February 8, 2008, Newsletter Issue #198: Propagating A Mother-in-Law´s Tongue

Tip of the Week

Before you recoil in horror,"Mother in Laws Tongue" is a succulent plant with 2-3ft long sword-like leaves! (It certainly IS well named.)
If you have the yellow edged form of Sansieveria or "mother in laws tongue",you can easily propogate it by division.
Knock the plant out of its pot and cut through the root ball so that you end up with several rooted leaf portions. Pot these up in 3" pots of gritty compost.
A peculiar quirk of nature is that you can also root 2" leaf cuttings of yellow edged Sansieverias, but the resultant plants don´t have the yellow edge. this is why division of the plant is recommended.

Green Sansieverias can be divided as above or you can use the leaf cutting method:
Cut off an entire , healthy leaf from the mother plant. Lay it flat on the table, the right way up.Using a sharp knife,cut the leaf up into 2" long sections.It is very important that you insert the cuttings the right way up , so a good tip at this stage is to cut a "v"shape out of the bottom end of the cutting.
Fill a tray with gritty compost and push the "v" end into the compost, leaving the top inch or so of the cutting exposes.Place water the tray in and place on a bright , warm windowsill or propogating frame in the greenhouse.
Water the cuttings only when they are dry and within a couple of months you will see a new plant growing from the leaf section. Pot up individually in small pots and grow on.
Spring and summer are the best times to try this technique.

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