Gadenin日本語Get the appTwo methods, and neither is fast
There are no cuttings. A leaf will not root, a stalk will not root, and nothing you can cut off the top of the plant will grow. Propagation means either splitting the rhizome at the base into pieces that each have their own roots, or growing from seed.
Choose knowing the cost. Division sets back flowering on both the parent and the new plant by one to two years, because each piece has to rebuild a fan before it can bloom. If flowers matter more to you than numbers, do not divide at all.
| Method | Best time | Time to a flowering plant | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division of the rhizome | Spring, as growth restarts | Two to three years | Straightforward but heavy work |
| Seed, fresh | Spring, warm conditions | Five to ten years | Slow germination, easy afterwards |
| Seed, old or dried | Any time, with soaking | Five to ten years, if it comes at all | Often fails entirely |
Only divide a plant with at least two well established fans. Splitting a single fan plant gives you two weak halves and usually kills one of them.
Dividing the clump
Do it in spring, on a plant that is due a repot anyway, so you are only disturbing the roots once. Expect it to be physically hard work: the rhizome of a mature plant is dense and woody and does not pull apart by hand.
- Get the plant out whole Water the day before, run a knife round the pot and lay it on its side. Pull by the base of the clump. Cut a plastic pot away if it will not come.
- Wash off enough soil to see Hose the base until you can make out where each fan joins the rhizome and where the roots belong to each fan. You cannot cut sensibly through a ball of soil.
- Cut where the fans join Use a clean, sharp knife or a pruning saw and cut straight down through the rhizome. Each division must have at least one fan with four or more leaves, and its own share of thick roots.
- Trim and dry the cuts Cut off any damaged or rotten root, then leave the divisions in a shaded, airy place for one or two days so the cut surfaces callus over. Potting a wet cut straight into damp mix invites rot.
- Pot each piece snugly Use the smallest pot that takes the roots, in free draining mix, at the same depth the piece grew before. A big pot around a small division stays wet and rots it.
- Keep it dry and shaded at first Water once to settle the mix, then keep it barely moist and out of direct sun for three to four weeks while roots reconnect. Do not feed for six weeks.
Divisions sulk. Expect no new leaf for one to three months and some yellowing of old leaves. That is normal and not a sign you did it wrong. Water sparingly and wait.
Growing from seed
Seed is worth doing if you enjoy the process and are not in a hurry. The seeds are hard and black with a bright orange tuft of fibers at one end, and freshness matters more than anything else you can control. Seed from a recent pod may germinate in three to eight weeks; year old commercial seed may take months or never come at all.
- Remove the orange tuft Pull the orange fibers off the seed with your fingers. They hold moisture against the seed and encourage mold in the pot.
- Soak for a day or two Put the seeds in tepid water for twenty four to forty eight hours, changing the water once. They swell noticeably. Seeds that still float after two days are usually not viable.
- Nick the seed coat Rub one side of the hard coat on fine sandpaper, or nick it carefully with a knife, just enough to see paler tissue underneath. Do not cut deeply into the seed.
- Sow deep and warm Sow about half an inch to an inch (1.5 to 2.5 cm) deep in damp, free draining seed mix. Hold it at 77 to 86F (25 to 30C), which usually means a heat mat. Below 68F (20C) germination is very poor.
- Keep it humid but not soaked Cover the pot with a clear lid or bag and open it daily for air. The mix should be damp, never wet. Mold on the surface means too much moisture and not enough air.
- Be patient Some seeds come up in three weeks, others from the same pod take six months. Do not empty the pot for a year. Keep it warm and just moist and check occasionally.
Looking after young plants
Seedlings put up narrow grass like leaves at first and take a couple of years to show the broad paddle shaped leaf of an adult. They grow much faster with warmth and strong light than most people expect from something so slow to germinate.
| Stage | What it looks like | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| First year | Two or three narrow leaves | Warmth, bright light out of harsh midday sun, never dry |
| Second year | Wider leaves, first proper stalk | Move into a three or four inch pot, start weak feeding |
| Third to fourth year | Adult leaf shape, one fan forming | Full sun outdoors in the warm months |
| Fifth year onward | Multiple fans, four or more leaves each | Leave it pot bound and feed hard, flowers become possible |
Young plants are far less cold tolerant than mature ones. Keep seedlings above 50F (10C) for their first two winters, and do not give them the hard cool dry rest you would give an adult plant.
Keep a label and a date
With something this slow, an unlabelled pot becomes a mystery within a year. Write the sowing or division date on a label pushed into the pot, and note which parent plant a division came from and how many leaves it had at the time.
Over several attempts this tells you exactly what works in your conditions: whether fresh seed really did outperform bought seed, how long divisions took to push a new leaf, and how many years elapsed from division to first flower. That is information no general guide can give you, because it depends on your light and your winters.