How To Reproduce Houseplants

Indoor plants transform any space into a true oasis of well-being and help improve air quality. Instead of buying them, you can propagate lots of indoor plants yourself.

If you want to propagate indoor plants, you can choose different ways to achieve your goal. With some varieties, certain methods are better than others.

Methods for propagating indoor plants

• Separate stolons: some houseplants make it easy for us and form buds from the base that are ready to become independent. They already have roots and it is only necessary to separate them from the mother plant and plant them. Plants that reproduce through stolons include, for example, ribbons, orchid, and aloe vera.
• Take cuttings: it is somewhat more complex to propagate plants through cuttings. To do this, a branch with a few leaves is cut and placed in the ground to root it. Before, it can be left in water for a few days so that the roots can form. Plants that reproduce by essences are the Ficus benjamina, the dracena and the monstera .
• Cuttings from leaves: Some plants do not need as much and can form roots from the leaves. All that is needed is a leaf of the mother plant to form roots in a pot with substrate. Succulents and other plants with fleshy leaves, such as aloe vera, money tree or pachira, and zamioculca are especially suitable for this form of propagation.
• Propagation through seeds: This is the most “natural” way, but indoor plants rarely propagate through seeds because it is a slower method and less likely to be successful. In addition, many indoor plants are exotic plants that often do not produce fruit or seeds in our latitudes.

Regardless of the method you choose, it is important that you always work with clean utensils so as not to introduce avoidable germs on the cut surfaces of young plants.

Plant sprouts of ribbons

The tapes make their reproduction child’s play, so many do not even know what to do with all the seedlings that form on the shoots of the mother plant. If you look you will find many balconies full of ribbons and this is the cause.

As soon as the cuttings are rooted, they can be cut and placed in a pot with moist soil. They can also be planted in a pot without separating them from the mother plant until they are more mature.

Spread aloe vera

Aloe vera can also be easily propagated using stolons, of which the plant usually produces in abundance. They are separated from the mother plant and placed in their own pot.

The best way to do it is as follows:

• Take the mother plant out of the pot and remove the soil until the root plexus is clearly visible.
• Carefully separate the stolons from the main plant by hand or with a knife. Sometimes they fall off on their own.
• Return the mother plant to its pot (or a larger one if it’s time to transplant anyway). Place the cuttings in their own pots with succulent soil.
• Water all the plants after planting them.

Propagate weeping figs using cuttings

The weeping fig ( Ficus benjamina ) is ideal for propagation by cuttings, which can be plucked from the side shoots with little effort and a little patience.

• Cut a non-woody side shoot 4 inches long.
• Let the plant’s white sap drain into an empty container first.
• Remove most of the leaves to allow more force to flow into root formation. Leave one or two pairs of leaves at the tip.
• Place half of the sprout in the water in a tall container in a bright, not too sunny location. As soon as roots several centimeters long have formed, the cutting is transferred to a pot with soil.

Propagate the money tree through leaf cuttings

The money tree belongs to the succulents. This generic term covers fleshy plants that store water. They are especially suitable for propagation through so-called leaf cuttings. Follow the next steps:

• Cut one or more leaves with a sharp knife.
• Let the leaves air dry for a few days.
• Place the cut leaves flat in a container with substrate for succulents or dip them in a little in the ground in an upright position and leave them in a warm and bright place. Dampen a little on a regular basis.

Plant the avocado seeds

You can grow a nice houseplant from an avocado seed.

• Clean the bone of any remaining pulp.
• Prick the avocado pit with three or four toothpicks so that it sits on the edge of a glass of water with half inside it. Important: the sharpest part of the bone is the one that is out of the water.
• Change the water every two to three days so that mold and rot do not develop. After a few weeks a shoot will grow upwards and roots downwards.
• As soon as the sprout has reached 15 centimeters in height, transplant it into nutrient-rich soil. Cover the roots with soil, but allow the rest of the bone to remain on the surface.