Observations of lucky bamboo producing root stock on shoot

[Vertigo]

Welcome to the propagation station, and welcome me to the board. Hey guys, figure as a first post i'll skip over the hey, i'm new introductions and just get right to a post that will hopefully help us all out.

We all know that these things grow, duh, but apparently most of us have never had any luck through propagating them without a 2-3' long piece to hack up and a lot of time to watch most of them rot.

Well, welcome to the office world, where plants of all sorts are forgotten about and most don't make it. This is where our story begins.

I was walking past a persons desk in my office one day and noticed a rather etoliated bunch of lucky bamboo. I was confused at first because these were some of the thinnest lankiest looking pieces i've come across yet, even beating out the .99 cent store variety.

Upon closer inspection I noticed something rather odd at the node of a shoot, and climbing part way onto the shoot. Apparently they turned out to be the start of root formation. I've heard through the grape vine that as another Dracaena these can be air layered for propagation...could this be a natural occuring feat in the midst of a corporate wasteland? I decided to approach this woman and ask her about the care of the plant, assuming that this had something to do with the nodal formations. According to the way she cares for the plant, and the way it's etoliated, it's almost like rooting or layering a cactus which threw me for a loop. The woman never fills it completely with water, the level is always pretty low, and definately below the rocks at all points...she is keeping it drier than most of the world would. I was thinking that this drier period, but with enough water to still barely sustain the life of the plant would increase the chances and rates of root growth. That's 50% of the theory...get the plant to think it needs to form more roots. So far so good, have half a theory...what about the other side of the coin? Half a theory is a start but a quick way for something to yellow up and die off. Now, the etoliation and the root growth seemed like a weird combination. Why would a plant that can't get enough light, and needs to stretch waste energy on root growth? Simple after a few minutes of thought. The plant would stretch over so much to get out from under something that blocked out the necessary amounts of light, to reach the light it would need. This extreme stretching would therefore place too much weight on the shoot, sooner or later bringing it into contact with the ground. The only way most plants deal with this sort of treatment is through extra support and layering themselves over the soil...or simply just putting down new roots to keep it going.

This is only a theory and hasn't been put into practice by myself just as yet, going to try aquiring a few new pieces of stock to test it out on, but at least it's a theory, and something more to work with than most of us can seem to find on the internet. I'd like to hear some feedback on this, some thoughts, anything. Let's uncover these "secrets" of propagating this interesting species of Dracaena.

[cremice]

I'm by no means a plant expert but it has occured to me that it is possible this plant spreads by falling down and growing new stalks. Sugarcane grows new stalks this way. If you cut a shoot and lay it sideways on damp soil, new stalks will grow out of the segment dividers.

I realize they probably aren't related but they look similar in that both resemble bamboo, so it's possible they spread in a similar manner.

[Exhibit69]

I am not sure if this picture will help. But, when i recently left town on an extended trip, i filled My lucky bamboo vase to the top with water. When i returned, my plant had done well, but i noticed new roots growing from a segment divider. Have a look at these pictures. I have removed the top of the plant to try and and propagate it, but the evidence of root formation is clearly visible.