Propagating Houseplants
Dieffenbachias and similar plants often lose lower leaves. When this happens, cut top off and propagate new plants.
Cut plant about 15 inches below bottom leaf; root in water. Pot when roots form. Cut rest of stems into short lengths, each with a node. Place horizontally in moist medium, covering node with soil. New plants will emerge.
To propagate an African violet, take at least an inch of stem with each leaf. Insert the stems into water or a peat-based mix. Pot leaves that have been in water as soon as roots form. Pot others when roots are established.
Make New Plants from Cuttings
To get more bang for your gardening box, try this. Instead of always buying new houseplants make the most for the one that you're already own like taking cutting. Cuttings will then grown to more plants that you can add all around your house, your garden, or say with your friend. One of the easiest plants to have success with is coleus. Not only it had a really colorful, but they come in all kinds of varieties and they grow really well inside and outside. So, you start by taking a couple of cuttings from your plant and I'm gonna snip it right above the joints right here, and then just strip off some of the leaf that are on the stem here and just put it in some water. Now, you can go a couple of ways here. You can put it into the water or you can put the cutting directly into the moist potting soil like that. Now, you can pot this also in sand, some perlite, or vermiculite, and this will reduce the chance of the developing root rot. When they've got in a good start, you can take them out into your garden or transplant them into containers. So, try taking cuttings from plants like coleus and multiply your greenery while saving some green in your pocketbooks.
To propagate a rex begonia, set a healthy leaf, top side up, on moist growing medium. Sever a few of the veins. Pin the leaf down so the cuts come in contact with the medium. Keep moist. Pot the plantlets that grow from each cut.
To propagate, a snake plant, cut a leaf into sections; indicate with angled cuts which end is bottom. Dip bottom ends in rooting powder; insert in moist rooting medium. Pot new plants that form to sides of leaf sections.
1. Make an upward cut into the stem just below a node, at a point where you'd like new roots to grow. Cut halfway through the stem. Place toothpick or matchstick into cut to keep it open. Dust area with rooting hormone powder.
2. Place moist moss around the cut and secure it with plastic. Wrap wire twists at top and bottom. Undo top; mist moss regularly. When roots are thick, cut stem several inches below original cut; pot.
Plants that send out aerial runners and form new plantlets are easy to propagate.
When age takes its toll on a spider plant, it's time to root the plantlets and start over. Spider plants often become straggly. Their natural inclination is to produce new foliage and shed the old.
To root plantlets that form on aerial runners, set pots filled with rooting medium nearby. Pin plantlets into medium with hairpins. Keep moist. Once plantlets root, sever stems to parent plant.
Continued on page 4: Starting Houseplants from Seed
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