Back in November I posted about trying to propogate some Ivy. It’s fair to say that this turned out to be an epic failure. In hindsight I was a bit ambitious with the way I did it. The internodal cutting technique on the RHS website doesn’t look too difficult but even then I think I managed to screw it up.
I wonder if the soil I used, which is an organic type and looks quite bitty (this is the best way I can find to descibe it), didn’t create a very good growing environment for the cuttings. Other factors might have been my sketchy watering regime – probably not a good thing for fragile cuttings – and that I placed them in a sunny but slightly chilly position.
I guess that a combination of some or all of these factors meant that they were doomed to crinkle up and die rather than take root and flourish. Whatever it was there’s clearly some further education required but it was worth the try and some lessons have been learned.
Never one to admit defeat I’ve taken a few cuttings of an indoor Polka-Dot plant (Hypoestes) which I had let get a bit leggy and out of control. The advice is that these will root easily in water or moist potting mix.
The three cuttings have been living in a water dish for a couple of weeks now and I can happily say that they’re still alive and look to be producing roots. When I get some time in the next fornight I’ll pot them up and see if they continue to thrive. Here’s hoping!
