No doubt we are all fans of homegrown plants. In addition to decorating our home they have many other benefits as well.
The advantage of growing house plants is that we can grow them whenever we want. All we need is some sunlight on the outside.
As mentioned above these plants have many benefits. These benefits can be healthful, but simply their presence contributes to happiness and well-being.
The good news is that some of these plants can be easily planted with cuttings. So that’s exactly our theme for today. We will do our best to teach you how to do this easily and efficiently.
Jade
About Jade Plant
Jade plants are succulent houseplants, which makes them fairly resilient and easy to grow indoors—plus, they’re long-lived. See how to care for your jade plant.
With their thick, woody stems and oval-shaped leaves, jade plants have a miniature, tree-like appearance that makes them very appealing for use as a decorative houseplant. They live for a very long time, often being passed down from generation to generation and reaching heights of three feet or more when grown indoors.
Jade plants adapt well to the warm, dry conditions found in most homes. It’s important to keep the plant watered during the growing season (spring, summer) and drier during the dormant season (fall, winter). However, even during the growing season, the soil should be allowed to dry out fully between waterings, as jade is very susceptible to rot.
Jade plants may be grown outdoors as landscape plants in areas with a mild, dry climate year-round (typically Zone 10 and warmer). They are very susceptible to cold damage, so in locations where temperatures get to freezing or below, it’s best to grow jade in containers and take them indoors when it gets below 50°F (10°C).
JADE PLANT FROM A LEAF OR STEM CUTTING
- Remove a leaf or take a stem cutting from a well-established plant. An ideal stem cutting would be 2–3 inches in length and have at least two pairs of leaves. Once you have your leaf or cutting, allow it to sit for several days in a warm place; a callous will form over the cut area, helping to prevent rot and encourage rooting.
- Gather your pot and a well-draining potting mix. Use soil that is slightly moist, but not wet.
- Take the leaf and lay it on top of the soil horizontally, covering the cut end with some of the soil. If you have a stem cutting, place it upright in the soil (prop it up with a few small rocks or toothpicks if it won’t stand on its own).
- Place the pot in a warm place with bright, indirect light. Do not water.
- After a week or two, the leaf or cutting will start sending out roots. A week or so after that, give the plant a gentle poke or tug to see if it has rooted itself in place. If it hasn’t, wait a bit longer, testing it (gently!) every few days.
- Once the plant seems to be firmly rooted, water it deeply and carefully. Use something like a turkey baster to gently water the plant without disturbing the roots too much. Make sure that you don’t just get the surface layer of the soil wet, as you want to encourage the roots to grow downward for water, not towards the surface.
- Let the soil dry out between waterings and keep the plant out of intense direct sunlight until it is well established.
Christmas Cactus
Christmas cacti are a very popular houseplant—and for good reason! When they bloom, they produce colorful, tubular flowers in pink or lilac colors. Their beautiful flowers, long bloom time, and easy care requirements make them a wonderful plant. We’ll bet someone in your family has a Christmas cactus!
Unlike many other cacti, Christmas cacti and their relatives don’t live in arid environments. Their natural habit is one of an epiphyte living in tree branches in the rain forests of Brazil! In other words, they prefer a humid climate, not a dry one, so it’s important to water these cacti more regularly than most succulents.
CHRISTMAS CACTUS PLAT FROM CUTTINGS
Propagating Christmas cactus is easy. In fact, when it comes to the Christmas cactus, propagating is a great way to share this wonderful plant with others. Christmas cactus propagation usually begins by simply taking a short, Y-shaped cutting from the stem tip. The cutting should consist of at least two or three joined segments. When doing Christmas cactus propagating, always be sure that cuttings are taken from healthy foliage. Allow the cutting to dry a few hours before potting it up for rooting, as to avoid potential stem rot from excessive moisture.
Pothos
Pothos is arguably the easiest of all houseplants to grow, even if you are a person who forgets to water your plants. This trailing vine has pointed, heart-shaped green leaves, sometimes variegated with white, yellow, or pale green. While pothos likes bright, indirect light it can thrive in areas that don’t get a lot of sunlight or have only fluorescent lighting. It’s an excellent plant for locations such as offices and dorm rooms. One advantage of growing pothos is that they are high on the list of plants that can help purify indoor air of chemicals such as formaldehyde, trichloroethene, toluene, xylene, and benzene.
Light
Outdoors, pothos can be grown in shade to partial shade. Indoors, pothos prefers bright but indirect light. Variegated plants sometimes lose their leaf pattern and revert to all-green plants if they don’t get enough light; moving them to brighter conditions usually restores the variegation. Suddenly paler-looking leaves mean the plant is getting too much sun.
Pothos plants thrive in ordinary, well-draining potting soil, preferably with a slightly acidic pH.
POTHOS PLANT FROM CUTTINGS
Begin by snipping off 4- to 6-inch lengths of healthy stem for your pothos cuttings, making sure each cutting has four or more leaves. Remove the leaf that is closest to the cut end. Once you’ve cut your stems, you’re ready to begin rooting. Pothos propagation can be accomplished in two ways. You might want to try both to see which one works best for you.
The first method of propagating pothos is to place the cut ends of your stems in water. An old glass or jelly jar is perfect for rooting pothos. Place the jar of pothos cuttings in a place that gets plenty of light, but not direct sunlight. About a month after the roots begin to show, you can plant the cuttings in soil and treat them as you would any other houseplant. Be careful though, the longer pothos cuttings remain in water, the harder time they have adapting to soil. It is best to transplant rooted pothos cuttings as soon as they start roots.
The preferred method of how to propagate a pothos begins the same as the first. Take the pothos cuttings and remove the first leaf above the cut ends. Dip the cut end in rooting hormone. Make sure you cover the first set of root nodes. Set the cuttings in a potting mixture of half Ppeat moss and half perlite or sand. Keep the soil moist and keep your rooting pothos out of direct sunlight. Roots should develop after one month and after two or three months, the new plants will be ready.