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Still alive?

My D. Binati Multifidia 'Extrema' (did I actually write that correctly) arrived bareroot a week or two ago and has been living happily in his new home ever since.  I've got few new vibrant neon green leaves with plenty of dew springing up and unravelling and he looks awesome in the morning sunlight.

However, all of the leaves that were on the planet when it was planted are bone dry.  They are a darker/sickly green color, some blackenned, and look like a tangled mess.  My question is if these leaves are still alive and contributing anything to the plant.  If they aren't, I'd like to cut them as they're interfering with new growth and just plain don't look very good.  Anyone know?

I've included a few pictures below.  Forgive the blurriness; I'm still learning how to focus on a wider depth of field.


You can see the nice new growth near the bottom right of this picture.  The upper part is every bit as blackenned as the picture makes it look.
ext_1.jpg



The new growth is dead center here.  The rest of the leaves surrounding it are the ones I'm referring to.
ext_2.jpg



ext_3.jpg



ext_4.jpg



Thanks!
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The completely black ones are dead and i would probably cut them off. The plants looks like its adjusting well to your new conditions as it is showing new growth.
The dying leaves are common as a result of stress from barerooting and shipping.
Peter.
 
Thanks. I figured that was the cause and haven't been too worried since it's growing very quickly. Four more balls of leaves are on their way to unfurling.
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I'll cut the black one, but what about the sickly looking brown/green leaves? Any thoughts on those? Are they still photosynthesizing? Will cutting them hurt he plant?
 
As Peter said, it is adjusting to shipping shock. Snip the black / brown. Green is still photsynthesizing. D. binata is one of the most hardy CP's out there and very difficult to kill.
 
Thats typical shipping shock there. A few of the leaves had already lost their dew even before I sent it to you.

Clip off the ones that have no dew. If you have some that have no dew, but are still red and healthy looking, clip them off, cut them into segments and make new babies from them. I usually cut them into about 2 inch segments (stem and all) and then put them into a mason (canning) jar filled with pure water and then set the jar under the fluorsecent lights. In a couple weeks you will start to see the buds growing out from all over the segments. If you start them now, by last frost you should have many plants ready to be moved outside to enjoy the spring/summer.

Good luck
Steve
 
Steve: I have both straight up D. binata and a plant started from seed that is a D. Multifida Extrema X Marston Dragon. While my D. binata leaf attempts have been easy and quick, no matter what I do with them (water, sealed container...), the ME X MD either fails to sprout, under the same experimental conditions, or takes an incredibly long time. Currently I have their leaves in a pipette container and they have been in there for 4 weeks. They are still dew-laden, which is scary, and just this past week, one leaf finally sprouted. Any theories as to why the cultivar is so relatively difficult?
 
I have never tried to take cuttings from my Marston Dragon so I can't really offer any ideas why you are having problems. All of my other binata forms reproduce quite readily from leaf cuttings using the method I described above.

Now you have me curious.. I will have to go out and take a cutting and see if it works.
 
At this point it's useless for me to chime in, but I will anyways: Cutting off dead leaves is always a smart thing to do. Not only does it make your plant look better but it discourages the development of fungi and mold.

Nice plant, by the way. Seems like it'll grow really well for you.
 
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