Was able to salvage some of my Haworthia plant that had been severely affected by root rot. Will I be able to use this potentially surviving piece as a propagation? How would I go about making it develop roots, if so.
Was able to salvage some of my Haworthia plant that had been severely affected by root rot. Will I be able to use this potentially surviving piece as a propagation? How would I go about making it develop roots, if so.
It looks like you got all of the stem off that had rot which is really important. You can check the center of the rosette to see if the smallest leaves have any brown from the root rot (but it doesn’t look like they will from the picture of the stem).
To get it to root, you can use rooting hormone (optional, but if you want to use the powder not the gel because the gel drives out the plant and kills it). Then let it sit as is in shade for a few days to callus over, whether or not you use rooting hormone. Once the stem calluses over and browns, set it in a new pot with soil in the shade and leave it be. You’ll be tempted to check on the roots but don’t or it’ll slow it down even more. The hard part is figuring out when it is growing roots, once they start then water slightly to encourage their growth. Then you’ll have yourself a rooted haworthia again!
butterflygirl1980
The only thing I’ll add is to take your conditions into account.
I DO water, about as often as if it was rooted (say every other week). I live in a pretty dry climate, and if I do not provide some intermittent moisture, things tend to become severely dehydrated by the time they root, if they root at all. Gritty mix dries out so fast here, especially in small pots, that there’s no rot risk even with the plant not using any of the water.
If you have average or higher humidity, skipping the water is probably the safer option. Or you can just mist the soil now and then for a little humidity boost.
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It looks like you got all of the stem off that had rot which is really important. You can check the center of the rosette to see if the smallest leaves have any brown from the root rot (but it doesn’t look like they will from the picture of the stem).
To get it to root, you can use rooting hormone (optional, but if you want to use the powder not the gel because the gel drives out the plant and kills it). Then let it sit as is in shade for a few days to callus over, whether or not you use rooting hormone. Once the stem calluses over and browns, set it in a new pot with soil in the shade and leave it be. You’ll be tempted to check on the roots but don’t or it’ll slow it down even more. The hard part is figuring out when it is growing roots, once they start then water slightly to encourage their growth. Then you’ll have yourself a rooted haworthia again!
The only thing I’ll add is to take your conditions into account.
I DO water, about as often as if it was rooted (say every other week). I live in a pretty dry climate, and if I do not provide some intermittent moisture, things tend to become severely dehydrated by the time they root, if they root at all. Gritty mix dries out so fast here, especially in small pots, that there’s no rot risk even with the plant not using any of the water.
If you have average or higher humidity, skipping the water is probably the safer option. Or you can just mist the soil now and then for a little humidity boost.