Cuttings from a leafless stem
Taking cuttings from leafless stems isn't something I do as a rule but I find it useful sometimes when that is the only thing available. If a hoya is really tiny and has lost all the leaves it can be a way of trying to make more cuttings. Or if it is a hoya that has only made a stalk and then refuses to grow further. For this reason it's quite a good idea to practise on hoyas that grow well and it doesn't matter if you loose the the cuttings. Practise makes perfect they say.
When taking cuttings from stems I always make two node cuttings. I cut them just below the lower node, underneath any aerial roots if there are any and just above the top node. This usually means that they will grow roots at the bottom node and start growing a stem at the top node. For some reason the new stem usually starts growing very thin. I plant the stem cutting when I think it has enough roots and when the new stem has grown several new nodes I try to take a new normal cutting.
The cuttings in the pictures are from a Hoya campanulata that had lost almost all it's leaves because I had not watered it enough. I had already tried to take two leaf cuttings that rooted well but hasn't grown since then. I took four stem cuttings and one of them rotted very soon but other three looked OK and started growing roots. As you can see only one of them has grown a stem. I didn't realise at the time I took the cuttings but all of the stem cuttings have actuallyh got three nodes as you can see on the picture on top to the right. I've cut one of the down to two nodes to see if that can trigger growth of a new stem.
On the bottom picture in the middle you can see a tiny stem growing from the bottom node marked with a faint green ring. This cutting has actually got four nodes and there are tiny green dots on the second node as well. They may dry up now when they are transferred to a dryer medium but as you can see I've put them in a bag to keep the humidity up.
