The Propagation Table

It's pretty amazing how you can cut off 10 parts of one plant and get 10 brand new plants.

A Begonia luxurians cutting sending out some new roots

That's what I did with this palm leaf begonia (Begonia luxurians).  What's the secret to getting them to root?  Well, there are a lot of secrets.  Here is the process I took:

1 - Cut off a non-flowering growing tip of about 4" at a node.
2 - Dip the cut end in rooting hormone.
3 - Place the cutting in a seed tray using a 50/50 peat/pearlite mix (or any sterilized potting mix).
4 - Create a humid environment for your rootless cuttings so they won't dry out.  In this case, I used a large zip-lock bag.
5 - Place the cuttings on a heat mat.  Yes, this step is necessary.
6 - Water them.
7 - Be patient and keep the cutting under an optimum amount of humidity (enough so they don't dry out but not so much that mold will easily grow).  You can see in the picture below, I opened the ziplock bag to let some moisture out.
8 - New plants need a lot of bright, indirect light, otherwise they will wither away and die.  I put them right under a giant fluorescent light and it works great.

Aeonium cuttings

These aeonium cuttings also started out as one plant.  The trick with these was to let them sit on a shelf for several days after cutting them off from the original plant.  These were actually on a shelf for eight days but that's probably a bit excessive.  The cut end needs to form a callus which will enable it to root.  I planted them in individual pots with a mixture of sand and seed starter mix.  Because they are succulents, they can just be left out in the open, no extra humidity needed.  They have bottom heat keeping them at about 65-70 degrees and have already started spreading out their thin, stringy roots into the sandy potting mix.

Below are four Beschorneria yuccoides seedlings (out of several hundred seeds that I tried germinating).  I took the seeds from a plant I've had growing since 2008.

Beschorneria yuccoides

I am insanely stoked about these Fatsia polycarpa cuttings that have rooted.  This is a pretty exclusive plant.  You have to be pretty important to own one.  I own three.

Fatsia polycarpa

These Lobelia tupa seeds germinated much more readily than the Beschorneria seeds.  These are going to feed a lot of hummingbirds!

Lobelia tupa

And finally....if the previous plants haven't been rare enough for you, below is perhaps the rarest of them all.  This is a Schefflera fengii I received as a gift from Kelly Dodson of Far Reaches Farm.  It resembles a Schefflera delavayi but with more serrated leaves.  It's reportedly hardy to 5 degrees F (-15C).  I'm growing it through the winter under a grow light in hopes of getting it big and strong enough to be able to take cuttings off of next spring.

Schefflera fengii