Advice on Propagating Houseplants

Propagating Plants - free plants, the best kind of all!

Do you want to expand your indoor jungle at little or no cost, or grow plants to give away to friends or family?

It’s easy if you know how.

The Indoor Plant Co has produced a guide to the easiest plants to propagate, and the best news is you can get growing with no specialist equipment or horticultural knowledge.

All you need is a few healthy, well-established plants to propagate from (you can always ask a friend for some cuttings), a bag of potting mix, and a pair of scissors or secateurs.

It’s important to choose a healthy mother plant to propagate from, while equipment such as secateurs and snips should be sharp and clean.

There’s no need to buy new pots, simply collect containers such as plastic cups or yogurt containers and wash them before making a few drainage holes in the bottom.

Specialist propagation mixes aren’t necessary for these hardy plants, but you will get better results by spending a few extra dollars for a premium potting mix containing fertilizer and a wetting agent to help your new plants get consistent food and water as they establish.

Here are our six easiest plants to propagate —

Hen and chicks (Sempervivum cultivars): Any plant that produces a perfect Mini-Me version of itself, complete with roots, is a clear winner in the propagation race. These mini versions of plants are known as pups or offsets.

Hen and chicks, aka houseleeks, are the easiest of the rosette-forming succulents to propagate because they push their offsets away from the mother plant, making it easy to cut the pup from its underground stem. Scratch some soil away from the pup to check it has a strong root system before snipping off the young plant, which can be potted up once the stem cut has dried.

Keep the new plants moist but not saturated as they establish. Too much water can cause the new plants to rot.

Echeveria elegans, also sometimes known as hen and chicks, looks similar and can also be propagated using its offsets, as can haworthia.

Blue chalk sticks (Senecio serpens) is another succulent that is easy to propagate. Simply divide a healthy plant, ensuring each segment of the greyish blue foliage has enough roots to sustain it. Like most succulents, it prefers a free-draining potting mix and needs plenty of light.

Pups that grow from the leaves of some succulents can also provide new plants, but may not be as quick to establish.

If you find a leaf or stem segment broken off a succulent it’s worth planting it to see what happens. Many healthy succulents have been established like this.

Ongoing care: Once new plants are well established, move them into a pot of coarse succulent potting mix or find a sunny spot in the garden.

Spider plant (aka ribbon plant): This little champ dangles ready-to-grow plant babies from long stems and all you have to do is snip them off and plant them!

Look for plantlets with established white, fleshy roots, then snip the stem they are hanging from and plant the baby in a small pot of potting mix.

Then it’s just a matter of keeping them warm and well-watered while they establish. A spot on a windowsill indoors is perfect, as is a shaded position outdoors during the warmer months.

Humidity helps these plants establish, so use an atomizer bottle to mist the cuttings if you have one (don’t bother if the weather is humid).

You can always leave the plantlet attached to its stem and position a pot of potting soil next to it so the baby plant’s roots can grow down into soil while still getting nutrition from the mother plant. This method is also worth trying with water propagation — let the plantlet’s roots dangle into a jar of water while the new plant is still attached to the mother plant’s stem.,

Ongoing care: Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) does well in a bright spot indoors, on a veranda, or in a frost-free spot in the garden. The plantlets look good hanging from the plant but will eventually weaken the plant if not removed.

Devil’s ivy (aka pothos): With its attractive trailing foliage, devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum) is a common sight growing in jars or vases of water in homes and cafes.

It is super-easy to grow and maintain in water and can also be propagated in soil.

To prepare for propagation, trim a length of stem from the host plant, keeping a few leaves at the top of the cutting. Remove any leaves lower down that would be submerged in water.

Aim to have several nodes (the brownish “bumps” on the stem the roots will grow from) on the submerged stem section and arrange the stems so they are supported by leaves hanging over the rim of the glass container you are using. Stem segments can be further divided into segments with just one leaf and node if you want more plants, but they may take longer to establish.

Place the container in a warm room that gets medium light and change the water every few days. After a few weeks, discard any cuttings that aren’t beginning to grow roots.

Stems started in water can be planted in potting mix once roots are well established, while stems can also be started in potting soil. Keep soil-propagated cuttings in a warm spot and keep the soil constantly moist but not saturated. In dry weather, mist with an atomizer bottle to boost humidity.

Ongoing care: Devil’s ivy prefers medium light out of direct sun. Water plants growing in soil well in the hotter months without leaving the plant constantly saturated. Change the water in vases every week or two. The plant is mildly toxic so keep it away from children and pets.

Tradescantia zebrina (spiderwort): Stem cuttings are easy to strike in water or potting soil, or you can divide a plant to get many stems with roots attached.

Ensure each stem segment you are propagating has a node or two and preferably a few leaves on the top section that will be above the water or soil. The stems are too soft to push straight into soil, so make a hole in the soil, insert the cutting, and backfill around it.

Roots can appear in as little as a few days, but it’s worth waiting a few weeks for a strong root system to establish before considering moving it to a small pot. If you plan to leave your new plants in water, be sure to change the water every week or two.

Ongoing care: This attractive light green and purple plant suits hanging baskets or a display pot in a bright position indoors, but partial shade is best when grown outside. Pinching out stem tips helps keep the plant compact. Many tradescantia species have weed potential, especially in warmer climates, so take care when using it as a garden plant.

Snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata 'Laurentii' and variants: This elegant houseplant favorite can be propagated by division and from cuttings.

Dividing a snake plant that is struggling in an overcrowded pot is a great way to get new plants and is good for the main plant, which will eventually split its pot if not divided.

When dividing a crowded plant, look for the natural clumps and begin prying them apart before resorting to cutting roots. It’s worth spending a few minutes untangling the roots before cutting because it’s easy to accidentally slice through stems if you resort to secateurs or a blade too soon.

Sometimes there are individual stems growing against the wall of the pot that can be harvested without the need to disturb the main part of the plant. Remove the pot, tease some soil away from one of these outer stems and cut it away, ensuring there are plenty of roots attached.

A few of these outer stems potted up together provide an instant new plant.

If you want to try cuttings, slice leaves horizontally into 6cm segments and plant upright in potting mix. You can even use damaged leaves if they still look healthy, but steer clear of the damaged part, particularly if it shows signs of rot.

Keep these cuttings in a warm spot and water often without leaving them too soggy. You can also grow cuttings in water before transferring into soil. Plants grown from cuttings are slow to establish and lose the yellow band from the edge of the leaf.

Ongoing care: Once established, plants should be re-potted into a free-draining succulent mix. They cope with most indoor and outdoor conditions except frost, prolonged cold, and excess direct afternoon sun.

Jade plant (Crassula ovata): Like many succulents, jades are super-easy to strike and will even sprout roots from a single leaf laid flat on soil.

To create cuttings, trim small stems from the mother plant, allow the cut to heal for a few days, and plant the cutting in potting mix.

It’s best to make a hole in the soil mix for the stem to go into rather than forcing it into the soil, which can damage the stem.

Ongoing care: This hardy succulent can cope with most conditions outdoors, where it sometimes flowers in early spring but needs bright light to thrive as an indoor plant.

Next steps: Once you have mastered these basic propagation techniques, you may want to expand your horizons. Before you invest in heated propagation boxes and other equipment, it’s best to have a clear idea of the type of plants you want to grow and the methods you can use to grow them.

Rooting hormones are a must for some species and techniques but make little difference with others, so it pays to do some research.

The one product that always seems to help is seaweed-based solutions, which are a great tonic for new and established plants and have anti-fungal properties.