Spring is the idea time to propagate many plants, so if you’re after a project with a purpose, think cuttings! The warm weather creates growing spirts and this new flush of growth can be turned into new plants. These are called soft tip cuttings, and are one of 5 easy ways to propagate plants at the moment.
Soft tip cuttings are ideal for many indoor plants, but you’ll need to keep them moist and misted till they grow their own roots. Ideal candidates for soft tip cuttings include Hypoestes,Fittonia, Peperomia, and Crotons.
To take a soft tip cutting, use sharp, clean scissors or secateurs and snip off finger length pieces. Trim off the lower leaves and cut the remaining foliage in half to reduce the amount of foliage the rootless piece is trying to support. Then pop the bottom end into rooting hormone power (or honey if you can’t get the powder) and plant into some fresh potting mix or propagation mix. Keep them moist and spritzed with an atomizer a few times each day and pop them into a clear plastic bag to create a mini greenhouse.
Other methods to use in spring:
- Water cuttings can work for some plants like Devil’s Ivy. You can buy our fabulous propagation stations and use them to display your cuttings as they grow.
- Plants like fiddleleaf figs and rubber trees, can be grown with aerial layering. To do this, get a sharp knife or pair if secateurs and cut halfway through the branch you’re wanting to grow into its own plant. Then sprinkle on some rooting hormone powder and wrap the wound in some moist peat or sphagnum moss. Use some cling film or a plastic bag to wrap around this tightly some the moisture is trapped in and tie it securely. Sometimes foil is ok to use, so just experiment to see what you find easiest. In about 3 months’ time you should see roots appear in the moss, and then you’re ready to cut the whole branch off and repot it.
- Some plants can be grown from division, so when you’re repotting your peace lily, if you want to section off a piece with roots, you can replicate it easily by replanting this piece into a pot with fresh potting mix.
- Stolons and Runners like the sections from Ribbon Plants are easily grown into new plants from their ‘new babies’ that are dangling down from the ‘mother plant’. Remove and plant.
By: Meredith Kirton