DIY plant root bubbler update

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For a few weeks now I have cuttings of a Sun Opener plant in a makeshift root bubbler. Most of the short cuttings have died but at least two are doing well. They happen to be much longer than the other cuttings.

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One of the cuttings has some new growth on it. But the other long cutting does not.

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The other long cutting is dropping leaves. Usually a sign it has more than enough and does not want to keep so many. So it drops them. Unless all of them fall off I'm not worried.

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I think longer cuttings is the way to go with this plant. Though not all plants are like this. But good to know what kind of cuttings work better.

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Not sure why the short cuttings did so poorly. Maybe the sponge holding the stem affects the smaller cuttings more than the bigger ones.

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Maybe the shorter cuttings were in a dead zone of bubbles in the container. I need to find some 2 foot long air stones that I can add to this setup. Maybe three of them would add alot more dispersed bubbles.

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I was suprised just poking holes in the submerged air lines even worked. But I think I can do better with some aquarium parts like an air stone.



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7 comments
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I think an air stone would surely help. I think the longer cuttings her just longer and the stem cant hold the weight, lol, I really know nothing about plants and gardening. haha

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Yeah I'm looking into buying some air stones to disperse the bubbles better. I think my holes in a hose are just not good enough.

Idk about the weight of the stems. The cuttings weigh almost nothing. But maybe they are more fragile than I thought.

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So the cuttings are I inserted in a sponge? I don't understand why two out of the rest are still suffering I don't understand why but them might be that two two are well placed and not too much for the sponge to hold, I'm not sure

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Yeah that's correct. I cut into the sponge and then the stems sit inside.

I think the two remaining cuttings have long stems. All of the ones that failed were short. So maybe the short stems were not far enough down in the water. Or maybe the bubbles were not as dense by the small ones giving them less oxygen.

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