What are rhizomes?

Have you heard of rhizomes? No? Do not worry: in this article I am going to explain what they are, what plants produce them and how you can have new specimens in a much easier way than you can imagine.

Although they can be sold as bulbous plants, they are actually different. Very special and interesting.

What are rhizomes?

Rhizomes are stems that can be either at ground level, or just below ground level. They serve the plants that have them as reservation warehouse, which will help them stay alive during those months in which the environmental conditions are not conducive to continue growing. But, in addition, new shoots come out of them, thus making the plants occupy more space, which will give them more energy.

Rhizomatous plants

Many plants have rhizomes, and many are ornamental. Some examples of them are the following:

• canna indica 
• Convallaria majalis
• Some irises
• cove sp
• Various ferns, such as the Adianthum capillus-veneris
• All species of bamboo

How do they reproduce?

Obtaining a new specimen of a rhizomatous plant is very easy and, above all, fast. In fact, just follow these steps:

1. Dig up the rhizomes in spring.
2. Cut them into pieces with a knife previously disinfected with pharmacy alcohol, so that each piece has a bud, which is where the leaves will come from.
3. Treat them with a broad-spectrum fungicide to prevent fungi from harming them.
4. Plant them now in an individual pot wide enough for them to fit well, with substrate that has good drainage, such as black peat mixed with 50% perlite.
5. Give them a generous watering.
6. Put them in semi-shadow.
7. And wait 🙂.

Typically, in two weeks or even less the new shoots will already have started to emerge. Always keep the substrate slightly damp (but not flooded), and in less than you expect you will have new plants.