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A less common word for transplanting your houseplants is propagation. To propagate means to spread or bear offspring. It’s time to propagate or transplant your houseplants when they get too large or spindly, when they don’t look as healthy, when a part of the plant begins to die or you want to have more plants.
Dividing a plant at the roots is the best and easiest way to propagate clump forming plants like many types of ferns, self-heading philodendron, Chinese evergreen, maranta, peperomia, and sansevieria. The plant needs to be well watered and works best if you water the soil thoroughly the day before you divide the plant. Support the plant with one hand and turn the pot upside down with the other. Gently slip the plant out of the pot. Sometimes you will have to tap the pot on the side of a table. The key to working with root systems is to be gentle. Shake the soil from the roots and you will be able to see where the places are for root division easier. Usually, you can take different plant sections apart easily with gentle pulling. Sometimes the roots and intertwined together in a hopeless maze and you will need to use a sharp knife to cut the sections apart. Cutting the roots apart may seem like it would kill the plants, but the different sections will survive if you do it gently and get the new plants potted quickly. The roots must be kept moist. Water the new plants every day for a week and don’t put them in direct sunlight for at least two weeks while they get used to their new environments.
The best-known way to propagate houseplants is by using stem cuttings. Most stem cuttings will take root easily in water but water-grown roots are more apt to break off in potting than roots that have been started in sand or perlite mixtures. To use the method of stem cuts, cut off a four to six inch end of a growing stem with a sharp knife. The cut needs to be made just below the place where a leaf joins a stem for the best root development. The bottom two inches of the stem needs to be bare. Just take off the lower leaves if there are any. If you don’t take off the leaves, they could rot and could cause the root to die. You can buy root promoting powder at nurseries. Dip the cut end into the powder if you have it. Then put the cutting into a container of perlite-peat mixture or moist, coarse sand. Water and keep in a cool location out of direct sunlight but where there is some light. A greenhouse is the best environment for propagating plants. If you want to, you can cover the container and cutting with a clear plastic. Place stakes in the pot so the plastic does not touch the cutting. After three or four weeks, gently take the cutting from the mix and check for roots. If you see roots formed, it’s time to put the plant into a pot.
Houseplants that have aerial runners that form new plantlets are very easy to propagate. If these plants were grown outside in a natural setting, the weight of the plants would eventually help if come down to moist soil and it would begin to grow a new plant. To imitate this when the plant is a houseplant, you need to provide a nearby soil-filled pot for the new plantlets. When a new plant forms, fill a pot that is at least five inches high with a good soil mix. Using a bent loop of wire (a hairpin works for this) pin the plantlet to the soil in the new pot. Leave the runner to the new plant attached for about four or five weeks. By then the new plant will have developed roots. Keep the soil moist during this important time of growth. When the plantlet stays firmly in the soil when gently pulled, you know that it has roots and you can cut the runner.
A number of other plants have leaves that are able to produce roots. These include gloxinias, African violets, and some begonias. Fill a jar with water, cover the top with foil and pierce small holes in the foil, large enough for the leaf stems. When you see the roots have developed heartily, transfer each of the cuttings to a pot.
Transplanting houseplants is fun and rewarding. Try it you’ll like it.
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