propagation: clone your fave plant babies

Spring or summer is best but since it’s not always a guaranteed process you can try year-round

• Pruning shears or scissors
• Small pots with holes for drainage
• Miracle-Gro® Indoor Potting Mix
• Water-filled watering can
• Clean glass container (if propagating via water)
• Humidifier or oven bag (if propagating with soil)
• Sharp knife
• Miracle-Gro® Indoor Plant Food
  

This depends on the type of houseplant you wish to propagate. Whether it’s growing new roots in soil or water, some online research should help you decide if you’re using leaf cuttings, stems, or dividing the existing plant into a new container.

If you see a viable stem from your mother plant, you can cut the stem and place it in water for it to grow new roots. This is both a practical process as well as a fun science experiment to observe. For best results, try rooting tropical plants in water, for example the popular houseplants monstera and fiddle leaf fig.

Follow these 5 easy steps:

1. Take your sharp shears or scissors and cut a 3-to-4-inch at the node (the length of stem below the leaf)
2. Remove leaves from the lower part of the stem to avoid leaves rotting in the water
3. Fill your container with filtered water, changing it every few days, for 2 to 4 weeks, until the roots grow 1 to 2 inches
4. With roots a favourable length, it’s time to transplant the roots from water to soil. Using Miracle-Gro® Indoor Potting Mix , which offers nutrients and oxygen flow to allow your baby plant to thrive, fill a small pot  two-thirds of the way making sure the roots are 1-inch below the rim. Surround the roots with more potting mix and gently press in.
5. Water well, until water comes out the bottom. Return to a sunny spot and watch your new baby grow.

Just as in the above instructions you learned propagating using plant stems, this version is using leaves. A helpful hint to get started is to use a few leaves to root to increase chances of success. Propagating houseplants like snake plants, succulents and African violet are easier thanks to their dense, soft foliage.

Here’s how to root leaves in 5 easy steps:

1. Cut the leaves from your mother plants about 0.5 to 1-inch down its petiole (stalk). For plants without stalks, cut the leaf into 2-inch pieces, noting which part is the bottom (nearest the base) which you’ll need to know when potting.
2. Fill a pot with Miracle-Gro® Indoor Potting Mix which helps roots robustly sprawl as they form.
3. Dip the leaves’ bottoms into and securely place it in the spoil on the vertical, bottom down. All leaves may share the same container.
4. Keep your cuttings moist by gently watering the soil, spritzing with a water bottle or keeping them near a humidifier. While the cuttings have no roots formed, be mindful they can dry easily so check on them frequently (which of course, is part of the fun, watching the progress!)
5. Congrats, it’s a plant! With patience and care, in a few months you will see baby plantlets with new roots take form, which means you can transplant them into their own pots, minus the original cutting.

Division, which is splitting a plant in half to propagate, is a good method for houseplants with stems at the base. For example, ferns, peace lilies, and bromeliads. You can also split the mother plant in thirds to create one or two more plants. 

Here are 6 steps for plants propagation division:

1. Take houseplant out of its pot and put on a clean, covered surface.
2. Separate your plant into separate pieces by gently cutting with a sharp knife or pulling apart with your hands
3. Each new section should have roots attached to it
4. Fill pots with Miracle-Gro® Indoor Potting Mix, which will jumpstart nutrition to the new plant as it starts to adjust to its new earthy abode
5. Gently place each plant part into its own pot then add more potting mix to just below 1 inch of the pot’s rim.
6. Water so that it runs out the bottom of the planter and place your newbies in that bright, indirect light you used to grow their mother.