut is a chance to cure"...best Matmos album ever.
