I grew up in a home of plant-lovers and skilled gardeners, and have always wished for a green space in my own house. My mom has an enviable collection of house plants, most of which have been grown through plant prop agation. I guess some of her skills brushed on me. Until last October I only had a few potted plants in my house. Now that I have a good space in the backyard, last year I decided to create an indoor garden. None of the plants below were bought, but grown through soil and water propagation, in a span of four months. In this post, you will find tips to grow house plants from cuttings/leaves/seeds.
Most of the cuttings were taken from my front yard, which has a healthy growth of Dragon trees, Begonias and Coleus – thanks to the previous owner. For all the plants, I used plastic pots and All Purpose Garden Soil Mix from Bunnings. I DIDN’T use any fertilizer or rooting hormone.
Dragon Plant Propagation
I took the cuttings from a Dragon tree in October, which is late Spring in Australia. Use sharp shears to make a clean cut as these are pretty hard to cut. Choose a stem without any flowers. I let the cuttings dry out for 2 days before putting in the soil. After that, I watered weekly or whenever the soil felt dry.
Initially, the leaves will start falling out one by one. Don’t worry, the roots will appear within 6 weeks. In fact, one of the cuttings had completely dried out, as you can see from the above picture. I thought it had died. But after 3 months, I saw tiny leaves appearing at the bottom of the stem.
Madagascar Dragon Tree Propagation
The below plant is a Madagascar Dragon Tree, grown in a similar way.
Pothos / Money Plant Water Propagation
Money Plant is one of the most popular house plants, which is extremely easy to propagate as well. I love propagating them in water as they look really pretty in glass bottles. They grow faster in soil though.
Peace Lily Propagation from a rhizome
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) cannot be propagated through cuttings or leaf but from the rhizome of a mature plant. I have owned a Peace Lily plant for over 4 years now. So I decided to pull out the plant and slowly separate the rhizomes. I separated 6 plants, but it was such a jangle of roots that I stopped after an hour. Also, I think I squished an earthworm.
After pulling them apart, I planted them in the pots and watered them regularly. Water the plant if the first two inches of the soil feels dry. In the next few days, the leaves became droopy and turned yellow, but after a couple of weeks, new growth started appearing. The mother plant is also doing well.
Avocado plant from seed
I had to throw out a lot of seeds before I finally figured out the trick. Patience. Yes, patience. It took about 12 weeks for the first shoot to appear. I am growing another seed, and that one took just as much time.
Make sure that the bottom of the seed is always submerged in water. Provide ample sunlight and once it has grown to a height of 6 – 7 inches, pot it. I keep pruning large leaves to increase the growth of the plant. I may not get to eat the fruit for another 15 years, but they do look great as house plants.
Begonia plant propagation from cuttings
Begonias are extremely easy to propagate from cuttings and the roots grow quickly as well. Mine has started flowering too. These cuttings were taken in Spring. They propagate well both in soil and water.
Begonia ‘Otto Forster’ propagation
I couldn’t believe I actually had this gorgeous Begonia ‘Otto Forster’ growing in a corner of my garden. And unfortunately, I accidentally broke a large chunk of the plant. They are very delicate. I placed the section in water and hoped that it would grow roots.
As you can see, they grew really well in water. Once the roots were established, I potted them.
Coleus propagation from cuttings
Coleus can be propagated in both water and soil. All the cuttings should be taken from the node as the roots will grow from here. Coleus usually has a thick node, make sure you take the cutting few inches down from the node.
When propagating in soil, make sure you are using proper soil mix and watering the plant well. I didn’t use the All-purpose soil mix for this one and even forgot to water during the hot days, because of which it dried out. Thankfully, the one propagated in water still lives. π
Spider plant propagation from spiderette/pups
I love the light green shades of Spider Plant. They make beautiful house plants and can be easily grown from pups or spiderettes. Since Spiderettes already have roots, you just need to pluck them and put them in soil.
Jade propagation from cutting
Over the past 4 years, I have grown numerous Jade plants from leaves and cuttings. Except, the below plant, I have tried to keep the rest of them smaller in size, so that they can be placed indoors on shelves. They are extremely hardy plants and very easy to grow from a healthy leaf. Like any other succulent, they need minimum water and care. But unlike succulents, they grow well indoors.
If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment section.
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I am so in awe of your collection of plants and how you have grown them. I’ve always wanted to have a nice garden of my own but the current house that I live in, isn’t so great for plants. A lot of my plants have died. Taking some suggestions for plants from here and hoping that I’ll have a better garden.
Thank you so much. I hope you get to grow your garden soon.
I too love propagating plants to cuttings. At one time I was an avid gardener but these days I find it a bit of a fiddle. I’ve never grown Pothos because of the superstition that a thriving money plant means less money at home. Of course this is not true but this plant grows so much that it becomes quite painful trailing it all over the house. Your plants look really healthy and happy ….so glad you’ve inherited your mum’s green thumb.
That’s interesting. I thought people have it at home just for the opposite reason. Yeah, they grow very fast too in right conditions. Thank you π
Money plants are the easiest! Love that collectionβ¦
Yes, they grow very quickly too. Thank you.
Presently growing some money plant and the spider plant in my studio and theyβre doing well. We need to do a lot more work on the many plants at home (inherited from my parents). For now, weβre keeping them going! Bookmarking this for future use!
They look so beautiful right. Love their light green shade. Good luck with your gardening π
I admire your collection of plants and the care you are giving them while you are a new mom. I am not a good gardener. I do like to garden, but it never happens. I am terrible at learning the names of plants and trees and flowers. Well, I am good at admiring their beauty though. I know who to ping when I finally start gardening some day. π
Thank you π I had few failures too, specially herbs. I just can’t seem to grow any π
Wow! You have green fingers, Raj! Iβm going to try propagating a jade plant again. It didnβt work last time I tried, but I think Iβll give it another go.
Try both in water and soil. You will have more success with cuttings. Just don’t water them until roots appear. Good luck π
I really enjoyed this post, Raj. When my Mom was around, we had a pretty green balcony. She had a green thumb. Me, umβ¦ not so much, but I have managed to keep a bamboo plant alive for two years, so thatβs something I guess. About four months ago I was urged to get a tulsi by a friend who was plant-shopping and I reluctantly agreed. Itβs still alive. Somehow I have a challenge nurturing the money plant. Let me try again! I am bookmarking your post so I can come back when I get a couple more of the plants youβve listed, the jade, especially. So cute. I always worry about watering them when I am traveling though.
Jade are hardy… They will survive. I am trying to grow Tulsi, it’s really tiny now… Hopefully it will grow well. Didn’t have much luck before. π Thank you so much for reading.
What an interesting post. I do not know much about gardening but i want to keep plants in my home. I can certainly take advantage of this post. Can you also recommend some indoor plants or may be do a blog post on it.
Sure will do a post on it. Thank you so much π
Haha, having a giggle at Shilpaβs comment above because thatβs exactly what I was thinking. Iβm no green fingers either. A friend of mine is off to Thailand and Vietnam for 3 months before emigrating to Canada and so sheβs selling her indoor plants. I would love to take them off her hands, exceptβ¦ alas, I doubt Iβd manage to keep them alive. Youβre doing a fantastic job, Rajlakshmi!
I think I got my green fingers from Mom π Thank you so much for reading.
As a recent plant mom, I love this post so much! Iβve been propagating succulents and they are turning out beautifully! I even propagated pothos and it grew so well! It was so simple.
However, I was unaware of this spiderette logic. My current spider plant has two spiderettes and I was wondering what it was, now I know. Iβll go plant them today π
Thank you so much for this post!
Oh succulents are my favorite. Yes, it’s so amazing how pothos can be grown just from a leaf. Good luck with spiderettes π
You have inherited your green thumb from your mom, Raj! SUch beautiful plants, and all the love, care and efforts you have put into itβ¦.it looks like your second baby! β€
Thank you so much. Oh yes, I take care of them like my baby π
Wow! You have a wonderful collection of house plants. Love that you have developed it on your own. Your dedication and patience is awe-inspiring. I dont have a green thumb, rather I am skilled at killing plants, but I plan to change that. Thanks for the tips and inspiration, Raj!
Hahaha π I too have killed enough plants in the name of experiments π Thank you.