I was told I have propagated my lucky bamboo way too long and they will not root this way. Is this true? Is there anyway I can fix it if it is too long. Please someone ease my mind n tell me this person is wrong. I have had other ladies tell me it looked great. I would have thought someone's would have mention this to me before this if this is true. I'm confused now. I studied up on this for weeks no one mention pieces being too long only too short, but maybe it's too much length for the plant to keep up with and root at the same time??? Idk I was doing so good now it seems I'm losing so many plants I have been working with since early June! The plant still looks ok but no roots yet it's been only 2 weeks working on3 now I think. Close... I'll put in new pics of him now. Again ladies I'm so very grateful for any help and I just can't thank some of you enough for helping me figure out my first wintering . I love all my plants and I won't give up because they have been the best antidepressants I have ever had!

Two things, Pamela - I would definitely cut off those stems above where they are turning yellowish, then maybe try rooting one of the plants by sticking in a pot of damp potting soil and keeping just barely damp. The foliage you have on those cuttings still looks fine. I don't think the length of the cutting should matter. The roots will form at the leaf nodes IF they form. (sometimes it's just the wrong time of year, and some things just insist on dying instead of rooting) You could also try cutting a few inches of your longest stem off, and just lay it horizontally on some moist potting soil. Some things root that way very well, too.

Second thing, you should never root cuttings in a narrow-necked bottle like that. Choose a wider mouth jar or vase, so you don't break your tender little roots when you need to pull the cuttings out of there. Some things make big, long roots quite quickly and it's agonizing to have to pull them out of a bottle, breaking your hard-earned roots as you go.

You're so right about the anti-depressant value of plants, but please keep your perspective and know that sometimes they do just die and it's not your fault.

One lady who posts on here often had a saying at the bottom of her posts "Gardening is my therapy, and I'm in therapy a lot".

Thanks million !! So your saying take my longest bamboo piece cut a piece off of that and put it into damp soil not really packing down soil just lightly put the bamboo into soil , keep it damn not soaked?
Oh and The ends are not yellow yet anyways... what your seeing is where I scratched off the ends so roots could grow there as i seen a man on you tube do that. Is that wrong to do also ?

Not sure, Pamela, it's years since I've tried this myself and I can't remember what worked (but something did). If those yellow ends aren't turning brown or rotting, they should be fine. Just keep an eye on them. But do get them out of that narrow neck bottle!

If you want to try rooting one in potting soil, I would try both ways - take the longest cutting, cut maybe 4in. off the bottom and lay it on top of some damp potting soil, then take the rest of the cutting and stick it in a pot of soil, staking it to stay upright if you need to. Keep them damp, and in the shade, and see if they will root that way. Leave the other cutting in a jar of water, and see who roots first. You'll be able to tell if the ones in the potting soil are rooted when they start making some new leaves.

"put it into damp soil not really packing down soil just lightly put the bamboo into soil , keep it damn not soaked" This sounds like what I do.

I've not had any cuttings of any kinds of Dracaena plants fail, including large cuttings of lucky bamboo (D. braunii.) I do several of them per year and don't usually do anything with pieces smaller than 2 feet. I've always stuck those in pots of soil and when they have taken root, always send up a new stem from the roots. The water looks cloudy. Has something been added to it?

I think this is the 3rd discussion of yours on which I've commented. Starting to wonder if you're not seeing replies somehow?
Other discussion: http://garden.org/thread/go/56...

Thanks purple, I have been very busy with these plants and following your advise as well. I got 2 iPots set up just now to propagate 2 pieces of this lucky bamboo. So I have a few more questions. I like to double check everything so that I do it correct the first time hopefully.. I tent to forget a lot and I take notes a lot. I do appericate all of your time !!!! It's really helping me a lot and I just wanna get it right and surly not lose anything if I don't have to. I know it's gonna happen but it's my Least favorite part. So quick question.. one of my Persian shields has grown mold twice now. I just fixed his pot to get more air so that should help. Uh I'm pretty sure it wasn't draining fast enough so now I fixed the problem should I repot him in some good soil ? Will the mold harm it now?? I tried taking it out.

Thanks every for your advise !! I have about 10 things to fix but I plan to get it done today. I planned to be finished my wintering but ha ha little did this newbie know that everything would be so picky . lol which is just fine also because I have all the excuses I need to continue working on my plants. Lol or playing in the dirt is what I like to call it. Alright ladies and gents back to the lucky bamboo wish me luck!!

Ok I'm gonna repropagate these bamboo wannabes, so I'm going to recut about 4 inches maybe 5 inches off and then take 2 of the pcs I cut Into pots I just made for them. It's just simply potting soil and it's damp not soaked. The other 2 pieces I am going to put back into a vase and see if I can roots get out of any of the 4 pcs . Are these methods correct ladies???? Oh and should I cut all the leaves in half ???

Sounds to me like you're doing everything perfectly, Pamela. Why would you cut the leaves in half? They will help keep the plant alive while it makes roots.

Mold in the soil won't generally hurt anything, it's just a bit unsightly. There's mold everywhere and plants deal with it just fine all the time.

Good air circulation takes care of a lot of that but you still have to water the plants enough, so don't worry about the mold. (I sometimes take a little plastic fork (you know, disposable cutlery) and just gently scratch the soil surface to disturb the mold a bit if it's getting ugly. Or you can just lift it off sometimes, wrap in a paper towel and throw, or pitch it out into the garden.

I thought someone had mentioned cutting the leaves in half . I'm happy I have mistaken because I didn't wanna cut his leaves. Thanks for the great advice thanks to everyone today!!

Pamela, I'm so glad you're seeing the messages! Take the action which sounds best for you, after reading what everyone has to say. Sometimes the best thing to do is leave things alone for a bit, and there are many variables that affect any instance of failure or success. It's tricky for everyone to always know "what time" it is. I'm a huge fan of good air movement from what I've seen from my plants. Best vibes & good luck!

I suggested cutting the leaves in half to minimize moisture loss through the leaves while the plant roots.

As Tiffany said, read all the suggestions and then do your own thing.