harveyc

Today I had a visitor that wanted one of my Praying Hand corms but the corm was very large and he asked if it could be cut in half to fit in his baggage. I cut it in half and gave him a piece with two eyes that should form pups, I think. I've never done this before, though, and wonder if I did the best I could and gave him good instructions.

He won't be home to plant it for a week and he mentioned putting it in a plastic bag with wet paper towels but I suggested he leave it dry some since it has a lot of cut surfaces that should be allowed to heal over instead of get infected with mold. I told him that later it could be kept in a ventilated bag to prevent it from drying out. I'd guess that the portion I gave him still weighed over 5 pounds and I told him that he might be able to split it in half one more to get two pups (the top might still grow also).

I should have dipped it in some Physan 20, probably, but it didn't dawn on me until after he left.

If anyone has done this and has any tips I could e-mail him, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Harvey

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pitangadiego

If it had well developed "buds", and is properly cared for, it will probably develop pups. If it isn't properly cared for, it will probably develop pups. Interestingly, when I have an old "stump" layhing in the yard, the "buds" on the bottom are more likely to develop into pups, than the ones on the top. I woiuld be tempted to tell him to plant it upside down (cut side up).

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harveyc

Thanks, Jon. One bud was protruded about 3/4" or so already while the other was maybe only a 1/4", but both were maybe 1" in diameter. They are located about 125 degrees apart, so they could probably both emerge okay if planted upside down. That's strange that it happens that way with your stumps, maybe it's because they aren't buried and stay more moist. What do you think the cause may be?

By the way, this was a corm from the pup I bought from you last June. The top leaf that emerged this spring didn't get very big and it just quit growing so I had just cut the pseudostem down to near the ground yesterday to see if it would start over. It had one large pup that was too big to travel and two small ones that were maybe too small to travel (espeially sine he wanted to remove roots) and I had already sent off a pup to someone else in a trade about a month ago. It has grown well for me.

Thanks,

Harvey

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Gabe15

Ive had the most unlikely of corm pieces sprout new shoots before, it will be fine. Its natural for people to want to baby these plants but the more you mess around with them, you will find that they can really take a heck of a lot of abuse and be completely fine, especially in these situations when your main goal is just to transport propagation material.

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Gabe15

The buds nearer the bottom of the corm are older and more developed than those nearer the top, so they will generally sprout first even if they are dormant before apical dominance is broken. For each leaf produced, there is a bud to go with it positioned above the leaf scar on the corm that could eventually turn into a sucker, so you can picture that the buds formed with the older leaves would be lower on the corm.

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Bananaman88

I would agree that since it was cut in half, that it would be much better to let it dry out for this week before he returns home. That would be much better than him trying to keep it moist and having the cut surface start to rot.

harveyc

Thanks, Gabe, but my comments/question was in response to Jon's statement that his stumps laying on their side (i.e., in the compost pile or whatever) usually had suckers sprout from the bottom side of the corm.

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sandy0225

I split one in half like that and planted both halfs cut side down in two pots and one put up two pups and one put up three. That was on a bordelon. Letting it dry out a little before planting that probably would be good, but I didn't because I was impatient.

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harveyc

Thanks, Sandy. I have half of the corm left and will give it a shot.

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pitangadiego

Here is a corm that has been laying around the yard since last Fall, waiting for trash can space. Not much sign of life, until I tried to roll it over, and found that the one "bud" on the BOTTOM was rooting, and showing signs of getting ready to sprout.

Top


Bottom


Close-up

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