How do you spend your weekend with the family?
Let me suggest houseplant propagation…
Not only that it’s a great conversation starters…
It will also build up the bond between your entire family members!
Hear it from Michelle!
One of my favourite plant activities is Plant Propagation…
I enjoy it more than re-potting, watering and pruning…
It gives me tremendous joy and satisfaction, and best of all, my kids enjoy it too!
There is almost nothing better than watching plants give you babies in ways you never imagined possible!
As my daughter said recently: “Nature has her ways…”
Propagation is just really cool!
One of the nicest things about propagation is its variety…
There are many different ways to propagate the same plant and many plants are quite easy to propagate…
It is a great skill to have because you can make lots of new plants for your garden rather than having to purchase them from a nursery (saving you money). It’s also nice to propagate plants and give them to friends and family as presents.
Plant propagation also just gives you great satisfaction in knowing you’ve played a part in creating those plants, which is probably one of the most rewarding aspects of gardening.
Matt Coulter, Horticultural Curator of Plant Propagation in Botanic Gardens of South Australia
You can display your cuttings, offsets, seeds, or seeds in countless appealing ways with this propagation type…
Plant propagation has recently attracted tremendous interest…
… leading to many “propagation stations” being designed based on a variety of different design principles.
I am a complete sucker for plants of all types, and I adore the way these pieces are displayed…
All of us love to propagate plants in our family…
I love it for the reasons mentioned above as well as the fact that it provides me with endless styling solutions…
My daughter likes it because she’s fascinated by the growth of the plants in the little glass jars…
… and my son is amazed by the different ways and conditions plants grow roots…
My husband is just happy that we are happy…
Plant propagation excites me to the point that I could talk for hours about it…
… but I really want to focus on the amazing benefits plant propagation has on children.
Kids learn about plants and their lives, growth, and development in a close and personal way…
… when they take part in plant propagation.
My belief is that plant propagation is a great way to get kids into observing, observing, and discovering plants…
This daily ritual eventually leads to a caring attitude towards plants and nature in general…
… which is a blessing given our current environmental crisis.
Plant propagation has become an opportunity to connect with my kids…
… as they share their discoveries and excitement for a change in the cutting.
My recommendation to anyone who likes plants and has children is to propagate plants…
We replanted Pileas pups in plastic terracotta pots. In the blue pot, the first pup was transplanted…
The second and third puppies went into the smaller pots…
Both plants were placed in open air and the other in a sealed glass jar to compare growth in just one week…
The one in the glass jar grew much faster!
The two pups, which have been rooted in water for several days now…
… are still waiting for a frog to guard the plants.
Regardless of how long or how short you want to make the process…
… you can choose the right plant for your children to propagate.
There are plants that propagate very easily and fast…
… while other plants may be difficult and slow to propagate, making them too boring for a child.
Following are the simple steps to propagate:
- Begin by cutting leaves, stems, or cut-offs from the mother plant;
- If you are experimenting with children, I recommend doing the root development in water rather than soil to allow them to observe how the roots grow;
- It should grow into a bigger plant in the end.
- It will make the propagation experience even more meaningful for your kids to give the new plant as a gift to a friend since I have so many baby plants.
You can enhance your experience by conducting growth experiments…
We enjoy experimenting with different roots and plants for Pileas…
… as the mother plant produces copious amounts of pups (offspring) and they grow really fast.
For example:
Once the pups were cut from the mother plant..
..they were planted directly in a pot filled with dirt…
… while the other was placed in a jar of water.
We haven’t noticed any noticeable difference between the two…
One of my favorite experiments:
- Plant two identical Pilea pups into identical pots with dirt after taking them out of their jars with water.
- Water both plants with the same amount of water.
- Leave one plant on the shelf in the open air, and store another in a glass jar and do not open it for one full week.
- The Pilea in the sealed jar will grow faster compared to the one in the open air after just one week. (Pileas love the tropical humidity in the glass jar).
Propagation Techniques For Kids
Here are some of the best indoor plant propagation techniques you can try with your kids…
… and which plants are the easiest to propagate while having fun with it.
Cuttings
Plants that are cut, for one purpose or another, intentionally or accidentally…
… to produce another plant are called cuttings.
Snake Plant (Sansevieria Trifasciata)
Indoor Snake Plants are popular for many, many reasons…
… such as their ability to purify the air, low maintenance requirement…
… and ability to thrive in any lighting conditions, including environments without natural light.
Jade Plant (Crassula Ovata)
Peperomia Rotundifolia
String of Pearls (Senecio Rowleyanus)
Rubber Plant (Ficus Elastica)
Succulents
I find succulent propagation to be very interesting…
We found a succulent propagation leaf in one of our pots entirely by chance, and we were amazed…
However, one way to do it seems very simple; one removes the leaf from the stem…
… lets it dry for a couple of days, then either places it on top of soil or into a jar filled with water…
… and wait for roots to appear and baby plants to appear!
Pencil Cactus (Euphorbia Tirucalli)
Offsets
The difference between offsets and cuttings can simply be attributed to the fact…
… that the cuttings are neither leaves nor stems cut above the soil line.
Offsets are usually rhizomes poking through the soil surface and growing new shoots below the dirt line…
You can find offsets by removing the mother plant from its pot and digging through the dirt…
… to find where the new shoot is attached to the main plant.
After you cut this shoot off the main plant, most of the time you will also see…
… that it already has roots growing from it. The larger the offset is, the deeper the roots will grow…
Sansevieria Cylindrica
Chinese Money Plant (Pilea Peperomioides)
It is one of the easiest and most versatile plants I’ve grown!
We bought our first Pilea in October, and not only did it grow significantly…
… but it also gave us 8 pups we’ve removed already, plus three new ones that just emerged!
Division
As shown in the examples below..
..division propagation is performed by dividing the roots of the plants…
We have never tried this type of propagation as it isn’t as captivating as watching roots form…
Seeding
Growing plants by seeding is the most often used method of propagating plants for both kids and adults…
… especially in schools and daycares.
I’m sure every kid’s seen a bean sprout!!
Meyer Lemon
Avocado
We couldn’t successfully grow an Avocado plant out of a pit yet…
We did try the water method, but that didn’t work. I guess we will continue trying…
To make it more interesting, we will test both methods at the same time…
… and determine which one works best for us; pit immersed in water and pit planted in dirt.
Layering
My own experience with this technique is that it truly works…
… when growing Creeping Jennys, (Lysimachia nummularia), outside!
To sum it up…
Put plant propagation as one of your family activities on the weekends…
You may choose from five of the methods mentioned above…
… by asking your kids which ones they may like!
Also, there are many easy houseplants to propagate…
It’s just a matter of choice now that you’re aware of the techniques…
Conclusion
There are still many recent and interesting articles about Snake Plants..
..as well as other unique information from All Things Gardener..
For further information and other inquiries..
Check out more of our posts like this one here!
I hope you can now take care your snake carefully and grow it big!
Thanks for reading this article! Bye!