If you dream of a home full of plants but that line item isn’t in your budget right now, fear not — find a propagation pal!
Even if you don't directly know someone who has houseplants to share, in Vermont, there are many plant swap and share options, including groups on social media and events at local libraries.
Houseplants, especially when outside temperatures dip below zero, can make your living space feel bright and warm, not to mention they can help clean the air. Adding more houseplants to your abode for free can only lighten the mood further.
So, if you have a friend, family member or work colleague with a green thumb who already has several houseplants, you might see if they can share the bounty and propagate some plants for you.
Propagation is really just taking plant parts or “cuttings” from an existing plant and then allowing those cuttings to root and grow a new plant.
And though spring and summer are the ideal times to take cuttings, you can propagate houseplants any time of year. The cutting technique, though, depends on the parent plant.
For instance, taking spider plant “babies” — those are the smaller plant tendrils that sprout from the main plant’s long stems — and placing them in water to root works just fine.
Ideally, though, there is a more thorough propagation method that will result in hardier houseplants.
Here's a method for taking cuttings from houseplants like pothos, spider plants or philodendrons:
- Snip a 4- to 6-inch long cutting just below a set of leaves.
- Remove the bottom set of leaves, then dip the cut end in rooting hormone powder — a fairly inexpensive item found at your local garden center.
- Put the cut stem into a container with moist potting soil. (You can even place several cuttings in the same pot.)
- Put the container in a room with bright, indirect light.
In a week or so, you'll have new plants.
This propagation technique works well for spider plants and philodendrons, as well as begonias, monsteras, spiderwort and other vining plants.
Another propagation method is through division. Some plants, like ZZ plants, aloes, amaryllis, aglaonema or Chinese evergreen and asparagus fern, will spread out as they grow. You can use the cutting method or simply divide it, then repot in separate containers.
If your houseplants have small offsets, like some aloe and amaryllis plants do, you can gently pull them away from the mother plant and repot.
Finally, for those who want a little challenge, try air layering. This method works best when propagating larger, woody plants like ficus, schefflera, dracaenas and rubber trees.
Here's how to do it:
- Find a woody branch and choose a spot about a foot or so from the tip.
- Make a small slit with a sharp, clean knife in between two leaf nodes, just breaking the bark.
- Go up an inch or so on the stem and make another slit.
- Peel that piece off so the inner stem is exposed.
- Paint the area with some rooting hormone powder.
- Moisten some sphagnum peat moss and wrap the stem area that you’ve exposed with the moss.
- Cover the ball of moss on the stem with aluminum foil or black plastic and secure it on either end.
After a month or so, you'll see roots forming. At that point, cut and repot it, and you've got yourself a new (and free!) floor plant.
Q: Thanks to Charlie Nardozzi for the information on pollinating the clementine and the grow lights. Sadly, I was driving to church when it aired ... I love the way he describes things and I wish I hadn’t been concentrating on both the bumpy dirt road and the factual answers! - Linda, via email
A: The good news is that, if you miss an All Things Gardening episode when it airs on Vermont Public on Friday evenings at 5:44 p.m., or on Sunday mornings at 9:35 a.m., you can always search for the digital post and listen again, plus read more and find helpful links. The episodes are also available in podcast players and you can find years' worth of episodes by searching either "All Things Gardening," or "Vermont Garden Journal" (the program's previous moniker).
Find the answer to the clementine tree question here.
Q: Years ago, I bought an elephant ear which I unfortunately moved around the house until realizing that it was suffering from some kind of a root rot. Since then, I keep losing house plants to what I think is some kind of a root rot. I wiped down the window sills with bleach and am trying to do the same with the pots before reusing them. I would love to get a handle on whatever this is. Any ideas? - Almut, in Mansonville, QC, CA
A: You're on the right track with cleaning the window sills and plant containers. Removing the plants from their pots and cleaning the planters using a 10% bleach solution can go a long way. Perhaps the most important thing to do, though, is to go a step further and use new potting soil.
Take your elephant ears and other houseplants that are suffering and completely remove the potting soil and compost it. Then wash off the roots of the plants, knocking off as much potting soil as you can. Repot the elephant ears and other plants in fresh potting soil.
Do your best to avoid overwatering, too, which can lead to root rot — especially over the winter when plants aren't growing as vigorously. Give that a try and see if it helps.
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