I took the plant out of the pot in order to clean away the white slime
accumuating near the rim.

The plant is about 30 years old and hearty. I cut the stems in about half,
and placed the new stems in a glass of water.

Does anyone know how long it's gonna take new roots to arrive? And I left a
diagonal cut on the raw stems intead of square. Is this the right thing to
do? Many thanks.