Contents
Houseplant Care and Basics
How to Buy Houseplants
Houseplants and Light Conditions
How to Water Houseplants
How to Fertilize Houseplants
Temperature, Humidity, and Air Flow
Houseplant Pots and Repotting
How to Maintain Houseplants
How to Propagate Houseplants
How to Take Houseplants Outdoors
Common Houseplant Diseases
Common Houseplant Insects
Types of
Houseplants
Flowering Houseplants
Foliage Houseplants
Succulent Houseplants
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How to Propagate Houseplants
Propagation is the process of growing new plants from your existing plants, making it an inexpensive way to fill your home with more houseplants. Not all plants can be propagated, though. To determine whether your plant can be propagated, consult your local nursery.
The most common ways to propagate houseplants are cuttings, dividing, layering, offsets, and plantlets.
Cuttings
This propagation method involves slicing off a portion of a plant, called a cutting, and repotting it. Plants can be propagated via stem cuttings (cutting off and replanting an offshoot from the plant’s main stem) or leaf cuttings
(replanting one of the plant’s leaves with or without
its stem).
Stem Cuttings
Plants that can be propagated by stem cutting include African violets, gloxinia, zebra plants, and cacti. To make a stem cutting:
- Select a healthy, nonflowering shoot off of the main stem. With a sharp knife, slice off the shoot below several joints. The cut shoot should be 3–6" (7.5–15 cm) long.
- Cut off any leaves along the stem of your new shoot, but leave leaves at the top of the shoot.
- Dip the base of the shoot into water and then a rooting hormone, a substance sold at garden stores that spurs the cutting to grow roots.
- Make a thin hole in the soil with your finger. Insert the shoot into the hole and press the soil around the shoot so that the shoot stands upright.
- Water moderately and cover the soil around the shoot with plastic wrap or a plastic bag to retain humidity.
Leaf Cuttings
Plants that can be propagated by leaf cuttings include sansevieria, begonia, African violets, snake plants, and jade plants. To make a leaf cutting:
- With a sharp knife, cut off a 2" (5 cm) section of the plant’s stem, just below any joint that has a few leaves.
- Remove a leaf with its stalk. Dip the stalk into rooting hormone, then insert it into a slim hole in the soil. The stalk should be immersed completely in the soil, leaving only the leaf above the soil.
- Repeat the above steps for several leaves, placing each leaf at least 1" (2.5 cm) apart in the new pot. Water and cover the soil with plastic.
For a plant that has leaves without stalks, such as sansevieria, cut the leaves into 2–3" (5–7.5 cm) strips and place the leaf pieces vertically halfway into the soil. Water and cover with plastic.
Dividing
Plants that grow in clusters, such as snake plants, African violets, and many orchids, can be propagated by dividing. To divide a plant:
- Remove the plant from its pot.
- Shake off the soil to expose the roots.
- Pull apart the roots into clusters or separate them with a knife. Make sure that each cluster, or “division,” has a substantial cluster of roots.
- Transplant each division into a new pot filled with potting soil (or another appropriate medium) and water, just as if you were repotting it (see Houseplant Pots and Repotting).
Layering
Layering is used to propagate climbing plants, such as ivy. To layer a plant:
- Select a healthy stem from your current plant.
- Use a hairpin to pin the stem into the soil of a new pot.
- To hasten root growth, make a small slice at a joint along the stem.
- Once roots develop from the node, free the new plant from the parent plant by cutting the stem that linked them originally.
Offsets
An offset is a stem that grows from the base (the main stem or stems) of a plant and produces its own roots. An offset may look like a “clone” of the main plant that is sprouting from the plant’s base. Orchids and some succulents are among the plants that can be propagated via offsets.
- Wait until the offset is roughly one-fourth the size of the parent plant.
- Remove the offset and its roots by gently tugging on it.
- Plant the offset in potting soil at the same depth at which it was growing in the original pot.
- Pat the soil to firm it, then water.
Plantlets
Some houseplants, such as spider plants, produce miniature plants, known as plantlets, at the ends of their stems or leaves.
- If the plantlet has its own roots, try slicing it from the parent plant with a knife and pot it as you would a cutting.
- For a better chance at success or if the plantlet doesn’t have its own roots, plant it in its own pot while it’s still attached to the parent plant and secure it in the new soil with a hairpin.
- Once the plantlet begins to grow its own roots, slice it from the parent plant.
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