Moses' haircut

Moses. Not yet 2.5 years old, and your growth has amazed me.

Now it's time for your haircut.

As I began chopping off the stalks close to the base, I noticed that a couple had grown extra roots which were clinging on. This is because Moses is a trailing plant that naturally grows across a forest floor, growing new roots along its stems to attach it to the ground.

Here he is after the chop!

And here are the stalks all laid out!

There were 7 short offshoots (growing from the big stalks).

(4 of these I cut off with a bit of the main stalk, so it potentially has more spots to grow roots out from, though some (like above) had already started growing nodules/roots!

Then there were 8 spindly stalks. I trimmed these and removed the lower leaves.

Most already had little roots beginning to grow from them.

Finally there were 9 thicker long stems. I had to be really brutal in cutting these guys back and stripping off many leaves...

Sneaky addition - some cuttings from the stems that I thought I'd keep to test how they grow from under the soil.

And here's the mass of leaves and stalks that were left over!

I feel like I'm on a cooking show (and I don't even have the cinnamon out yet!)

 Fashionably dusting all the leaves with my soft dust glove - I gently caressed each and every leaf.

Now... onto the planting!

First 4 done!

After potting I watered all of them (without feed, since the fresh soil should provide enough nutrients for the time being).

And now, for Moses himself...

Taken out of his pot I believe he looks a little root-bound!

I gently massaged the root ball to try and separate it out and dust of the old soil... but it was harder than I expected!

I ended up breaking quite a few of the roots, but this was the final result.

And here's Moses planted back in his original home (looking a little sad with his severe haircut).

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for...

Moses' family! In order, we have:

Jethro (the priest) - houseplant soil in 5" pot with 2x stubby stalks and 2x spindly stalks.

Joshua (Moses' assistant and later successor) - cactus/succulent soil in 5" pot with 3x stubby stalks and 2x spindly stalks.

 Shiphrah and Puah (two midwives who refused to kill babies) - houseplant and cactus soil (respectively) in 4" pot with 1x stubby stalk, 2x spindly stalks and 1x buried thin cutting.

Miriam (Moses' Hebrew sister) and Aaron (Moses' Hebrew brother) - houseplant and cactus soil respectively in 4" pot with 1x thick stem and 1x buried thin cutting.

Zipporah (Moses' wife) - houseplant soil in 5" pot with 3x thick stems and 1x buried thick cutting.

Rameses (Moses' step-brother and pharoah) - cactus soil in 5" pot with 4x thick stems and 1x buried thick cutting.

Since I popped them straight into soil, I do hope the roots grow. I imagine that in the first week there may be signs of stress, however maybe after a month I'll see signs of new growth??

Also it'll be interesting to see:

* If there's any difference between houseplant and cactus soil (on both the watering schedule and overall health/ growth).

* How the buried stalks do, and how long till new shoots emerge from the soil.

* How sunlight affects them - I could purposely put some in brighter areas or in places of occasional direct light, to compare with others and see which thrive.

Exciting times!