So I finally re-potted my big plant (right) yesterday. And I tried to make it reproduce (baby plant, left). The big plant was in the white plastic pot that the baby plant was in. The root to soil ratio was probably 4:1, suggesting that it was long overdue for a re-potting. I'm not quite sure it will survive as I wrecked it's root system to untangle them from a tight ball, although my mom should be proud of me for remembering to break up the roots.
Then baby plant was the tiny offshoot from big plant which I broke off and stuck in some moist soil. I'm not quite sure it will survive other. I'm a bit rusty on my plant biology, but I vaguely recall no roots is very bad for plants. On the other hand, my friends assure me that spider plants are indestructible. So maybe this is a "What happens when the unstoppable force of my ability to kill plants meets the immovable force of spider plants?" question.
Now above is a genuine Yucca plant. These live in the forsaken deserts of New Mexico. They are basically a growing half-sphere of spikes. Unfortunately, the non-sphere portion is the against the ground, which tends to be comprised of granite or other rock. Since spikes are generally considered undesirable in one's lawn, I spent a fair amount of time growing up to rid the lawn of these nuisances. The simple approach was to take a pick mattock, place a well aimed blow at the point where the Yucca and the ground connected, and sever the spikes from the root. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't work so well because the Yucca has an amazing tap root which goes deep into the ground and will simply regrow. So shortly one simply has a smaller, harder to see protruding ball of spikes. The proper approach was to first sever the ball, then dig/hack/smash about six inches into the rock and take out about six inches of the tap root.
Re-potting my plants has gotten me thinking about the Yucca, and what it means to be deeply rooted. I don't work much with plants, and I tend to forget how tenacious and intertwining root systems are, even interfering with drain pipes.
3 comments:
So is it possible for one to have the tenacity of the yucca without being as prickly? :)
Geishas...please?
Alan I am so very proud of your plant efforts. Try Glyphosate ( Roundup ) a wonder of science for emerging yucca plants. Also to get your spider plants to produce babies try fertilizer Miracle Grow every week during active growth primarily over the summer. Also give your plant a little more light this will help with the photosynthesis thing. When your babies start to grow assuming they do, wait till they have developed some decent small sized roots while they are still attached to the mother plant. Then when you are ready to detach them from their parent plant place them in a glass of water to let the roots develop even more still. Then once the root hit the bottom of the glass (12 oz.) it's time to pot them up in media. Did you get all of that? These plant are not to far off from being a dandelion as far as house plants are concerned.
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