Propagation: Soil for Denver climate..and other questions. Help?! Thanks

I have several things I would like input with.. my repotted pothos that I separated into several smaller pots...just won't get established..I have 2 big south facing windows ..CFL BULBS. They are in citrus and cacti soil with added perlite ..they just drop..I've tried evetything..also .what is the lil 3 leaf fellow? A, ZZ? HE'S GREEN and I moved him to his own lil pot .I propagated himhin water..5 weeks..then 2 months in soil...he sits in indirect light hasnt grown any!

 

Roots developed in water are apparently different from those developed in soil. Therefore it makes sense that it would take time for the plant to reestablish itself. If the plant is drooping and the soil appears to be moist, allow the soil to dry somewhat before watering again.

The green plant resembles a ZZ plant, Zamioculcas zamiifolia, but I can't confirm it from the photo. If it is such, then it can be propagated as follows:

Here's another source of propagation information: Plants are the Strangest People: Stoner (Zamioculcas zamiifolia)

 

Your ZZ, and that looks like one, will take a good amount of time to show top growth. It is probably fine, although I'd prefer to see the leaflets stiffer and uncurled.
ZZs like it warm, so a window in Colorado may not be the best place. You should see some positive change by late spring. The ambient cold and the reduction in daylight hours will likely keep it dormant.

For your Epipremnum aureum, the pothos, it too looks fine. It is a more aggressive grower and could show some more growth even now. Remember both of these are actively producing roots right now. Keep them away from drafts, and maybe increase humidity around them.

 

@thanrose, are you saying rhizomes can develop at the bottom of the stem? The articles mentioned two methods of propagation: 1. By division which includes an existing rhizome; and 2. By leaf cutting. The existing stem does not appear to have any portion of rhizome attached to it. (However, after a closer look at the photo the stem appears to have roots coming from the side. Is this the case, @Shelley Stichler?) One thing to keep in mind, as the second article mentioned, a single stem is not a very attractive specimen to look at.

 

Junglekeeper, yes, I am finding that at least some of the time the stem can root. My specimen has had a very difficult year, spending most of last winter in a garage, after having been through a hurricane, and subsequent leaf scalding from the newly open canopy at my old home. After this summer spent in diffuse outdoor light and high humidity, the sad tangled and broken stems and leaves sent up new shoots from the rhizomes as expected. But a broken off frond that may or may not have had a tiny bit of rhizome also took root, next to a single leaf that rooted. Interesting experiment. I'm far from expert, but unceasingly curious.

This just emphasizes to me how Zamioculcas zamiifolia is not a cycad despite the naming. I had several Zamia spp. at the old home, and none of them would have done anything like this sort of rooting.

 

Do you know whether the stem that rooted eventually developed a rhizome? I ask because for citrus, a rooted leaf cutting apparently will never develop new growth, so I wondered whether a rooted ZZ stem similarly gives false hope.

 

Interesting about citrus. I've never noticed citrus leaves rooting of any sort, but I'm a rather laissez-faire or Darwinian gardener. Chop and drop. Chaos and entropy. Thrive or die. It's all grist for my mind. Or compost. Hmm, do you think it is to do with the winged petioles?

The ZZ stem I described had tiny less than 1 cm pale rootlets or plant fiber projecting out from the cleanly broken end. I just tucked it back in next to the anchored leaflet, propped up by oyster shells, probably six months ago. I realize we are talking about all sorts of different plant structures here, but I figured that if the leaves can root that easily, maybe the petiole? would have meristem tissue too.

Again, different "animal", but cycads are so very slow to change, to sprout or grow a caudex or die. I'm used to thinking in terms of years before giving up on them. And even then I just let Mother Nature do her thing. That's my approach for this ZZ of mine. My only real intervention is covering the soil surface with intact oyster shells to discourage squirrels.

 

I think it's very difficult to root citrus leaf cuttings; that 's probably why you don't see it happening in a compost pile. Maybe nature knows it's a 'dead end'. How do you feel about digging up that ZZ stem to check for a rhizome? I'm curious.

 

Ask and it shall be done. I had misgivings... Fortunately for naught. Sizable rhizome: the easily accessible without uprooting is a 3cm round nodule, but there is more below the surface. (Assumed by lack of wiggle room.) The less happy news is the rooting leaflet has been uprooted, presumably by squirrels. Couldn't find it. The entire pot is not beautiful to anyone but me, but is much improved after the hurricane and then dark garage storage for several months. But this gave me chance to reset the oyster clusters. They had started to sink a bit, sheltering the new rhizome.

 

Thank you for your effort in satisfying my curiosity. So it looks like it's possible to propagate using a stem.