How to propagate plants in water for more FREE plants!

Who doesn’t love more free plants?

Luckily it’s fairly easy to propagate (=multiply) your houseplants at home, following this technique.

Select new growth on your healthy mother plant.  In this example we’re using a big Spider Plant (Chlorophytum Comosum), but the technique is the same for pretty much all houseplants.

Work with clean tools.

Disinfect the knife or scissors you’re using. When you cut off parts of the “mother” plant. You don’t want to introduce bacteria or mold in the wound by accident.

Just a leaf? Or also a node?

Some plants can be propagated with just a leaf (or even part of a leaf). For some plants, you will also need a node to successfully grow a new plant. It really depends on which type of plant you’re trying to grow.
Extra tricky: for plants that require a node, you will still be able to grow roots on your cutting with just a leaf. However, this rooted leaf will never produce a new stem/new leaves.

When your cutting has made sufficient new roots, you can repot it in soil, keeping the soil very moist in the beginning. However, we like to keep them in water on their germination plate forever, so we can enjoy the root growth as well as the foliage :-). As long as you give them proper nutrients in the water, they can thrive indefinitely without soil. Propagation is a great way to create lovely gifts for your friends and family, practically for free!

Some other great candidates for these techniques are:
Pilea peperomioides (Chinese Money Plant), Begonias, African Violets, Monstera Deliciosa, Crassula (Jade Plant), Sansevieria (Snake plant) and many more.

You can also propagate succulents and cacti in much the same way, with little variations. Here’s how.