EasyBloom Forum

My grandson son broke off some limbs when he was bringing it in. Is there a way to propagate a Magilla.

Hey Barbara...I'm sorry to hear about your Perilla losing some limbs. Luckily, many plants can be easily propagated vegetatively (that just means that they can reproduce without having to resort to producing seeds). Perilla isn't all that different too (there is one thing about Perilla that is different, but I'll explain that later). You can make what are called herbaceous, or softwood, cuttings. This time of year probably isn't the best to be making such cuttings, but if you have a fairly sunny spot indoors that is protected from cold it might be perfect for this. You will also want to get some rooting compound for this. Most garden centers will have rooting compound. I usually go for the powdered compounds. They're fairly easy to use.

Take the broken branches and cut the stems so that you have the 2 top leaves still on the stem. Note: if their are flowers on the stem, you should move down the stem until you get to a part of the plant that does not have any flowers. The flowers are really small too. The reason why you would do this is because you want stems that are going to produce more stems. A stem that produces flowers will basically stop growing. Anywho, as soon as you make that cutting, dip the bottom part of the freshly cut stem into the rooting compound. Then place the stem into some pre-moistened, airy soil. I generally will make an indentation in the soil with my pinky finger so that when I place the stem into the soil as little of the rooting compound rubs off as possible. I would try to repeat this several times. Not all stems will produce new roots, so it's best to have several repetitions.

You will want to place your stems in a spot that gets some decent sun (never full sun), is warm and is fairly humid. The reason why you want high humidity is because you have stems and leaves that are really good at sucking water from the roots, but no roots to provide that water. If the humidity is high, the rate of water moving through the stems and leaves will be very low and will give your stems a better chance to catch up with the root formation. Unfortunately, high humidity is also a problem. Warm and humid climates are great for fungal spore germination. (also another good reason to have several cuttings...some may succumb to fungal disease) To increase the humidity, you can simply place the stems in a plastic ziplock bag on your window sill. This means the pot would have to be fairly small. It's also important to NOT close the ziplock bag. Your plants will want to breathe. Pour about 1 inch of water at the bottom of the bag. This will create a little microclimate of high humidity which is perfect for rooting cuttings.

The one last thing that I do want to point out is this...Perilla are annual plants. This means that your Perilla was going to die off anyway. Annual plants will live for only 1 growing season. (This is a general statement...there are ways to prolong the life of an annual, but it requires a good amount of work to keep them going.) Perilla are mostly propagated by seed in spring. If I were you, I would probably let the Perilla go through it's natural course, but be sure to pick up some seeds for next spring.

I hope this information was helpful. Be sure to contact me if you have any other questions. Happy Gardening!!!! Robby