Do you have a favorite houseplant or two that you wish you had more of? With the right steps, you can easily duplicate most of your potted beauties without setting foot in a nursery or garden center. Propagating – starting new plants from old ones – is a fun and rewarding way to develop healthy plants from aging specimens and to replace hard-to-find favorites. Most houseplants can be propagated at home, a task best accomplished during spring and summer.
Polka-Dot Plant (
Hypoestes phyllostachya) is one of many houseplants that can be successfully propagated by cuttings.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
The method most often used to propagate houseplants is to take cuttings. With this technique, a cutting is taken from a main (or “parent”) plant and encouraged to form its own roots. There are two types of cuttings: stem and leaf. To produce a stem cutting from your houseplant, simply snip a healthy young shoot from the parent plant that has at least two or three leaf nodes – points at which leaves attach to the stem. Insert the cutting into a rooting medium like water, perlite or vermiculite. In a month or so, your cutting will form roots, creating a new plant genetically identical to its parent. Leaf cuttings are done in a similar manner, using a leaf instead of a stem. You’ll find that stem cuttings work better for some types of plants, while leaf cuttings work well for others, so if a stem cutting doesn’t propagate well for you, don’t be afraid to try a leaf cutting instead. (Applying rooting hormone to increase propagation success with cuttings is also a good idea.)
Many succulent houseplants and some with woody stems can be propagated easily by rooting foliage cuttings. The end result is a plant identical to its parent. So gather your plant; a clean, sharp, thin-bladed knife or single-edged razor blade; a pot filled with sterile potting soil; support stakes; a clear plastic bag; and rooting hormone compound (available at garden centers and nurseries) and just take the steps shown in the following pictures and described in their captions. Before you know it, you’ll have a new little houseplant to care for!
Houseplant Stem Cutting
Houseplant Stem Cutting - Step 1
Choose a new sprout coming from your houseplant, then cut it cleanly at a slight angle with a razor blade or knife. Carefully strip the cutting of all foliage leaves and buds except for the topmost leaf.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Houseplant Stem Cutting - Step 2
Dip your cutting into rooting hormone powder. (This will stimulate the nascent growth buds on the cut stems to sprout roots.)
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Houseplant Stem Cutting - Step 3
Set the cutting deeply into a pot filled with clean, wet potting soil. About 1/3 of the stem should show above the soil.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Houseplant Stem Cutting - Step 4
Set three stakes into the pot, along its edges. Place the entire new planting – pot and all – into a plastic bag and loosely tie it to the container.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Houseplant Stem Cutting - Step 5
Using a blade, slit 4-6 airholes in the plastic, each about ½ an inch long.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Houseplant Stem Cutting - Step 6
Set the pot in a warm, brightly lit spot with indirect sunlight. In 2-4 weeks, the cutting will have sprouted roots and should be transplanted into its new container.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
