Credits: Social Media
I tried gardenings best-kept secret, and now I have dozens of plant babies
After months of pining for a rainforest-style room with more plants than practicality, I discovered propagation, gardening’s best-kept secret.
Humans might have been growing plants since the dawn of time, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or without hurdles to overcome. Sure, modern technology has made it miles easier to keep your leafy friends alive, but even those with a green thumb often end up with crispy leaves and drooping flowers. Then comes the issue of replacing your fallen friends.
Propagation saved my bank account
Even with brilliant advice from gardening experts, keeping and maintaining houseplants can be a costly experience. If you want more exotic options than the usual air-purifying spider or snake plants, that price tag only increases.
After my room renovation and mandatory cleansing, I wanted to fill the space to the brim with a wide variety of plants, flowers, and foliage. This would be an expensive endeavor – or so I thought!
With some advice from my sister, who is a horticulture expert at a garden center, and an hour-long TikTok hole, I stumbled across the genius world of propagation. I was soon informed that the process was not new, I was just ignorant of it.
Simply put, propagation is the act of creating baby plants from existing adults, therefore creating an unlimited supply of greenery for your space. It’s not unlike the trend of taking supermarket herbs and growing them at home.
While there are countless variations of the propagation, the most popular for plants include:
- Saving and sowing seeds
- Layering
- Division
- Cuttings
I’ve had the best success with cuttings
So far on my plant journey, I have tried three of the above methods, with cuttings sparking the most enjoyment and reaping the most rewards.
Though cuttings can technically be snipped from most locations depending on the plant species, I have only attempted stem cuttings on my Golden Pothos, Spider Plant, Monstera Deliciosa, and English Ivy.
Cuttings can then be placed in either water or soil, with the latter said to offer the best and quickest results. Despite that fact, I chose to submerge my cuttings in water to watch the roots grow.
But caution before you go cutting as different plants require different routes of attack. Always do your research first, and be patient! I now have over a dozen baby plants, and you can too.
I have yet to try the seed and layering methods, but division has inspired hope
Besides cuttings, I have also found some success in division, which is the act of physically dividing a plant that has more than one stem. The key to this method is ensuring each divided steam has a good deal of healthy roots to pull water through.
The division route is also a great option for those grocery store herbs that we mentioned earlier. All you need to do is split the herbs apart and pot into a suitable soil.
