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Tradescantia propagation problem

vasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpGvasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpG Posts: 19
in Problem solving
Hey there! I have a tradescantia zebrina that I kind of neglected and I want to propagate it because I don't think the mother plant will last. Back in August, I tried propagating some cuttings in water but they all dried up. Recently I also tried putting some cuttings back into the soil of the mother plant to propagate them but they also dried up. So, I want to ask what is the best way to propagate this plant, because I know it's a plant that's easy to propagate.

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    How long were the cuttings in the water?  I don’t understand how they dried if they were in water. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • vasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpGvasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpG Posts: 19
    I don't understand either. I think they were in water for about a month and no roots developed. The leaves would dry up one by one until the cutting was dead. The ones I put in soil dried up in like 3 days, and the soil is still a bit wet.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    How big were the cuttings?  Did you cut them just below a node?
    did you remove any leaves?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • vasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpGvasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpG Posts: 19
    I did all the steps right. Cut below a node, remove 1 or 2 leaves so that there would be 2-3 nodes in water. I think I left between 3-6 leaves on each cutting. Maybe more for some
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Strange … I don’t think I’ve ever had a tradescantia cutting fail. 
    I wonder if the high temperatures we had last year had caused your plant to go into a sort of ‘shut down’?

    I’d repot your plant with some fresh compost and treat it gently in the hope that it’ll produce some new shoots you can use for cuttings this spring.

    Good luck 🤞 



    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • vasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpGvasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpG Posts: 19
    I've already repoted it a few days ago. And while I was at it I thought I'd put some cuttings into the same soil, but like I said, they dried up. I think I will try putting some cuttings in water and maybe they will root. Maybe last summer the temperature was too high and that's why they dried up. Thank for the help!
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    It's a mystery. I have a few different tradescantia house plants and they all root in water very quickly at any time of year. I'm not even particularly careful to cut beneath a node. In spring 2020 when the garden centres were closed I filled outdoor hanging baskets with the purple ones.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • vasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpGvasile.cristi.animefGKcDcpG Posts: 19
    Yea, I know that these plants are soo easy to propagate. And I love them tbh, they have beautiful colors. I'll try to propagate it some more, as the mother plant has root rot and I don't think I'll be able to save it.
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