Some species of primulas may be propagated from leaves, particularly those in the Petiolares Section including P. bracteosa, P. whitei, P. bhutanica, and P. aureata. I have tried this technique on P. moupinensis and found it easy to do.

 First a leaf is removed from the mother plant by tugging downward - not by cutting it away. Examine the end of the leaf for a small bud which will form into the new plant. Dip the end in rooting hormone, insert the leaf stalk into moist media, like perlite or sand in a plastic pot or propagator. To keep the humidity high, a plastic bag was loosely put on top of the pot I used. The pot was placed on a cool windowsill in indirect light.

Within two weeks, a new plant started to grow. It takes longer for new roots to form, so leave the plant until it has several leaves and is well established before potting it up. Leaves may be taken in Spring or Fall. Mine was removed in Fall and you can see that the leaf wasn't in perfect health, yet it still formed a new plant.

You may also try this with Petiolares hybrids like Tantallon, Netta Dennis and Tinney's Moonlight. If you are cleaning your plants of old leaves in the Spring or preparing a plant for show, try this technique with the old leaves rather than just discarding them.

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