There’s nothing I like better than getting out of the shower and finding my potted ivy plant upside-down on the carpet under the windowsill, dirt everywhere, and the ~16-foot-long branch that’s been growing for over 5 years broken right off.
Posted by Anthony on May2, 2004 | 4 replies Filed under: General
Oh No.....I’m so sorry. I know what that feels like and it’s not fun. Oh my. Well, after you get thru to the acceptance phase, cut the branch into 18" pieces. Cut the leaves off of 6" of one end of each piece and put that end into a tallish container 3/4 filled with water. Those will then send out roots (it will take a few months) and you can start new plants. That was really a great plant that traveled far and wide with all your moves and survived even being left alone for many weeks without water. You’ll get lots more with the cuttings, trust me. In the mean time I’m sad along with you in the loss of the plant that started college with you :~<.
Won’t it work if I put the end in water, but leave it 16 feet long? The rest of the plant seems fine, so I probably won’t bother with saving the long branch if I have to cut it all up.
At first I thought it was the cat, but as I turned around to smack him, he didn’t have that guilty look on his face that he usually does when he does something bad. Then I realized that it was probably the wind that knocked the plant off the sill. I had the window open, but the blinds down and closed, and the blinds were blowing around.
A 16 foot piece of plant requires alot of food and water and nutrients to survive. Yeah, you could 1st try just putting the broken end into a container of water but just watch it. If it starts to wilt or the leaves start turning brown anywhere along the length of it then you’d have to cut it into pieces because it just can’t support itself on the water alone. Good luck!