This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Lewisia snapped away from roots...
Siobhan O'Sullivan
Posts: 18
I recently bought 6 randomly picked perennials from groupon and one of which was a Lewisia. Unfortunately when I unpacked it the main plant completely broke away from the surface of the soil leaving no roots at all
Now I've no idea what to do with it - I did put in a small amount of water to try and encourage roots to grow but i'm worried it will rot and have also discovered it's a rockery type plant.
Could someone advise what I need to do to help it along....I don't want it to dry out in this hot weather.
You may tell I'm new to gardening but waning to learn all the time!
0
Posts
Hi Siobhan
I think if that broke away as you unpacked it was either duff to start with or badly packed. Unless you know you were excessively rough with it I would contact the supplier and ask for another or money back
In the sticks near Peterborough
I intend on contacting them about it. I just wondered if I could save this one also?
Can you show us a photo of what's left?
In the sticks near Peterborough
Lewisia do do that, it's a way of spreading, I find putting the off shoot onto moist compost encourages rooting, they break away extremely easily from the parent plant, and given a bit of tlc they root quite readily. I wouldn't give up on it, sharp drainage 50/50 grit/compost and water well. The technique used for rooting strawberry runners, i.e. pinning it to the compost helps.
Of course here you go!
Oh dear that doesn't appear to have worked...
Thank you Dave thats helpful to know!
go for it as Dave suggests
In the sticks near Peterborough
Great thank you both for your help thats fab!
I would like to try to propagate from the stem you see here. Should I dip the end in root hormone and stick in in some vermiculite with a bag over it for humidity? If so, would I remove the flowers first? Everything I have read talks about propagating from the rosette offsets or from seed--I am happy to know that it may be possible to propagate from a stem. I have three plants but no offsets.