 |

On Site







Off Site

Back-up Brat Forum |
How To Tame Two-Headed Monsters by Jillene Dolister
One day I noticed Gillian had stopped blooming and she looked like her "feathers were ruffled."
On closer inspection, I found that she had developed a double crown. These crowns were the same size and were connected like Siamese twins.
This was a mature plant in a four-inch pot. Why did it suddenly develop two heads? I had no clue, but the only solution was to divide it down the center. I couldn't pluck out one of the crowns without leaving a gaping hole.
|
Note: The plant should not be "freshly" watered but allowed to dry for a few days to make the leaves more pliable. They are not as likely to break while your working with them.
First, make sure it is a double crown and not a large sucker.
Suckers grow at the leaf axis and you will easily see their point of origin between the leaf and the stalk.
Suckers can easily be popped out with a sucker plucker or dull pencil and planted.
|
To make the division easier there are two things that can be done.
First, remove the lower leaves. This allows a more accurate identification of the two crowns.
Second, slicing off the root ball makes makes it easier to handle when your making your dividing cut.
|
Gently untangle the leaves to identify the dividing line of the two crowns.
With that done, carefully slice down the center using a very sharp knife.
This produces two separated crowns.
|
From here on they are given the same treatment as any crown. Scrape off the outer brown layer on the stalk, then set it aside to give it a few minutes to "heal" and prepare the two pots.
Some believe that removing the scaling allows the plant to develop roots faster. Dusting the stalks with a rooting hormone is optional.
|
Be sure to label each pot with the name, the fact that these were crowns, and the date.
Fill the pots with your regular potting mix, make a hole in each pot with your finger and insert the crowns into their pots.
At this point they should be watered lightly and domed or bagged until new growth appears.
|
There will be many leaves left over and although it never hurts to put a leaf or two down for insurance, it probably won't be necessary. This procedure works well on two-headed monsters.
So the next time your collection is invaded with a two-headed monster, remember the steps used in order to exorcise it.
- Identify it
- Find the dividing line
- Slice it into two crowns
- Pot it and dome it
When it was all over, the monster had been exorcised and I had two well behaved plants of Gillian sitting on my shelf.
And the only difficult part was throwing all those leftover leaves away!!
|
|
|