Hello everyone, I have a forty year old A. clarinervium, the oldest of all my plants. It's had its ups and downs over the years but it has done well this last ten and has been a great specimen. The stem is getting very long and unwieldy and I would like to propagate it to shorten the stem and also perhaps get new starts. It would seem to me that air-layering would be the best way, but can the top be just cut off and repotted or even put in water to force roots? Any tip on the air-layering? It makes me nervous to think about whacking this long-term friend, but its time to shorten it before it breaks itself...no amount of stabilizing seems to work any longer. Thanks.
Hey czygyny, Usually Anthuriums grow multiple adventitious shoots near to the soil and can therefore be divided when they get too big. (My A. clarinervium does so) It sounds like yours is only growing one solitary stem, is that correct? Can you post a photo?
Yes, it has only produced one thick stem. No extra shoots. It was actually a fair length longer than 12", but I don't have any photos of it and I cut off the top to reroot and have made a couple of stem cuttings as well as kept the base. All seem to be surviving and actually growing some new leaf buds, so I may be up to my eyeballs in A. clarinerviums in a few months. This plant was only grown in typical household conditions over the years so it did not have the benefit of greenhouse conditions. The leaves often were around a beautiful velvety 12" across, but the stems tended to get leggy because it is difficult to provide the bright overhead lighting it must need to stay compact. It's a toughy and been around a long, long time.
