Propagating Houseplants

If you want more houseplants you can propagate the ones you already have.

There are a number of ways to do this, depending on the kind of plant you have. You can use seeds which is the most obvious choice.

• Some plants like the snake plant can be divided by the roots, which is the easiest way.
• Ivies, impatiens and other plants like these can be propagated by using stem cuttings. Just put the stems in a vase full of water and wait until they have grown roots.
• Plants like peace lilies have parent plants or suckers that you break away at the roots to propagate. When you are repotting your plants just separate the plants and repot each individual plant in a new container.
• Spider plants and the strawberry begonia can be split up by runners which are small plants from the parent plant. If your plants leaves are fleshy or hairy like african violets you can use leaf cuttings.
• You can also grow some plants by using a single leaf, the rex begonia is one of the plants you can use. You can get as many as six new plants if the leaf you use is a good size. With snake plants you can make more plants just from one leaf by cutting the leaf in sections.
• You can also use the air layering technique for plants like a rubber plant.