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Broken sedum - how to preserve

tiniestgardentiniestgarden Posts: 23
in Problem solving
Hi there

I've got a Sedum spectabile Iceberg which I planted out a couple of months ago and was doing really well and was just preparing to flower. It is quite a small plant still with only a single, quite sturdy stem about 8 inches tall. Unfortunately the dog ran into the bed a few days ago and today I noticed that the stem has been snapped. It's a clean break and at the moment the plant looks rather unbothered by the whole thing!

I'd like to preserve the plant and I know that it's possible to take stem cuttings from sedums although I haven't done this before. Would that be a good approach here? If so, should I cut the stem into a number of small stem cuttings, or would it be worth just making a clean cut on the stem where it is currently broken and putting it somewhere to see if it roots?

cheers
Kat

Posts

  • BenDoverBenDover Posts: 488
    I had something similar happen last week when a gust of strong wind just before a thunderstorm blew one of my large pots with sunflowers over and broke a few stems of my sedums when it went crashing over into the border.  I have taken the broken stems and given them a clean cut just below a leaf node, pulled off the lower leaves from the stem, cut the flower off, and placed it in water and will wait for it to spring roots and then pot it up.  Also, not wasting the leaves, I have also put those in water, and will also pot those up when they spring roots.  

    Alternatively, you could simply pot them straight into a pot and keep watered until they root. 

    I did take cuttings earlier in the year doing exactly the same as above, and they have survived.  I put some in water and some in compost to see which would root quicker, but I've been a bit lax on watering the ones in pots but being sedums, they don't seem to have been to concerned as they've still rooted.  Now going to be overflowing with sedums! 
  • tiniestgardentiniestgarden Posts: 23
    Excellent, sounds like there are plenty of options then. There is enough plant to try a few approaches so I shall experiment! Thanks very much.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I did the same with a broken stem but didn't take off the flowers. Within weeks I have a new rooted plant. It didn't seem to notice.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    The weather broke two stems off my sedum (hylotelephium) matrona and I laid them in a pot of rosemary in the greenhouse until I had time to repot them. By the time I remembered they'd both rooted but I didn't notice until I picked them up and snapped the roots off. They've now rooted again in their own pot but the old roots are putting up new shoots in the rosemary.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I just poke them in the ground nearby and they usually root.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • tiniestgardentiniestgarden Posts: 23
    It's sounding like having a broken sedum is not a big issue :-)
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Not an issue at all - break bits off, shove in ground or pots, stand back and allow to grow. :)
    They're among the easiest plants to propagate. 
    Iceberg is particularly nice. I used to have it with dark geraniums and grasses in a previous garden.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497

    tiniestgarden said:
    It's sounding like having a broken sedum is not a big issue :-)
    I could show you some sedums where it is a problem. Some of the small ones shed leaves and seeds and start springing up in every pot in the greenhouse if you're not careful.

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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