AboutDarlene K. Kittle Expertise I have been a Master Gardener for 20 years and I raise around 300 houseplants a year including tropicals, succulents, and cacti.
Experience She is also studying the Japanese art of bonsai with tropical plants and is President of the Fort Wayne, IN Bonsai Club.
Education/Credentials I am not a hortculturist. I am a Purdue University Master Gardener for over 20 years. I have studied plants on a personal level by growing hundreds of plants annually for the last 35 years. I have also studied under several nationally known American Bonsai experts.
Question i have a dumb cane that has grown tall and the steam is becoming to thin at the bottom to hold it up. i heard that i can cut it down and repot it, and this way i could have more. but theres a problem that i live in egypt and im not sure we have rotting powder or hormone..so i was wodering is there a way to plant cane cutting without hormone? or can i rot it in water?
Answer Mohammad,
It is rooting hormone and you could buy it online from ebay or another mail order supplier. It is the best way to root cuttings. It improves the chances of rooting the cuttings by 200%. If you root it in water it will grow very succulent roots which somtimes die when you move the cutting to soil.
A better way of rooting the top of a plant is by air layering but you are still best to have rooting hormone.
Here are a coouple of sites that have instructions for making your own rooting hormones using a willow tree if you have those in Egypt. They would probably be growing along a river or lake. http://rubyglen.com/houseplants/rooting_hormone.htm
