Simply defined, plant propagation is the process of creating new plants. There are many types of propagation. Propagation can be achieved through stem cuttings, leaf-bud cuttings, division, layering, budding, grafting, root cuttings and more. Most plants have a preferred method of propagation that is most successful. In this case, I will focus on methods of propagation with a high probability of success and ease. The types of plants I suggest are also those that are quite easy to propagate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Division is a straightforward way of propagating. It is just as its name implies, creating new plants through the division of the mother plant. For instance, Asparagus Fern can be multiplied by taking the main plant and separating it into chunks. Each chunk should have a top fern-like portion with at least a few stems as well as a root portion with tubers and roots attached. The tubers look like small white balls that are usually between a nickel and quarter size. They can be rounded or more egg shaped. I use a small hand saw and cut the plant like I am cutting a cake into slices. Each \u201cslice\u201d can then be repotted in a new pot with fresh potting soil. The plant should be situated in the pot just like the mother plant had been. The fern portion should be above the soil line and the roots and tubers should be beneath the soil line. A plant pulled out of an 8 inch pot can easily be sliced into eight 1 inch sections and likely more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using cuttings is another easy way to propagate plants. There are several types of cuttings including root, softwood, hardwood, semi hardwood, and leaf. Some plants can be propagated using different types of cuttings depending on where the cut is made. Here I will discuss softwood cuttings. These are taken from actively growing plants. Simply cut a 4-5 inch long section off the tip of a plant such as Jade, Pothos or Tradescantia (formerly known as Wandering Jew). Remove the bottom leaves (2 inches or so) from the cutting so no leaves will be under the soil. Make sure to leave at least a couple top leaves. Dip the leafless section of the cutting in rooting hormone. Use a pencil to create a hole in your pot full of potting mix. Stick the cutting with the rooting hormone into the hole you just created. Pat the soil around the cutting. I don\u2019t find it necessary to put a bag around the plant to increase the humidity since the humidity level is usually significant in my house in spring when I am propagating. However, If you have low humidity in your home, you can cover the cutting with a plastic bag or cloche to increase humidity until the cutting roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Runners grow horizontally from the crown of a plant, like strawberries. Offsets develop from the base of a parent plant and suckers come up from below the surface of the main plant. In any of the scenarios, if the baby has developed roots, cut the connection from the mother to the baby. Plant the new plant similar to a cutting. Depending on the plant, you will rough up the soil in the new pot a bit and wiggle the new baby into the soil so the base is in contact with the soil. Securely pat down around the base of the plant in its new location. Similarly, you can use this same process for planting baby Spider plants that hang off your Spider plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all these scenarios, I use these houseplants as my foliage fillers for my summer outdoor containers. I simply make sure to save one or two of each plant (or part of each plant) at the end of the growing season to bring in as a houseplant over winter. This ensures I have plenty of material to propagate the plants again the following spring for use in my containers to enjoy the following growing season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is Propagation? Simply defined, plant propagation is the process of creating new plants. There are many types of propagation. Propagation can be achieved through stem cuttings, leaf-bud cuttings, division, layering, budding, grafting, root cuttings and more. Most plants have a preferred method of propagation that is most successful. In this case, I will focus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":10,"label":"Plants"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Easy-Plant-Propagation-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Shawn Vieth","author_link":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/author\/shawn-l-vieth\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":10,"name":"Plants","slug":"plants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":10,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":10,"category_count":1,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Plants","category_nicename":"plants","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1942,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions\/1942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnlvieth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}