A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Hey Barleychown, AV ?? here....

We have a shelving unit that has 5 glass shelves in it. We keep plants on it because it is in front of a south facing window that has a curtain over it (the window). The curtain only allows about 75% of the direct sunlight to come through. In the winter, the AV's seem to love it on the very top shelf of the unit because there is no direct sunlight that hits them, but there is plenty of indirect sunlight.

Tonight we had a bad storm and my wife decided to light a few candles.... just in case the lights went off. I was piddling in my computer room when I heard a horrible crash in the living room. I went in there and found that the top shelf and all of the items that were on it were on the floor..... potting soil and plants everywhere!! Bless her heart, Linda thought there was enough space between the top shelf and the shelf directly below it (where she sat a lit candle) to keep the heat from the candle's flame from breaking it. Not!!

The good part about all of this was the fact that there were only 4 leaves from one AV that were broken off. But, they were broken off at the base of the leaf where the stem attaches. In other words, there is no stem left. I've stuck them stem end down in some medium to try to root them.

My question is this. Without the stems in place, do the leaves have much of a chance of rooting and producing babies? If so, is there anything "extra" that I need to do for them since they have no stem left? Or, is all of this in vain?

Thanks in advance for any help or information you can offer.

Robert

Robert, So sorry to hear that you lost the shelf. I am sure that was not fun to deal with at all. I hope that the leaves can be saved.

Thanks Triss.... Me too!!

Sorry to hear about your mishap Robert...I am pretty sure you can start the leaves even without much stem, I read somewhere you can take half a leave and start them. I think you just stick it into the soil and wait and see if it wasn't damaged from the mishap it may root and make babies...it is worth trying.

Thanks Comfrey!

Comfrey said: I was thinking that I had read the same thing somewhere, but couldn't remember where. Besides, my brain doesn't function well enough to be able to tell the difference between true memory and wishful thinking!!


Comfrey said: That's kind of what I was thinking. They don't appear to be damaged other than being broken dead even with where the leaf begins. I figure that if they don't root, I've lost nothing. But if they root and make babies, I could end up with several new AV's. I'd like that!!

Robert have you gotten babies from the leaves you started ???

Not yet. I went to bed one night and all seemed well with them. The next morning, all but two looked sickly. By bedtime that night, all but two of them were dead. Just turned black and died! The leaves were thin and black. The soil wasn't wet, just barely damp. The leaves weren't spongy or mushy, just dead. I suspected some type of fungus, so sprayed all with a fungicide. I don't like using chemicals, but sometimes it's necessary. The other two still seem healthy as little horses, but no babies... yet! I figure if they have survived this long they will probably become mommies before long!

Thanks for asking.