Propagating Houseplants

Seeds are an inexpensive and satisfying way to start many houseplants, including asparagus fern, bromeliads, cacti, coleus, gloxinia, impatiens, and kalanchoe. But, because your plants won't be of display size for many months, you'll need patience.

1.Fill tray or pot with sterile medium, mist with water, then top with 1/4 inch of milled sphagnum moss. Press moss with a book. Sprinkle seeds across moss surface or into shallow rows.

2. Cover larger seeds with a sprinkling of moss. Pat small seeds into moss. Mist again. Cover tray with glass or plastic; place on heating pad or top of refrigerator. Place in light suggested on packet. Mist when moss begins to dry.

3. Remove glass when seedlings pop through moss. Move seedlings to brighter light. Transplant when second set of leaves develops. Dig seedlings up gently, holding by one of the leaves, not the stem.

4. Give each seedling its own small pot, filled to within 1/2 inch of top with light soil. Firm the soil around the base of each stem, making sure not to bury the leaves. Water immediately. Move plants steadily into brighter light.
Learn more about starting seeds.