Propagating Indoor House Plants with Water

If you’re anything like us and the stylists we work with, you absolutely love your house plants and want more! Well, we’ve got the secret to help you grow more verdant greenery for free. Water propagating is a fun and rewarding way to multiply your indoor plant collection, allowing you to visibly see progress via the growth of roots (also a great science project for young minds!). Then when they have developed a decent root system you can just plant them back into some nutrient rich soil and watch them flourish.

Most indoor plants can be propagated this way, and it’s super easy.

Below is a list of common plants that can be water propagated and the simple steps to follow to maximise success.

• Pothos
• Many Philodendron
• Sansevieria
• Pilea Peperomioides

The simple pathway to water propagation success

1) The first thing you should consider, is where you’re going to place your new plant babies. Plants that are being propagated through water will need a warm sunny spot as they will need as much energy as possible to start growing a decent root system and new growth to survive. Be careful not to place them in direct sunlight as they will burn just like we do.

2) You will need a vessel for the water – to get started an old cup, a vase or a glass jar are good options.

3) The next step requires a different approach for the various plants listed above.

Philodendrons and Pothos

• These plants require you to make a clean cut below a node (the node is where the roots will primarily grow from). You could take a single leaf cutting or a larger cutting – if you take a large cutting make sure to trim the lower leaves to focus the plants energy on new roots instead.

Pilea Peperomioides

• These plants grow small babies from the roots of the mother plant, so you just need to separate said baby and continue to the next step. Be gentle to reduce damage to any roots that may be present.

Sansevieria

• Slice off one of your plants healthy leaves and let it callous over for a day or two in a dry environment. You can cut the leaves into segments to produce more if you want.

It’s important for all of these to make sure you have a sterilised and sharp knife or scissors to make the cut to prevent any diseases.

4) All that’s left now is to place the cutting in water. Make sure the bottom ¼ of the stem is submerged and you’re almost done!

5) Change out the water every week or so to prevent mucky build up and to re-oxygenise the water.

Now, once your plant has developed a decent root system, it’s time to transfer to some soil. Choose a nutrient rich soil – pre-mixed soil specifically made for cuttings is a fail-safe choice.

You will need to keep an eye on them after their transplant. Their new root system can get a little bit of a shock going from water to soil, so a good rule of thumb is to keep them nice and moist for the first couple of weeks to ease the transition.