A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 Can I start a new plant from a cutting?

Clueless in Plantland here again! I received a dish garden and it has a Herringbone prayer plant and another prayer plant in the basket. Can I start new plants by using cuttings? I am having very good luck with this dish garden staying alive so far, but know it is just a matter of time before some of the plants will die out. Would like to start as many new ones as possible. Thanks for any help!

Hi Chris,
Welcome to the garden helper. yes, you can start prayer plants from cuttings. I use a small juice bottle with water that has sat for a few days. I change the water weekly to prevent "goo" building up and I have rooted 6 prayer plants this way. Enjoy your dish garden!

Jiffymouse,

Thanks for the info. I have posted here a few times now and have found great support. I never thought of myself as having a green thumb, more brown than anything. I started out when I thought I had killed my spider plants. They were exposed to high heat and direct sunlight and they were cooked. I am happy to report that they are doing fantastic. I have lots of new growth and new plantletts. My son has even started 2 new plants from one of them. I have always loved prayer plants, but never had much luck so I am very excited that this dish garden is doing so well. I have high hopes that one day I will have a green thumb. I have found that water that sits out for at least 24 hours has always been more beneficial to the plants than tap water. I think that all the additives, chlorine and flouride and the likes, seem to evaporate out of the water when it sits out. Maybe it is just my wishful thinking. Thanks again and I am going to see if I can get some of these prayer plants started!

Chris, it isn't wishful thinking. All water, even well water, does better for the plants if it sits for a day or two. I feed the plants in my office the melted ice in the office ice chest. once a week I fill the watering can with it and I use that until it is gone, then do it again! and thumbs are not by nature black, but rather they are like your spiders, hiding the green under the brown!!

Just a note of clarification on something that is commonly misunderstood.

Chlorine will dissipate (evaporate) into the air from tap water that is left standing in an open container. However, the concentration of chlorine in most municipal water supplies is too low to cause any significant damage to plants. Pool water with its high concentration of chlorine will definitely damage many plants.

Fluoride does not dissipate from open containers. Only special filters will remove fluoride from water. However, again, the level of concentration is too low for it to be of much concern. Damaging concentrations of fluoride are more likely to occur with perlite and some fertilizers (superphosphate), than from fluoridated water.

Other minerals found in hard tap water do not evaporate. Special filters can remove these minerals, which are damaging to plants. You can also use distilled or rainwater instead, if your local tap water is on the hard side.

I care for thousands of plants in NYC where the water is both fluoridated and chlorinated, but not hard. I use water straight from the tap for all of these plants with no harmful results.

I live in farmland PA and have alot of nitrates in the water , will this harm my plants ?

Nitrates are a form of nitrogen, which is one of the major elements that plants need for good growth. However, plants use it in very small quantities. If it is too concentrated, the nitartes will build up in the soil and burn the roots and damage the plants.

I suggest using another water source for your plants.