The Easiest Plants To Propagate. Methods, Steps & Tips On How To Do It.
Propagating houseplants is easy!
Some plants are easier to propagate than others.
I am here to tell you which plants are the easiest to propagate at home and how to do it properly.
But let’s start from the basics.
Propagating plants means making new plants with the ones you already have at home.
You can do that to increase the number of plants you have in your home collection, or to gift them to your loved ones, or simply to experiment and have fun! (Propagating plants is an excellent activity to do with kids!)
If you are not a licensed retailer, you should not propagate plants with the intention of selling them! In-fact, many plants come with that specific warning on their label!!
There are mainly three ways to propagate houseplants;
- by stem cutting, (the most common way)
- by leaf, (the least common and least successful)
- by division, (this one requires separating the roots of the plant).
I will show you examples of the three methods, but I will walk you through the propagation by stem cutting step by step.
Before I do that, however, it’s worth taking a look at the plants that are actually easy to propagate.
This is my list, and it is based on my tried and true experience.
the 7 easiest houseplants to propagate
1. chinese money plant, (pilea peperomioides)
The Pilea is the plant I propagated the most!
Honestly, it makes propagating plants easy!
I bought one plant, and three years later I had rooted almost 40 pups and gifted 30+ little Pileas!
This plant never stops producing pups that are easy to cut off and root in water!
Here’s how: buy one healthy plant, place it in a very bright spot with indirect light, (a North facing window is ideal), and water it once a week, or when the top soil feels dry to the touch.Â
Proper drainage is critical for the health of this plant, so make sure it is planted in a pot with drainage holes and that you can always see the water draining out every time you water it. Discard that excess water after an hour!
You’ll notice that your Pilea will start popping out little plants near its main stem. Let those “pups” grow to a size similar to the one in the picture below.
Use a pair of sharp shears to cut the pup’s stems as close to the main stem as possible. Dig a bit into the soil if necessary. That way, you’ll be able to get enough stem, (and even some tiny roots), to dip in water.
It takes approximately a week to see the first roots forming.Â
After 4-6 weeks you are ready to plant your baby Pileas in dirt!
Pilea pups I collected in one session. This plant grows so many pups that sometime it’s worth waiting until there are a few of them. This way they can be cut off at the same time.
We built these cute propagating glass tubes with wood bases, but you can find very similar types on Amazon.
The tall Pilea in the back is the 3.5 years old mother of all my pups.Â
2. Devil's Ivy, (Epipremnum Aureum)
The Devil’s Ivy, or Pothos, is one of the easiest plants to propagate.
Honestly, this plant is the easiest one at pretty much everything!
It’s low maintenance, needing little water and care, it can tolerate any humidity and light conditions.
In-fact, this beautiful, fast growing trailing plant can even grow in water!
Propagating the Devil’s Ivy is easy!
Simply cut its long stems between the nodes. Nodes are those protrusions along the stems where the leaves are attached. Those brown, dry protrusions are actually the beginning of roots.
Simply place the cuttings in water to root.
The Devil’s Ivy will form roots within a week. I recommend you wait until the roots are well developed before you plant the cuttings in soil, which is generally around 6-8 weeks.
Use a generic soil mixed with perlite, (4 parts soil to 1 part perlite), to guarantee soil drainage. Plant your baby Pothos in pots with drainage holes.
Water once a week if placed in a bright light area, (make sure there is no direct light on it), or every 10 days to 2 weeks if in a moderate light area.
This is a Marble Queen Pothos variety, which is a variegated species of the Devil’s Ivy.Â
4 Devil’s Ivy cuttings rooted in water, after a few months!
3. Monstera Deliciosa
The Monstera Deliciosa is a fantastic plant to have in the house.
It can grow into a majestic size and become a stunning piece of living decor for your home.
Pruning this plant is necessary for its health, to contain its size and to propagate it, of course!
I spent an entire morning pulling apart my Monstera from its support pole in order to repot it, prune it, and train it back into a taller coco coir pole.Â
I propagated 4 of its best cuttings.
Here’s a secret 🤫; growing a Monstera from the cutting of a mature plant is a great shortcut to big, fenestrated leaves in short time!
So, if you are thinking of getting a Monstera for its beautiful leaves, you are better off getting a cutting from a friend of yours that owns a mature plant, rather than spending big bucks for a small, yet young plant that will take a few years to grow big and fenestrated leaves!
Propagating Monsteras is quite easy!Â
Find a pair of sharp shears and cut between the nodes, which are those protrusions with the leaves and aerial leaves attached to it.
Then simply place the healthiest cuttings in water to root for up to 8 weeks.
Once your cuttings have long and healthy roots as shown in the picture, you can plant them in soil.
It is important that you don’t plant those cuttings in big pots.
Monsteras are epiphytes, and in nature they grow on top of other trees and plants with very little medium.
The bigger the pot, the more soil it will contain, and the more soil, the more water is retained, which it can suffocate the plant’s roots, and kill them.
Make sure you use a tropical plant soil mixed with perlite do add enough drainage to the mix, (4 parts soil, 1 part perlite), and that you plant the cuttings into terracotta pots with drainage holes.
4 of the healthiest cuttings I pruned off my Monstera.
2 of those 4 cuttings growing roots in water. (This picture shows 6 months of roots growth in water, you don’t have to wait this long to plant your cuttings in soil.)
4. Prayer Plant, (Maranta Leuconeura)
Prayer Plants are easier to propagate than to care for…Let me explain that!Â
Prayer Plants are not hard to grow; in-fact, they grow pretty big, quite fast. What is tricky about these plants is keeping them as beautiful as they look on Instagram feeds and stores when you first buy them.
They have a tendency to crisp their leaves’ edges as they thrive in very high humidity.
Personally, I tried everything and I haven’t yet succeeded with the Prayer Plant!
Sooner or later, their leaves will crisp! Heck, I am even growing one in water!
Anyway, if you love this plant as much as I do, (despite the crispy leaves), propagating it is super easy!
As it grows, the Prayer Plant stems will get longer. Similarly to the Monstera Deliciosa, these stems will have nodes. Each node will have leaves attached to it and noticeable tiny aerial roots protruding from it.
Using sharp shears, cut between the nodes to obtain cutting(s) to root in water.
You can place those cutting(s) in water and within a week you’ll notice new roots growing.
Allow 6-8 weeks before planting the rooted cutting(s) in soil.
Use a tropical soil mixed with perlite, (4 parts soil, 1 part perlite), in a pot with drainage holes.Â
Place your potted Prayer Plant in a bright spot, away from direct sunlight.
Make sure you provide a lot of humidity to this plant by either misting it daily, placing its pot on top of a pebble tray filled with water, grouping it with other plants, or by using a mister.
Water it weekly so that the soil is moist but not too soggy. Do not allow the soil to dry out between waterings.
Propagating my Prayer Plant.
On the left side there are two stem cuttings. On the right side, is a rhizome cutting, which is basically a baby plant created from the roots.
This is the Prayer Plant I have been growing in water for over 2 years. It started as a stem cutting.
5. Jade Plant, (crassula ovata)
The Jade Plant is an easy plant to propagate and to care for.
It’s an amazing succulent to have in the home or at the office for its many auspicious aspects and for its ease of care.
It is considered one of the best Feng Shui plants as it is believed to bring prosperity to those who own it.
If properly cared for, this plant can live for many years and grow to incredible proportions!
Its ease of propagation can allow you to gift parts of your plant to your loved one as a symbolic gesture of friendship, luck, or even as housewarming gift for a new home.
Differently from other plants and even succulents, Â the Jade Plant, can simply be pinched off by hand and planted directly in soil to root. It doesn’t need any time to form the callous or to root in water.
All the Jade Plants I propagated, I simply snapped off the stems from the mother plant and poked into a pot filled with cactus/succulent soil mixed with perlite, (4 parts soil, 1 part perlite) into a pot with draining holes.
The cuttings took off and grew into new plants.
These plants need a lot of bright light, even a few hours of full sun to grow happy and healthy. Rotate them every time you water them so that the stems don’t start leaning towards the sun one way and remain straight.
Water them once a week and repot them once you notice the roots are growing out of the draining holes.
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This Jade Plant is a propagated plant obtained with a few cuttings from the mother plant.
This is a multi-generation, 60+ years old Jade Plant that my friend inherited from her grandmother.
Jade Plants can grow big!!
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6. Wax Plant, (Hoya Carnosa)
The Wax Plant is a beautiful trailing plant that not only is easy to propagate; it is very easy to care for indoors.
The one Wax Plant I have, it has actually been propagated from three cuttings I took from my friend’s beautiful plant.
I simply cut off three pieces from the stems of her plant.Â
On a Wax Plant, the nodes are not as evident as they are on other plants, but they are there. Where you see leaves, there are nodes.
Once again, I cut the stems between nodes and I place the cuttings in water to root.
The Wax Plant took longer than other plants to grow roots, but within 2 weeks, I saw the first tiny roots poking out the nodes.
After 8 weeks, I planted those 3 cuttings in soil using tropical plants soil mixed with perlite, (4 parts soil, 1 part perlite) into a pot with drainage holes.
While the Hoya Carnosa is a slow grower compared to other trailing plants I have, its growth has been steady and I had to repot it twice already.Â
Always check for roots peaking through the drainage holes at the bottom of their pot. That is a sign your plant needs to be repotted.
I keep my Hoya by a very bright North facing window with no direct sunlight, and I water it every two weeks.
Interesting facts! Hoyas like humidity, so they will benefit from frequent misting!
3 rooting cuttings I took from my friend’s plant.
Those 3 cuttings developed into a beautiful Hoya plant.
7. String of Hearts, (Ceropegia Woodii)
The String of Hearts, or Rosary Vine, is a unique and dainty trailing plant.
Once you have one, you almost become obsessed with the fear of killing it.Â
That’s why you take any opportunity you have to propagate it. Or, that’s what I do, anyway! (I still do it, every time, whether it’s a single heart or a string, or a tuber).
In the String of Heart, the tuber is the node. Some tubers along the strings are much bigger than others.
There are 4 main ways to propagate SOH:
- By stem cutting rooting in water
- By leaf rooting in water
- By tuber directly in soil
- By tuber in closed container
I’ve tried them all and I can tell you the most successful way is the first one; stems rooting in water.
Since String of Hearts grow long quite fast, giving its strings a cut it is quite beneficial.
When you do that, you can take its cuttings and place them in water for rooting.
As always, cut the strings between the nodes, (tubers), which are the protrusions along the strings where the leaves are attached.
After 2 weeks in water you’ll be able to notice tiny roots poking out the enlarged nodes, (tubers). You will also notice that those nodes that you put under water, will enlarge quite a bit as they develop roots. Those are the nodes you will plant under the soil after at least 8 weeks of rooting.
Plant your well developed SOH in generic soil mixed with perlite, (4 parts soil, 1 part perlite), using a pot with draining holes.
Place it in a spot with a lot of bright, indirect light and water it once a week in Spring and Summer, slowing down the watering in Fall and Winter as SOH goes dormant during the Winter season.
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String of Hearts cuttings after pruning my plant.
Those same cuttings rooting in water. You can see the roots poking out of the nodes (tubers) in water.
One leaf can grow roots if it is attached to its node (tuber), as the roots grow from this node.
These are the nodes (tubers) I am rooting in this closed glass jar. I placed a layer of decorative rocks at the bottom of the jar and I added some water to create humidity within the closed jar. The closed jar works as it own mini echo-system.
propagation methods
Now that you know what are the easiest plants to propagate, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty…
But before we dive deep into the step by step on how to propagate houseplants, I’d like to spare a few words on the different ways plants can be propagated.
As mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, there are 3 main ways to propagate plants.
I am breaking them down here for you.
You can’t really pick and choose which way you are going to propagate your plant. Every plant is propagated in one specific way.
It is rare that you can propagate the same plant in two different ways. It can happen, but it’s rare, or the rate of success is low.
For example, ZZ plants are propagated by division, which is a root separation method. However, I did try to root a big ZZ Plant stem that broke off during transportation. It took months before seeing the first tiny roots, but I eventually ended up planting it and having a new ZZ Plant out of it!
Snake Plants are another example; they are generally propagated by division, but they can also root by cutting the leaf and placing it in water to root.
Let’s keep it simple for the sake of this blog post, and see what are these 3 different propagation methods.
1. by stem cutting
Propagation by stem cutting is the easiest method in my opinion, and often a simple by-product of a good pruning session!Â
Nothing like killing two birds with one stone!Â
You just need to be a little more careful where you make the cut when you prune your indoor plant, (if your intention is to use the cuttings, or some of the cuttings to propagate the plant).
The new roots can grow either from a node in the stem, (the protrusion where the leaves are attached), or from the cut in the stem. It really depends on the plant you are propagating.
It’s important that whatever cut you make, it’s a clean cut made with a sharp knife or shears that don’t damage the stem.
If you are propagating a succulent by stem cutting, you need to allow the cut to dry out for 2-3 days before placing it in water to root.
This process is called “forming the callous”.
If your plant is not a succulent, you can place it directly into water to root.
The stem cutting propagation rate of success is pretty high.
This is the stem of a Pencil Cactus. I cut the stem from the mother plant and let it dry out for 2-3 days before placing it in water. It took a few weeks to grow roots from the cut area as there are no nodes along this plant’s stems.
This is the stem of a String of Hearts.
In this case the roots are growing from the node, (tuber), along the stem of the plant.
A cute propagation stand like this one can be found on Amazon.
2. by leaf
Propagation by leaf seems to be common and successful with succulents, or succulent like plants.
Depending on the type of plant, the leaf can either be left on the top soil or dipped in water to root.
Healthy succulents leaves grow roots when they are removed from the mother plant in their entirety, not cut in the middle. Click here for more on propagating succulents.
Some leaves, like most Echeverias, Jades and Panda Plants, can grow roots by simply laying on top soil and being misted twice a week.
Others, like Peperomias and Snake Plants grow roots in water.
This Echeveria leaf has grown roots by simply laying on its mother plant top soil.
This Peperomia Hope leaf grew roots in water. I dipped the leaf attachment to the stem into water and it produced roots and a new plantlet.
3. by division
Propagation by division is not as common in houseplants as it is for outdoor plants.
I’ve only done it twice on two different plants; ZZ Plant and Strelitzia Nicolai.
I have big species of both plants so it has been a long process in both cases!
The main difference is that with this method, you need to really intervene on your mother plant and take it out of its pot in order to propagate it.
Once you’ve removed the plant from its pot, you need to assess the conditions of the roots. If the roots can easily be untangled and divided, gently pull the different stems and roots apart to create different groups, like in the picture below.
If the roots are too dense and tangled up, you need to take radical action and cut them apart with a sharp knife!Â
I know it seems too invasive, but it won’t damage the plant.
Simply divide the plant/rootball in how many parts you want to propagate.
This is the division of my giant ZZ Plant. It took me an entire morning to divide and repot these 5 plants I obtained from it. In this case the roots and tubers were loose enough that I was able to pull them apart without needing to cut the rootball.
Step by Step stem cutting propagation
step #1 - pick the right time to propagate your plants
Spring is always the best time to do anything for your plants; from repotting to pruning, from resuming fertilization to propagating.
However, there are exceptions.
If your plants are infested by pests or diseases they need to be treated right away, no matter the season.
If you are propagating a plant because you are trying to save what remains of it, do it whatever the season, as long as the stem you are propagating is still healthy.
Otherwise, wait until Spring.
step #2 - select the right stems to propagate
When propagating plants, you need healthy stems.
If you are pruning a plant for maintenance purposes, save the best cuttings for propagation.
If your intent is to simply propagate a few stems, look at your plant.
Are there stems longer than others than can be cut?
In my case, I had an extremely long Marble Queen Pothos stem. I cut it short, and subsequently cut it into 4 cuttings that I eventually rooted in water.
For the sake of your mother plant, cut the longest stems. For the success of your cuttings, make sure these cuttings are healthy.
Did you know that pruning is extremely beneficial for indoor plants?
Click here to read all about the benefits of pruning houseplants!
This Marble Queen Pothos stem was so long that once I cut it, I ended up dividing it into 4 cuttings!
step #3 - cut between the nodes when possible
If you are pruning a plant that has nodes along the stems, make the cut between those nodes.
Nodes are protrusions where both leaves and aerial roots, (or small roots), depending on the plant, are attached.
New roots will grow from the nodes.
Nodes are present on the majority of trailing plants, such as Monsteras, Pothos, Philodendrons, String of Hearts, Hoyas, etc.
If you are propagating a stem without nodes, like Pileas, Rubber Plants, etc. make your cut as low as possible so that there is enough stem to be dipped into a container filled with water.
In this photo I am cutting a Monstera stem between two nodes.
step #4 - (Only if you are propagating a succulent)
allow the cuttings to form the callous
If you are not propagating succulent stems, skip to Step #5.
If you are propagating succulent stems, (leaves are left on the top soil and not placed in water to root), you cannot place them in water right away.
Succulent stems need to form a callous before going into water.
“Forming a callous” means drying up the area that has been cut.
Wait for 2-3 days before placing your succulent cuttings in water.
These Fishbone Cactus cuttings are forming the callous before going into water to root.
step #5 - place cuttings in water to root
Once your cuttings are ready, you can place them in water to root.
Some plant species are faster than others forming roots.Â
Some plants will grow roots within a week, others will take three weeks to show the first shy roots.Â
My recommendation is to wait at least 8 weeks before planting your rooted cuttings into soil.
These are the 4 cuttings I obtained from that one long Marble Queen Pothos stem.
I placed them in water, changing the water once a week.
After 4 weeks, the roots have developed quite a bit.
After a few months, these roots can use a new jar!Â
You don’t have to wait this long to plant your cuttings in soil.Â
I chose to keep my Pothos as a water plant.
step #6 - replace water weekly
For the health of your plant’s roots, it’s important to replace the water in the container weekly.
step #7 - plant the rooted cuttings in soil
Finally, after the roots have established, which is approximately 8 weeks, (although it depends on the plant your are propagating), your cuttings can be planted in soil.
It is really important that whatever plant you have propagated, you provide proper drainage by adding perlite to the soil of your choice and by choosing a pot with drainage holes. Proper drainage is critical for the health of your plants!
One other important aspect to remember is that this new plant will require more frequent watering in the beginning than its mother plant. You need to consider that this plant is coming from 8+ weeks in water, and it needs to adapt to its new medium!
Make sure you give it plenty of water, (without drowning it – here’s where drainage is oh! so important), for the first month or so.
Now you’ve learnt everything you need to know to propagate houseplants!
It’s time for you to “get your hands dirty” and get busy propagating houseplants!
Disclosure: This Blog contains affiliate links, which means I will make a commission at no cost to you, if you make a purchase after clicking my link.
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Very useful post as all of your posts are! Can’t wait to try propagating some plants myself!