Propagation simply means growing one plant from another. Some plants and succulents propagate themselves naturally, like hens and chicks or a snake plant.
Others have to BE propagated in some way. Generally this means taking a cutting of the “mother plant” and getting it to grow roots of its own, either by placing in water or soil, thus creating another plant. Some plants root very easily from cuttings while others may take a while to form roots, if they ever do.
Our preferred method of propagation is the glass bottle method. Simply fill a clean glass bottle with water and drop in the cutting. Sometimes we’ll add a very small amount of rooting hormone to the water if we think a certain cutting might need a little extra help forming new roots.
Propagation may seem overwhelming at first but it’s really pretty simple. Below are 5 easy to follow, step by step directions to propagating a plant from a cutting.
- Using clean, sharp pruning shears, carefully take a 6inch-ish cutting from the “mother” plant that you would like to propagate. Be sure the cutting is of new growth, (without any blooms in the case of flowering plants). You may notice your plant stem has nodes or segments. This is often where new roots will emerge so cutting just below a node is suggested.
- Gently remove all but the top two full leaves, taking care not to damage the stem.
- Carefully snip the bottom of the stem at an angle, taking care not to crush the stem.
- Place the stem in a clean glass bottle full of water. Place in a sunny window inside or a shady spot outside and......wait. Growing new roots can take a while so be sure to change out the water in the bottle often to keep it from getting nasty and rotting your cutting. A small amount of rooting hormone can be added to the water if needed and is even suggested for harder to propagate plants.
- Once your cutting is showing new roots about 2 inches long it can be potted. Keep the soil very moist for the first few days-week to help the roots adjust to their new home. As the new plant establishes itself you can adjust the amount of water as needed. After potting, it can often take weeks for a plant to establish its new root system and begin putting out new leaves. Be patient. Unless the new plant looks sickly or is actively dying it’s just doing it’s thing under the soil.
