How to bring this Cissus Tuberosa back to life

[milnea]

Hey there,

Glad to be aboard the forum. I have lots of posts I’d like to do, but, one at a time.

Over the last ten weeks I've purchased a small collection of succulents, because I have in the past enjoyed planted aquaria and all of that hobbies intricate requirements, and as living decorations for my cramped apartment as it is besieged by yet another fiercely cold, sunless winter in NYC.

Half of them I've purchased locally, the other half from aridlandswholesale.com in Arizona (opinions?).

All plants are alive. Though none have shown signs of growth.

The Cissus Tuberosa I got from Aridlands, which I paid the most for and from photographs I think I'll be most fond of, is just barely hanging in there and I’m afraid about to die.

It arrived with all vegetative growth clipped, but sprouted tiny young leaves. I repotted into 75/25 potting soil/perlite and a 10" pot, but the soil remained essentially waterlogged, even two weeks later (metal pot). At that time, the (very) small green leaflet shriveled and I assume died though interestingly the stalk/vine/thingy, did not.

Because of these sprouts, I don’t think the specimen was dormant.

I repotted in the same pot (with the cauldex potted down to wherever it had been before, and checked for root rot, found none) with a thick bed of Growstone brand "hydrostones," and a 15/85 mix of soil to perlite. I don’t know what these “hydrostones” are used for, but a bag of them is light and easy to carry. Think they are an artificial highly porous rock.

I have seen no change in the attached photographs since then.

Advice much appreciated!


Summary:

Soil: 15/85 soil/perlite (that is, 85% perlite)
Light: East facing window with sheer blind + six hours 3’ underneath 60W LED grow light, 8AM-2PM (I'm handy with electronics so I modified the light and replaced 25 red LEDs with 6500K LEDs. Being in the room with the light before this modification was unbearably psychedelic, and from the street on a cloudy day it looked like I was growing... something else.)
Water: Watered to complete saturation upon initial repotting, 4 weeks ago. Repotted two weeks later into soil above. Have not watered since.
Temperature: Fluctuates from 70F to 74F

dead.jpg (58.08 KiB) Viewed 3022 times

fockea_adula.jpg (77.92 KiB) Viewed 3022 times

tuber.jpg (85.09 KiB) Viewed 3022 times

[Nic]

That usually happens when a plant tries to put on new growth but doesn't have enough water to sustain it, the plant is acclimated to Arizona, so will grow different then in New York. I would let it be till it got warmer and you could put it outside. The plant should be fine on the water stored in the base/tuber (hence the name tuberosa) until spring.

[esp_imaging]

It looks fine to me - like it's had a minor temporary setback, but nothing life-threatening.
Your temperatures are consistent with growth, so you need to gauge how often to water. Hopefully your light levels and duration are sufficient.
Otherwise, if you have the option, allowing it to go cooler and become dormant would work too for the next month or 2.

Pots without drainage holes aren't ideal, they lend themselves to often-fatal waterlogging.

[milnea]

Thank you for the replies!

Seemingly overnight (in reality probably more like 48 hours) it has sprouted a leaflet from one of the stems above the caudex, but below the dead leaflet I pointed out. It's actually visible in one of the pictures above, but was so small at that time (I used a macro lens) that I did not notice it, even when it was in front of my face while editing the picture.

So, if it was dormant, it's not anymore. I'll water sparingly every week or so until april/may, then water fully.

Oh, and I drilled holes in the bottom of the pot, so it should be draining.

[Ohioman]

I just got one of these last year. My research turned up that, while the tubers are perennial, the vines are annual. My plant lost its vines last fall, but the tubers remained firm, so I stopped watering it all winter. I resumed watering last month and new vines are sprouting and growing vigorously. I cut the vine back last summer to make it branch, leaving me with a short piece of stem with about four leaves. I cut the bottom leaf off and put the rest into a small jar of water. The cutting rooted, and after potting up formed an above ground tuber before fall. When the vine died in the fall, the tuber remained firm and is now showing a new vine. I rate this plant as easy to propagate and share. It is closely related to the grape vine and the foliage looks like a small grape leaf. It sends out clinging tendrils, so it might be a good idea to give it a stake or trellis to climb on. from the rate of growth mine is showing, it might be possible to train it on strings to frame a south window. When the leaves turn yellow in the fall, cut the vines back to just above the tuber.