Houseplant Advice

[Cowgirl]

I've got a ponytail palm that's at least 16 years old, and I'm pretty fond of the thing. It had a near-death experience about a year and a half ago, and it's bounced back nicely. My cat shredded the "trunk" almost up near the top of it, and it started to die. It started sprouting new leaves along the trunk, so I let them stay because I wasn't sure if the top was going to die off. Well, luckily it sent out new sprouts at the top, too. I cut all but one of the side shoots off, because I wanted to wait until I knew the plant would live. Now, I'm tired of the side shoot, and I'm wondering if I could propagate it and start a new plant.

I remember reading something about how you can cut 3/4 of the way through the stem, wrap it with moss and plastic and keep it moist so it sprouts new roots. Has anyone done this? I'm a little nervous about doing it, because I don't want to kill the plant. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! TIA.

 

[BeenSpur'd]

That is how I got all the plants in my farmhouse. When my grandma died, I inherited her cactus. I cut off pieces, got them to root and I've given all my friends cactus and I have many I take care of too. I've done the palm plants too, just cut them off, put in water and in time they will root and you will have more plants to plant. I have one cactus in the dinning room that's hit the ten foot ceiling. Someday I'm going cut that sucker off and root him for another pot. I have 19 foot celilings in the family room and grandma's cactus got to about ten feet and fell over so I cut the top off of that and rooted it for another room. I'm trying not to get too many plants because it takes time to take care of them and I'd rather be outside putting up fence or shoveling sh*t.................

 

[Ladybug76]

That's a long time to keep a houseplant. I'm really impressed! I can't seem to keep them alive. Good luck with that one, it's beautiful.

 

[Cowgirl]

That's a long time to keep a houseplant. I'm really impressed! I can't seem to keep them alive. Good luck with that one, it's beautiful.

I love it so much because my mom got it when it was really small, and she gave it to me when she moved to NC.

 

[Ladybug76]

I love it so much because my mom got it when it was really small, and she gave it to me when she moved to NC.

That's wonderful! I just bought another one yesterday--we'll see how it goes. I think I should probably stick to gardening outdoors, but I'll try to keep this one alive. I really love having plants in the house though.