Make sure to let me know if you have any questions!

Just wanted to interject that on the occasions that I have cleaned my chonks and soaked them for about 30 min in a 25% hydrogen peroxide solution, I've had much greater success with those plants re-rooting/re-sprouting new growth, instead of just continuing to rot away. I think it really is worth it and it sure doesn't hurt anything! I normally just take a nail brush that I use exclusively for this purpose, and gently scrub away as much of the dead tissue as I can, being careful to look out for emerging roots and the growing eyes. Occasionally I will use a small scraping tool to get in the crevices...

After following your guidance, I finally finally got my Choco Red to grow 😅, thank you so much!!!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

10 ай бұрын

Wonderful!

As a brand new plant mom, el Choc is my dream wish list plant. But I won't dare for at least another 2 years when I knw more

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Totally understandable but I think you’re selling yourself short. They are very manageable plants. The trick is to find one for a good price. If you ever get a chance to go to an Ecuagenera pop up, a lot of times they have big ones there for decent prices and you can pick the one you want. Worst case scenario, put it in a prop box and leave it there while you figure out what to do with it, haha!

Thank you for the detailed break down! I've learned so much from this channel, especially about roots. An El Choco has been on my wishlist for a while. Hopefully when you launch your shop I can get one from you!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

I’m so glad you found it helpful! I will definitely have some chocos so hopefully I’ll know more about when that can start soon! I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated! Thank you so much for your support, it really means a lot to me 😘😘

Absolutely love real gardening advice.

Loved this video and the Chocos! The details were very clear and will make it much easier for others to do the same. Thank you!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

No problem! Thanks for watching!

I just received a choco in the mail so I’ve watched this video twice already. Living for your knowledge

This was so much fun to watch I watched it twice! Love it!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Wow! Thank you so much!

Really nice and informative video. The different updates were really helpful!

I love this !! Thank you!

Want an el choco badly🤩😍😍😍😍

Found this video and so glad I imported an el choco a few weeks back was struggling most of the roots was bad a seen this video and was so helpful all of yours look amazing🌱❤️

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

That’s great! I’m so glad it was helpful!

Yes, this is so true. Oh my God your video is a godsend! I have had countless plants imported, and I had these plants imported from the same state even! I live in Florida, and these plants came from Florida and they were only in the mail like three days and the Verrucosums I received the roots are fine but the Chocos oh no I had to cut off every single root!

I am so happy!!! Watching your videos and another yt channel has made me fall in love with El Choco Red. I just ordered my 1st one. I'm watching everything I can right now so I can make sure not to lose my favorite baby. Any tips for young plants? I really can not afford to kill it 😂

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Lots and lots of humidity and indirect light! Also give it filtered water. Chocos are pretty resilient and Once they start growing leaves, I haven’t lost any. Good luck!

Thank you SO much for this video. I recently received my first choco import from Ecuagenera a few weeks ago. Ive had it sitting in water in a large plastic tub for a few weeks and so far it doesnt have any new roots yet. I added a little peroxide and a drop of superthrive to the water, fingers crossed it makes it. It has a new leaf coming in but the 1 open leaf thats currently on it is turning yellow. Im bummed but i had a feeling that was going to happen since pretty much all the roots were rotted when i opened the package. I really enjoy your videos and im glad i found your channel 🤗

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! I’m crossing my fingers for you!

@Klayhamn

Жыл бұрын

can you please update what ended up happening?

@AllisonTaitano

Жыл бұрын

@@Klayhamn I kept it in the humidity tent, it ended up loosing the 1 leaf it had and it still has a new growth point. Its been sitting in water for 6 months now and STILL doesnt have any root growth. Its not dying, but its not growing either. Its so odd. The stem isnt squishy or rotting and the new growth point is still green. Ive tried sticking a pothos cutting in with it and ive tried rooting hormone powder. Hasn't done anything lol.

@Klayhamn

Жыл бұрын

@@AllisonTaitano oh no that sounds so frustrating

this was so helpful. my imported choco is not doing so great so i'm going to chop up the chonk and start propagating!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

I wouldn’t cut it into too many pieces. I tried that one time and they allllllll rotted. I’ve had best success with just separating the chunk from the plant in one spot. Good luck!

This is a super good video as I struggle with propagating and now almost fearful of it. You explain and show how successful it can be...thank you so much. I had a question about continuing fertilization and I appreciated your response to Kristine regarding changing out the water while water propagating it. Makes a lot of sense. However, what if anything do you add to the water that you use to hydrate the sphagnum moss? Do you just add something (if anything) once at the beginning or do you add either a fertilizer or vitamins (eg: liquid dirt) during the time its in moss? Thanks again for the brilliant video.

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Ron! I tend to treat my sphagnum moss like semi hydro, so I provide nutrients at half strength each time I water. If you use a container with drainage holes, you can just bottom water the moss with your nutrient water when the moss on top dries out. I’ve been using liquidirt, superthrive and half strength MSU orchid fertilizer as my nutrient solution. Hope that helps!

Woops.... even if beautiful choco red. Please answer! Thanks!

Just unpacked a verrucosum Amazon sunset from ecuagenera. Gonna try out your tips

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Moss and high humidity is a great strategy for verrucosum! I’ve ask water propagated them I. Lower humidity so either way you *should* have a good chance for good results!

Question: when growing chocks under lights, does one need shade them? I ASSUME not,but... ???? Thanks.

Perfect timing! I just got a choco imported and am in the process of rerooting & rehabbing. If I’m correct you left the ones in water rooting in a mixture of water+peroxide+superthrive? I wasn’t sure if leaving it in the peroxide would be ok or not

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, that’s right! The hydrogen peroxide helps oxygenate the water. It acts the sort of the same way as using a bubbler. It’s fine to leave it because you don’t need very much. The maximum you should ever use is one tablespoon per cup for a plant that your cleaning root rot off of, but I used way less than that. I probably had 4 or 5 cups of water in that vase and I probably used less than a tablespoon total. Good luck!

How often do you change the water when you propagate in water? Do you leave the peroxide in the water for like an hour, or do you leave it?

I'd love to get some plants from you when you have some available

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Should be coming up soon! Lots of things keep happening but still planning to offer some for sale

Well what are the odds that I find this video after placing an order with Ecuagenera a mere hour ago!! Super helpful tips because I'm trying to prepare for when my babies arrive. Would you say prefer the LECA versus the Moss method to rehab them? Also, once they've established their root system, what medium do you like transferring them to? Thank you so much again for this awesome video 💚

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Well that worked out! The moss works best if you’re able to give them super high humidity in something like a grow tent or a greenhouse. If you don’t have a way to provide that, then the water propagation definitely works. Once there are a few inches of roots, I add the Leca and you can either just leave them in LECA or move them to soil or pon or whatever you want really. I have some in my tree fern soil, Leca, moss, they all do ok but it takes a really long time for them to start pushing big leaves again if they lose all their roots. Hope that’s helpful!

Plants!

I've heard horror stories about this plant and that's why I haven't gotten one yet but now, idk... I'm thinking I might try 😉

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

They’ve never been cheaper so there’s no time like the present

Hi, how to enrich the red color of El Choco Red? Thanks, Danny

Very informative! How do you keep your grow tent warm for the winter

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Eva! My grow tent is in my bedroom so I don’t really worry about it getting too cold since it’s in a part of the house that we keep fairly warm. For the greenhouse… im not so sure yet. I live in San Diego so it doesn’t get very cold here anyway and I have a big anthurium that lives outside in my porch that does pretty well. Still researching greenhouse heating options but very scared of potential fire hazards.

@evali7212

2 жыл бұрын

@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet a heat mat might help, I am using it in my cabinet and noticed significant improvement

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

@@evali7212 hi Eva! Thanks for the suggestion, I have a few but I don’t think I’d want to use them in the outdoor greenhouse because I spray it down every few days. I like using my heat mat on my shelf with propagations though! They help a lot!

Please help ! I was told the Choco Red is a spider mite magnet. (true?). I have the plantin a large glass cloche, hoping that will keep the humidity good for the plant and keep my other plants from being infested by spider mites! Am wondering how worried I need be . I do not want to a hazardous x e

Very interesting video! I wanted to ask: I have a big El choco red. The only way to propagate it is to cut the lower part of the plant (the one under soil, for instance) and make it root? It is a tricky plant to divide 😅

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

No, you can take top cuttings too, they’re just really really hard to root that way. I’ve only done it a few times and there’s a super high failure rate. I highly recommend airlayering if you’re trying to take a top cut.

Thank you i just got mine choco red and verrucosum and there leaves look like the are drunk lol i want to chop them off

Can you chop the chonk in half if there are 2 growth points on it?

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Hi! So I have found that I get better results leaving the chunk in one piece and then cutting it back further if multiple growth points activate and produce leaves. I used to cut them into multiple pieces but would oftentimes get more rot and the pieces closer to the bottom were much less likely to activate. A larger chunk will help your baby plant grow larger, faster as well. Just my experience!

Hey plant friend! I got a Choco from Ecuagenera back in October and was able to successfully root it in sphag. Since the import she has put out 2 new leaves, but my issue is that both of those leaves seem to have failed to fully harden off and both have a rather yellow-ish hue to them without ever really getting any darker than they were after first emerging from their cataphylls. Do you know why this could be? Possibly a nutrient deficiency? I wish I could include a picture for you somehow but I don't have any other social media to contact you through.

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

If they are just in sphag and you’re only giving them tap water then to me that sounds like a nutrient deficiency. Try adding some half strength fertilizer to your water and see if there is improvement with the next leaf. The other thing could be if they are too close to the light source. Hope that helps!

Hey! Do they grow across the ground or do they like to vine upwards? Thanks!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Upwards! I have mine on a pole now ❤️

@jackwhitetron

2 жыл бұрын

@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet thanks a ton!

First, I’m in love with those Chocos soo pretty! How long did you leave the ones with leaves in water? And I gave in and made my first import order, have a pastazanam & mamei coming, would you do the same acclimation/rehab for all philodendron imports? Oh also… do you empty the water and and add more hydrogen peroxide/ super thrive while they’re propagating in water ? Or just add more water as needed

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Kristine! Chocos are one of my all time favorites too! I leave the ones with leaves in water until they have roots usually, I just got sick of looking at them on my dresser because it was way to cluttered with plants so I put them in the tent so that they would be out of sight. Once they have water roots, I just fill up their vessel with Leca to the water line and that helps them root a lot more and a lot faster. You don’t have to do that though, you can put straight in soil once the plant has multiple roots that are a few inches long. You can definitely put any philodendron import in damp sphag and put it in a high humidity environment like a grow tent/ greenhouse/ tote, etc. with good light and they will mostly do really well. I like to leave them in water for 24-48 hours because it helps make it really clear which roots are rotted and which are viable. If you don’t have a high humidity spot for them, you can totally leave them in water until you see new roots forming… i would change the water after a day or two because all of the phyto chemicals mixing together with rot bacteria gets really nasty. Once you have them rehydrated in clean water with hydrogen peroxide and the superthrive, I would change it out completely once per week because sometimes a nasty gel would form. I would rinse that off. Some philodendron are more delicate than others and if they arrive in really rough shape, you’re probably best off to put them in moss in high humidity, but for the most part, water propping like this usually works eventually. I don’t like to put chunks under water though so if you have a big one you don’t want to cut, I would feel better about putting in moss. I have a vlog coming out soon where I deal with my Ecuagenera pop up plants and show how I set them up so keep an eye out for that too! Best of luck, I hope you’re plants thrive!

@kristinesmith3623

2 жыл бұрын

@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet awesome! Thank you so much for the information. I’m semi new to house plants, and don’t know plant people, but fell hard lol. I love reading all about the plants and finding all the information I can. There’s just so much it’s hard to figure out the right thing for my situation. Thank you so much! I do have a little ikea greenhouse set up and they will be going in there. I also have spag moss that I was planning on using, but the water way just seemed interesting. I’ll definitely re-hydrate them first with that and then move them into moss and greenhouse! Thank you again!! Love the channel and your plants :)

@kristinesmith3623

2 жыл бұрын

@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet that where my plants are coming from…..does ordering plants for pickup from the pop ups give you a better chance of having a healthier plant? Or is it about the same? I have mine being delivered, but have been wondering about that if I decide to order more at some point

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

@@kristinesmith3623 omg, no, thank YOU so much for the nice comment! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the channel. I totally get how frustrating it can be to not know plant people but I’ve actually met a bunch of local plant nerds through online groups! You never know, future plant friends could be hiding down the street 😂. For the chocos, ikea greenhouse is great. I find moss works really well if you have a high humidity spot and especially if they have viable roots left after shipping or no leaves. The water method works really well in low humidity. Good luck, I hope to see updates! Feel free to DM me on IG if you have questions!

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

@@kristinesmith3623 so the benefit of picking them up at a pop up is just not having to pay shipping. I picked up a big order in Santa Ana and they were about the same as getting them delivered. The real benefit of going g to a pop up is the plants for sale there. They ALWAYS have something amazing, and things tend to be huge and in better condition than having them delivered to your house, but you HAVE to get there early. Like be first in line if you can. It’s worth it. Plus it’s always fun to meet other plant people. Idk where you’re located, but I’m planning on going to the Calabasas one in December so if you make to that one, be sure to say “Hi”!

Would you give an update on these please?

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

Жыл бұрын

I don’t have most of them anymore

I've had mine for about 7 months. It came in moss. I switched it to soil. I just transplanted it into a bigger pot but noticed the roots were very small. It finally just popped a new leaf since I got it but it's TINY and it's half unfurled. Almost seems stuck. Now one of the big leaves is hanging really low. Just seems sad. Not sure what to do Hope that makes sense

@ambitchinbear9260

11 ай бұрын

Probably need a smaller pot since the roots aren't very big

@MountainMomma11

11 ай бұрын

@ambitchinbear9260 I actually did the same process she did in this video right after watching, and im proud to say I now have 2 beautiful & healthy thriving el chocos. One half is in spag and has already popped 2 new leaves, the other in water & 3 new leaves. All the original leaves did die after I chopped it, but it's so much happier now 🩷

I've always been told that mixing hydrogen peroxide and superthrive renders the superthrive useless so I true to soak separately. What are your thoughts? Am I just wasting my time lolll

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

4 ай бұрын

I have no idea but a lot of people say that superthrive is useless regardless so who the heck knows 🤣

I don’t understand how you did this. I did exactly the same thing. Mine had barely any roots at all, and I cut off all the dead roots, and then I put them in water with just a tiny/Hydrogen peroxide, and all of mine are extremely wilted and it’s been like almost a month and they have not perked up but you’res sitting in water look very happy.

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

Жыл бұрын

Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that! Only things I can think of are A) the water might not be high enough to get to the newest nodes. B) it’s winter so it’s a light and temperature thing. I did this over the summer so maybe that’s why? If you’re not seeing rooting Chrystals and the plants are wilted, I would probably transfer to a prop box at this point. I’m very sorry to hear it didn’t work for you.

For some reason my closed captioning changed “plant friends” to “bland friends” and im crying 😂 Have you seen unplantparenthoods chonk cleaning and do you have any opinions on it? I tried it on a struggling Clarinervium that lost all its roots and all but 1 leaf after shipping and it popped out a root really fast afterwards 👁〰️👁

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

Hi! No, I haven’t seen that one but I’d definitely like to see it! I’m sure she did a great job. These chunks were pretty healthy and just needed rot removed but I did recently clean a half rotted anthurium splendidum chunk… I wonder if we used similar methods. I should say “hello bland friends” at the beginning of the videos from now on 🤣.

Im using headphones watching this, is it just me that I’m not hearing anything in the right side audio??

@PlantFriendDownTheStreet

2 жыл бұрын

It’s possible, I’ve been on a long saga trying to fix the audio.