Source: Emma Bruder, University of Minnesota Extension, Horticulture Intern, Wright, McLeod, and Meeker Counties, brude083@umn.edu, (612)-394-6302
Do you have plants that are outgrowing your house? Or maybe you have a vining plant that has become sparse in the middle and you’d like to get it looking bushy? Maybe you just have a friend that wants to grow whatever plant you have. Any of these situations can be solved by propagating your plant. Below are methods you can use to propagate.
Stem cuttings
Using a clean, sharp knife or pair of scissors, cut a 3-4 inch piece of the stem from the end/tip of your parent plant in between nodes. It’s essential that each cutting has at least one node since this is where new growth can occur. To root your cuttings in soil, remove the lower leaves and insert the bare stem into your potting media. Water thoroughly and place in a warm, sunny area. To root your cuttings in water (not all plants do well with water propagation, so be sure to check into your specific plant), simply place your cuttings in water. Perform regular water changes and watch for any rotting. Once there is a decent root system growing, you can transfer your cuttings into potting media. This transition may cause some shock, so water your plant frequently in the beginning.
Leaf cuttings
For this method, cut an entire leaf off of your parent plant at the stem of the leaf. The stem should be about 1 ½ inches and cut diagonally. Allow this to callus for an hour by leaving it out in the open air. Once it has callused, you can either place it directly into your potting medium, or into water. If you choose to use the water method for rooting, be sure to only place the end of the stem into water and not wet the leaf. This can be done by poking a hole in aluminum foil and inserting the stem through the hole, or even using popsicle sticks to create a grid at the opening of your container.
Division and Offsets
Some plants produce “pups” from their leaves, such as spider plants and mother of thousands. These can be plucked off and placed in water or soil to grow their roots. Other plants produce babies off of their roots. In order to propagate these, you’ll need to remove your plant from its pot and carefully pull apart the roots into the desired clumps. Do your best to not damage the roots. Once you have your sections ready, you can place each one into its new pot.
Layering and Airlayering
Vining plants can be layered by wrapping the vine up in the pot so that the stem makes contact with the soil. Pin the stem in place, and once it develops roots at the nodes, you can cut and pot your desired segments. As for non-vining plants, you can use airlayering. This is done by removing about 1 inch of bark around the stem, coating it in rooting powder, then wrapping it with moist sphagnum moss and plastic wrap. Keep the moss moist, and once this area has developed roots, you can cut it off and pot it.
Check the table under the heading “Best Propagation Method by Species” if you aren’t sure which method is best for your needs, as not all methods will work for all plants.