Background
I first got a couple of umbrella plants over 25 years ago. They grew to quite enormous proportions in the house and had grown over the roof of the lounge and met in the middle!. In 2007 i decided to severely prune them back to get my lounge back. I also decided to take a couple of cuttings to see what would happen. I took a couple of cuttings and put them into a glass of water each and left them on the kitchen window sill. For the next 3 years they very slowly developed being neglected and on a number of occasions drying out completely. Although the top of the cuttings did not develop greatly, they did develop large root systems. In 2010 i potted the cuttings into compost and placed them into water containers and left them to develop. They developed well over the years so this year i decided to take a couple of more cuttings from the original 25 year old plants and try again.
The cuttings were left in water on a bright windowsill for a couple of months until a good healthy root system had started to develop.
This picture shows the cutting out of the water. The roots tend to grow upwards out of water towards the light, not due to the restricted space in the glass forcing them up. When the roots are placed into the compost they will head downwards and outwards seeking water and to anchor the plant in the compost.
This is the second cutting. This had developed only a minimum root system in the same time. There is only one major root on the right but the other roots are starting to form. The cuttings were taken in early autumn and at the time of writing, early December as the development had been fairly slow some plant food was added to help development. This explains the blue tinge to the water.
The cutting with the well developed roots was potted into an 8inch put with good well draining compost. The plant was watered in, fed and left in a bright warm location.
As long as the plant is kept warm and does not suffer chilly draughts it should now develop well over the coming months.
Update : January 2015
The second of the two cuttings taken in the autumn of 2014 had finally developed a sufficient number of roots to allow it to be potted up in compost. The pictures below show how healthy the cutting still is and the rapid development of the additional roots after the first root shoot appeared. This second cutting was potted up approximately six weeks after the first one which was taken from its parent at the same time.
The second of the two cuttings taken in the autumn of 2014 had finally developed a sufficient number of roots to allow it to be potted up in compost. The pictures below show how healthy the cutting still is and the rapid development of the additional roots after the first root shoot appeared. This second cutting was potted up approximately six weeks after the first one which was taken from its parent at the same time.
Update: December 2015
This picture taken in December 2015 shows how the two cuttings taken in October 2014 have developed.
They are now both very well developed and about 4 feet tall. They both put on a bit of a growth burst in the summer but the leaves did not develop so they both have a slightly bare patch.
I think this was because i did not water them enough. I had used different compost to the one i normally used and it did not hold as much water as i expected, but i really should have checked on them more often.
I plan to repot the plants in the early spring as their roots are now bursting out of the pots.
Progress of Cuttings taken in 2007
This picture shows the current state of the cuttings taken a number of years ago that were potted in 2010. I re-potted them in December 2014 as they had become severely root bound in the pot and water container. One of the plants had to have it's plastic pot cut away as the roots had come out all the drainage holes making it impossible to remove the pot without severely damaging the roots of the plant.
As can be seen from the photograph a cutting just 12 inches tall with a few branches has developed into a 4 foot tall beautiful plant. It managed to achieve this despite the neglect it suffered over the years, lack of water and pot bound. Hopefully the new cuttings will develop much faster.
Update December 2015
The pictures above show the progress of the cuttings taken in 2007 and which for 2-3 years were neglected but all the same survived and as can be seen have thrived. Both now have two strong stems and are each just short of 7 feet tall. As the room is now somewhat over crowded i plan to hopefully find them new homes in the near future. In the space of just over a year these plants have grown over 3 feet.