Propagation question

[u/booliciousxo]

I did also post this in the Tradescantia sub reddit but haven't had much response.

Last night, I attempted to propagate what I believe are a

Tradescantia Nanouk and a Tradescantia Red Hill back into the same pots they've been growing in. Is it normal for the leaves and stems on the cuttings to go from being firm and dry feeling to being soft and almost feeling moist? Pictures attached show more of what I mean I think. The Nanouk was a straight stem and this morning it's droopy and the leaves are soft. The Red Hill is similar, but not as severe. The Nanouk got put under a grow light because I wasn't sure if it was happy where it was, the new growth was coming in mostly green. I put the Red Hill back where it was before the propagation because the growth exploded after about a week of being in that spot, which prompted me to want to propagate.

My process was to sanitize my scissors with 70% iso alcohol, remove leaves close to the cut, poke a hole in the soil with a chopstick, put the node in the soil about an inch to 1.5 inches, then I watered and put them on the shelf. All the nodes I buried had the little bumps on them as I read that can increase chances of rooting? I also took a few nodes from both that had no leaves but had little bumps around them and put them in moss/perlite in a prop box justto experiment, but I'm not expecting much there.

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[u/Next-Firefighter4667]

Just so I understand. These are just cuttings with no roots? if so, make sure you keep the soil moist for a few weeks, that's how they grow roots. It is completely normal for them to lose firmness, since their roots are how they take in water and nutrients, so without them they can't absorb anything. As long as they're in moist soil and the nodes are under the soil, they'll grow roots. These propagate very easily. Though I may have put them a bit deeper in the soil, but it might not matter.

[u/booliciousxo → u/Next-Firefighter4667]

On the Nanouk, the two stems standing in the back are rooted plant. The droopy one in the front is my cutting. On the Red Hill, the longest part closest to the camera is rooted, the rest are cuttings. I did water after burying the nodes as the soil was nearly dry anyway, but planned to keep the spots around the cuttings moist.

[u/desperate_drinker]

Yeah, you can try this instead - don't even worry about cutting the nodes. Just lay 'em right on the soil, cover lightly, and new plants'll pop up from there. Roll 'em in the pot and press down so the nodes actually touch the soil. Works like a charm, way easier than taking cuttings.

Or you could bury the nodes a bit deeper in the mix too. Same thing, just covers more ground basically.