I've been an amateur gardener for as long as I can remember. Some successes to savor, sprinkled among a LOT of failures. With more time at home than usual these past few months, what better time to try propagating my increasingly unwieldy plants? While my husband isn't necessarily thrilled the counter is covered in plant clippings, during quarantine we're surrounded by greenery of our own making, and whenever things return back to normal, they'll make great gifts for friends and family.
Again, amateur gardener here, so if it's working for me, it will work for you. ;-)
I started most propagations about a month and a half ago, so it takes time and a lot of patience.
First off, let's start with some successes... and bonus... all three happen to be great at removing toxins from the air.
POTHOS
These are hands down my favorite houseplant. When nothing else survived in these beautiful copper hanging planters, these guys thrived. The pot to the right normally sits atop my refrigerator, and while it barely gets any sun and I rarely water it, it somehow makes the otherwise sterile kitchen feel like a warm jungle. I also have a pothos and calathea mix in these small, rectangular copper planters (which are perfect for window sills) from Gardeners Supply Company. The only issue I've ever had with pothos was when I placed one outside in harsh sunlight, thinking the extra sun would make it grow faster and catch up to another plant sitting in a sunnier window. The unfiltered and strong sunlight burned the leaves, but now back indoors, it's as healthy as ever, minus a few marked leaves.
About 1.5 months ago, I started some pothos clippings. The best way is to make a cutting with one leave, and at least one "eye" -- those brown nubby things opposite the leaf's stem.
Snip, snip!
Then, just place them in water or a moist sand and dirt mixture. While both ways work, supposedly it is harder to move water-grown clippings into soil down the road, so I decided to test both... and voila!
In addition to being the easiest plant to take care of, these were also the easiest and fastest clippings to propagate. Tiny roots burst through the eyes within a week or two, and have been growing ever since. I'm planning to transfer the water-grown clippings into a soil/sand mixture in a couple weeks to see how they do, although you also can just keep them in water. Stay tuned.
ZZ PLANT
I inherited this plant from some friends a few months ago. Many of the stems were becoming too long and beginning to fall over, so I trimmed the plant back.
You can propagate zz plants from long stems with many leaves, short stems with just a few leaves, and the leaves themselves, so I figured why not try it all!
I placed the clippings in water, initially changing the water every other day and wiping off any gooey slime (there was a lot). 1 month down ... and nothing to show for my patience. With time, my frequent water changes fell to about twice a week, however I was more careful to let the water sit out overnight (to let some chemicals evaporate from it), before using that water.
I read somewhere that they grew faster in stronger sunlight, so placed them outside. Several of the leaves were burned (you can see one in the first picture), and a few were so bad I had to throw them away. ...Guess they are typically indoor plants for a reason.
Suddenly, about 1.5 months in, roots started to grow! They first appeared on the longer stalks (which now have the longest roots), but soon the smaller stalks and the leaf cuttings began to show promise. I took these pictures about a week ago, and it's crazy how much more developed they are already! I am planning to wait until the roots are at least 2 inches long before attempting to plant these in soil ... so not a guaranteed success, but very promising.
DRACAENA FRAGRANS (AKA "CORN PLANT")
I've had this plant for about two years. I originally had two, and while they did well in indirect light, one died of overwatering and rot. Whoops. Otherwise, they were fairly easy to take care of.
The root systems on these were never overly developed (at least on mine), though, making the tall trunks slightly unstable. When we recently moved, the remaining plant fell over, shattering the planter and breaking off a few of the stems/shoots. They were too good to just throw away, so I placed them in water, hoping for the best. About three weeks in, the stems were clearly rotting, but I cut off the bad section, and placed them in shallower water. Now 1.5 months in (but maybe just 3 weeks since removing the rotting part and starting again), they both have roots beginning to form.
The smaller one seems to be doing pretty well!
And the larger one is starting to root, too!
Looking back, they have "eye"-like nubs, similar to the pothos eyes. That's where the roots shot out from (not from the bottom, like the zz cuttings), and so whenever I try this again, I am going to be more careful to make sure some of those "eye"-like nubs are in the water, without putting too much of the stem in water.
So while it's unlikely I have a future in hand modeling or photography, it looks like I might have a very green future with all these beauties!
Since taking the above picture, the individual roots have started to branch out slightly. Like the other plants, I plant to wait until they are at least two inches, and have more developed and branched roots, before attempting to place in soil. Here's hoping.
SPIDER PLANT
No current examples, but when it comes to easiness factor, the spider plant is right up there with pothos. Several years ago, I planted a broken shoot I found laying on the ground, and within one year, it was an overflowing, cascading plant!
And now, for some failures. The list is sadly long, but we'll keep it short.
DESERT ROSE
I mean, if you have strong sun, why wouldn't you want more of these guys?? This plant was starting to get a bit straggly, so I followed these directions. I cut a few branches back, let the cuttings dry out for about a week and callous over, applied DIY rooting hormone (the best I could do was a cinnamon and honey water mixture -- because you know, quarantine... stores closed... and rooting powder probably isn't considered "essential". Looking back, this might have possibly been the point of failure.). I then placed the cuttings in a dirt/sand mixture, but despite careful watering, two weeks later they were moldy. Whomp whooooomp.
CARROT TOPS
I guess a temporary success? I placed the carrot tops in water and they grew yummy edible greens for about 2 weeks before becoming a mushy mess.
CORIANDER, BASIL, THYME
Supposedly, if you place these in water, they will develop roots and you can then plant them. The only one that produced good roots were the basil cuttings (and only about 20% of clippings survived that step). Once their roots were developed, I planted them, however they died off about a week later.
TOMATO AND GREEN PEPPER SEEDS
These weren't from cuttings, but I dried out tomato and green pepper seeds from store bought, organic tomatoes and peppers. None of these developed into anything.
Now your turn. What successes have you had in attempting to propagate plants? What's been the easiest? Welcome any and all tips as I work my way through this! Might try my hand at monstera propagation this weekend, but seems daunting...
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