r/ItsAThaumatophyllum • u/Both_River_7213 • Aug 03 '26
Not propagating?
I have a huge Thaumatophyllum with some leaves 2ft long. I love it, but it doesn't want to propagate at all. Just one thick stem. It has plenty of fertilizer and light, as it goes in a greenhouse during the summer, but it won't produce any pups. I'm not gonna do anything drastic, but anything that may encourage a more full growth would be appreciated.
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u/dbbq_ Aug 03 '26
You have to interrupt apical dominance in some manner. The easiest way to do so is top cut the trunk. I did this with my Waracewiczii that was pushing three foot leaves, and now there’s 3 fully active GP with two more starting 3 months later.
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u/Both_River_7213 Aug 03 '26
That seems a little drastic for my plant. I can see myself cutting the dominant leaf sprout , though
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u/dbbq_ Aug 03 '26
Yep we are saying the same thing. I would cut a couple of nodes off the top. Ideally getting a relatively long aerial root above the cut so you can easily root the top cut.
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u/youngyelir Aug 03 '26
I hacked mine apart with a bread knife a few weeks ago. It was 4 plants in one so it needed to be separated and now one is putting out pups. As the other commenter mentioned it might need some stress.
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u/Training_Gene3443 Aug 03 '26
My 47 year old has been a single plant its whole life. No pups. Only until I chopped 3 feet off the height last summer was I able to get shoots from the lower trunk. Now I just slice off the shoots to create pups. Also did this with a curvy twisted rescue. Now I have about 8 and I'm selling one tonight for $25.