"Spider" wrote in message
...
Well, I said I'd report back, so here I am.

The strelitzia was huge with three large mature growths sprouting from it.
The many flower heads had been removed. I removed the stems and some
other dead woody growth. I soaked the plant in order to get it out of its
pot, but still needed help.

The exposed root mass was, as urglers promised, tangled beyond belief.
Around the base of the pot, the roots ceased to tangle with each other and
merely encircled the pot. Some were rotten (and stank to heaven!) thanks
to the heavy-handed watering of my half-brother, and these I removed.
That was the easy bit. I then used a saw to cut away one of the mature
growths but, before I had cut through it, there was an ominous cracking
noise and that section of plant keeled over under its own weight and
snapped off without any roots :~(. Obviously, I wasn't going to be able
to use the saw.

My father (whose plant it is) suggested reinforcements and a different
weapon. I engaged the help of RG and daddy's axe. I bravely allowed RG
to wield the axe, whilst I parted the remaining two sections of plant. RG
hacked (surprisingly accurately!) down the middle of the plant for several
axe blows. The crown of the plant parted slightly. It took many more
energetic blows before it finally fell in two. I checked: I still had 8
fingers, 2 thumbs. At this point, RG took a couple of photographs on his
phone camera, which I shall ask him to add to this thread.

I potted up all three plant sections, even the one without roots, just to
see if it would die or sprout roots in time. I also decided to
experiment. At soil level, there was what appeared to be a possible growth
'eye' with four strong roots deep in the soil. I cut away the eye with
some of the root and potted it up. I also took another root cutting from
deeper in the pot and set it in compost as one would for a poppy root
cutting. Neither of these two experiments may work, but it was worth the
time it took to pot them up to explore the possibilities.

The plants are all in Yorkshire, so I will not be able to care for them
myself. I will visit them periodically and ask for reports in the
meantime. Naturally, I will let you know how they progress. If anyone
here has any aftercare advice, I will be pleased to receive it. The three
big plants are outside just now, but will be brought indoors when the
weather turns. The 'experiment' (all tucked into one pot) is indoors in
the conservatory which is not heated - well, it *is* in Yorkshire! :~))
Hopefully, it will be placed somewhere warmer when temperatures drop.

Spider

Link for pictures of divided root ball:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Spider.AAG/Strelitzia

Spider