Sauk County Gardener

Propagating Houseplants “Plants want to grow; they are your side as long as you are reasonably sensible.” --Anne Wareham   When I was a kid, my grandmother had a healthy selection of houseplants. I remember the giant Boston fern that she kept near her aquarium and that plant was so huge! Her true love though was growing and propagating African violets and gloxinias. It took me a lot of years before I even tried growing African violets – I was worried they would be finicky and hard to grow. I should have known better – she would regularly simply take a leaf from one of her plants and stick it in a pot of soil. Within a few months, she had another lovely violet to gift to someone. If you too have a favorite houseplant that you’d like to have more of or share with a friend, there are several really easy ways to propagate some of your favorite houseplants.  First up is propagating from stem cuttings. One of the easiest plants that can be propagated using this method is Tradescantia pallida. It has several common names such as ‘Spiderwort, Inch Plant, and Purple Heart plant. It wanders where it likes, making it very easy to propagate this beautiful plant. Other plants that are good candidates for this stem cutting propagation method include: coleus, geraniums, pothos, heartleaf philodendron, monstera, English and Swedish ivy. Stem cuttings can be propagating in water or by planting directly into moist soil. If you use the water method, simply take some cuttings 4-6 inches long, snipping just below a leaf node. Remove any lower leaves, keeping just 3-5 leaves at the top and put the stems in water. All that’s left wait for the stems to root and then plant the new babies. Or you can simply place the cutting (same size as previously described with the same number of leaves) in moist potting mix, dust the cut end with rooting hormone powder, and wait for the stems to root. I like to use some of these very prolific houseplants as filler plants in my outdoor containers in the summer. They don’t cost me anything and so when I forget to save them at the end of the season, I don’t feel too bad.   You can also propagate from leaf cuttings. This is the method I told you my grandmother used for her African violets and gloxinias. Simply take a leaf from the main stem (I like to use the middle layer of leaves), making sure the petiole (leaf stem) is still attached. You can put the leaf in water or place it directly in moist potting mix to root. I’ve had great success with both methods. Other plants that can be propagated from leaf cuttings include Sansevieria (aka snake plant or mother-in-law tongue), peperomia, and numerous succulents. Succulents such as kalanchoes, jade, and Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter cacti, you’ll need to allow the area to callous over where you broke the leaf off from the plant. This will take a couple of days. Then simply place the callused section in the soil mix suitable for the plant and wait for it to root. You’ll see small plants emerge afterwards near the section you inserted into the soil. Another easy method is division. This is done simply by looking at your houseplant, identifying the various different sections, pulling them apart and potting up the different sections. Several houseplants that are good candidates for this method include Zamioculcas Zamiifolia (ZZ plant), strawberry begonia, and the peace lily.  Propagating from offsets is probably the easiest of all. Plants that fit in this category create offsets or pups and miniature versions of their parents. For these, you simply cut off or dig the pup that already looks like a miniature plant. Rinse off any soil (if applicable), allow it to dry for 1-2 days, and then pot up the pup in soil and water as normal. Plants that respond well to this method include Pilea (Chinese money plant), spider plants, and aloe vera.  One thing I would like to point out is that multiple methods work for many of these plants. If you try one method and it doesn’t work as well as you had hoped, try another. You might be surprised how successful you can be. So, until we can get outside to do some planting outdoors, try some of these fun ways to get more plants to have and to share.    This week’s article is written by Jeannie Manis, a Wisconsin Certified Sauk County Master Gardener Volunteer. If you have any gardening questions, please contact the Extension Sauk County by emailing to trripp@wisc.edu or calling the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County office at 608-355-3250.