Hello! I have received a cutting from a Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina) plant. The cutting is kind of small but has four leaves on it [edit: correction, it has 5 full grown leaves and one baby leaf]. I was wondering if I should remove some leaves or keep it as it is. Also, how do these plants multiply? If I have only one single cutting, am I perpetually going to have a one-stem plant (unless I make subsequent cuttings myself)? Thank you so much, I am quite unexperienced and all the advice I am getting here is really helping me grow happy and beautiful plants! M.
I would remove the bottom two leaves, or even just one, and press it into damp potting soil. You want one or two nodes in the soil, covered lightly. In good conditions, it will send out side shoots too, but generally a pot of this will be multiple separate cuttings rooted at the same time. When it gets longer, you can pin it back onto the soil and the vine will root again there, and probably sprout side shoots.
Thanks a milion! Looks like it's gonna be a long term project. For now I have it in water, I'll transplant it in a pot as soon as I can. I have germination soil which stays quite moist, do you think that this will do instead of the regular, more irrigated tropical plant soil I normally use?
Yeah, that'll work. If I mow this, the clippings will root wherever they land. If I compost it, the ones on top will root. I understand your concern that you only have one piece, but it's really very easy to root.
I only started with a few clippings , once rooted in water, plant, then keep cutting to root more. Check my photo in threads.
