Way back in 2005 or 2006 I picked up a black jewel orchid at a big box retailer. I've never seen another one. A while later it picked up spider mites from a neighboring plant and I couldn't get rid of them. I saved two shoots and started over. I always thought they were on the verge of dying, but one finally started branching and looking more like my old plant. The plant survived my massive plant cull of last year and soldiered on. A few months ago one of the dogs got into it and broke off lots of branches. Having no better idea I stuck the branches with leaves on top of potting soil and kept them moist. All rooted. I had tried a few web searches, but didn't get anything definitive on how to root them.
I also had a bunch of non leafed stems. This plant has fleshy stems and crawls across the ground. I took the stems and laid them on top of damp potting soil (in a container with a broken chunk from a christmas cactus oddly enough). I stuck them under some fluorescent lights and kept them damp. Now some weeks later (I need to start dating things again) all of the segments are growing leaves. The leaves seem to come before the roots, as roots are just starting. Now I have too many of the things.
So here are my ideas for propagation black jewel orchids from cuttings. If possible use stems with leaves, but stems without will eventually produce leaves. They appreciate humidity, so can be left in a sealed damp container for a long time without rotting. I lost one segment of one stem and it wasn't rotting so much as drying out. I'd try to keep the cuttings at least 3 segments long, longer for leaves. I used standard potting mix as a medium.
For cuttings with leaves fill a small pot with potting soil and press the stem on to the top of the soil. You can use clips to hold it there, but you want good soil contact. I had one I covered with sand after it fell over too many times and it rooted fine as well. Tent the cutting if you want, I can't remember if I did put the leafed cuttings in bags but likely I did.
The cuttings without leaves should be pressed halfway down into damp potting soil. They should lie horizontally across the medium, not vertically. These ones should be covered. Leaves and roots will appear at the stem joints. Both sets should be kept in a bright place, I stuck them under lights, but a bright windowsill might work. They don't like direct sunlight.
Once the cutting has leaves and roots it can be potted up and slowly acclimated to room humidity again. These plants mostly sprawl across a pot and slowly turn into rangy piled of stems. Each leaf that dies leaves a stem segment behind. I rarely have shoots with more then 6 leaves on them at a given time. I also have not tried to grow any of the other jewel orchids, mostly due to outlandish price every time I see them ($10 bucks for a tiny plant on eBay, $8-$10 for an even tinier plant at reptile shows I think they're banking on the word orchid).
4 comments:
I'm trying this with what appears to be a dead plant, but still has a firm, but not dry stem.
It should work fine. I've done it multiple times with varying levels of dead looking plant. I do try to use sterilized putting soil and generally leave them alone under lights for weeks to months at a time. As long as they aren't rotting or growing fungus, even with no leaves they survive for quite some time.
I would try doing several in separate containers just in case one rots to keep the others from rotting as well.
Can a plant be saved if the leaves are pale red instead of dark green and velvety?
As long as the stem is still firm and healthy looking, yes.
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