Trailing Houseplant Propagation: Beginner's Guide

As a plant lover, propagating trailing houseplants is a fun and easy way to create new plant babies. Trailing plants have long, trailing stems making them ideal for hanging pots, baskets, or cascading from a shelf. There are many trailing plants available like Philodendron Brasil, Hoya Linearis, and Philodendron Micans. These trailing plants not only make an excellent addition to your home, but can also be lots of fun to propagate. Think of how much fun it would be to share some of your plants with friends and family members!

Before you begin propagating trailing houseplants, it's important to make sure that your plants are healthy enough to propagate. Never try to propagate a plant that has recently been transplanted, is struggling in any way, or is brand new to your home. It is also discouraged to try to propagate a trailing houseplant that is less than a year old. If your trailing houseplant meets those parameters, you're good to go. 

Let's get propagating!

The Process To Propagate Trailing Plants:

1. To propagate, gather the tools needed: plant snips, rubbing alcohol, glass vase, water, soil rooting hormone, small planter
2. Depending on your plant, you may propagate first in water or go directly into soil. Decide which is best for your variety of plant
3. Clean your cutting apparatus well with rubbing alcohol to remove any contaminates from the blade. Disease can spread from unclean equipment
4. Take a cutting from your plant. From the location that you take your cut, a minimum of one to two nodes must be there. These nodes will grow from new roots within the plant
5. Place your cutting into a water or soil. Keep the jar in a place where sunlight comes or in a warm place. After a few weeks you should be able to see roots
6. If planting directly into soil medium, dip the cutting in rooting hormone before placing into lightly packed soil
7. After you see at least 2" of roots in the water, plant the cutting into pot with a drainage hole. Use only fresh, clean potting soil
8. Water your baby plant regularly, add required nutrition and avoid direct sunlight as per plant needs.

Propagating trailing houseplants is easy, fun and rewarding! Once you get the hang of it, you'll be hooked!