According to NASA, a study showed there are 8 plants that stand above the rest in their ability to purify the air. The snake plant is one.
Snake plants are one of the easiest houseplants to propagate, making them perfect for new plant parents. Growing a snake plant from cuttings is easy and takes very little time. Once you know how to propagate snake plants, they’ll grow forever — no need to keep buying new ones! Propagating your own plants will also save you some cash (a single snake plant can sell for $20 or more). Here’s everything you need to know about propagating snake plants at home.
- What is snake plant propagation
- Why propagate snake
- When to propagate
- Steps to propagating
- Other ways to propagate
- More Helpful Tips
- Conclusion
What is Snake Plant Propagation?
Propagation is the process of producing new plants from existing ones. There are different ways to propagate plants, including taking cuttings or rooting plant stems in water. You can also grow new plants from seed or by dividing existing plant clumps. When you propagate a plant, you’re increasing the number of that plant’s offspring. When you propagate a plant successfully, you’ll have more plants than you started with. Propagating plants is a great way to increase your supply without having to plant more seeds or buy more plants. It’s also a way to share your plants with others who may not be able to easily obtain them — you can share new plants with friends and family and help them grow their own houseplants!
Why Propagate Snake Plants?
If you love snake plants and want to enjoy their low-maintenance charm at home, you’ll need to start with a new plant. You can easily propagate snake plants to grow a whole new clump of them. You can also share your new plants with friends or family members to grow their own indoor gardens. Propagating snake plants is easy, and many growers say it’s one of the easiest plants to propagate by cuttings. You can expect new plants to grow in just a couple of months, so you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy them before the winter arrives. You can propagate snake plants at any time of the year, but growers recommend propagating snake plants in the spring or fall. The best time to propagate snake plants is when new growth appears on the plant’s stems.
When to Propagate Snake Plants?
As we mentioned above, you can propagate snake plants almost any time of year, but spring and fall are the best times. If you want to start propagating snake plants in the spring, look for new growth on the plant’s stem that appears in the late winter and early spring. When new growth appears, clip a 4-6 inch section from the tip of the stem and let the wound dry out for a few days before propagating the snake plant. If you want to propagate snake plants in the fall, wait until the weather has cooled down and new growth appears on the plant. You can wait until the first frost or a few weeks after that.
Steps to Propagate Snake Plants
You will need a few tools to successfully propagate your snake plant. I had great success with things I already had around the house, making this incredibly simple. If you don’t have something, you can buy all of the tools you need to propagate a snake plant at most gardening or hardware stores. You’ll also need a clean, dry pot to transplant your new snake plant into once it has grown roots. Find a healthy snake plant to propagate. Healthy snake plants have dark green leaves with a few visible veins, and the leaves should feel smooth and firm. You can also identify a healthy snake plant by its strong scent. Cut a 4-6 inch section from the tip of a healthy snake plant’s stem. Make sure to cut below a node — a bump on the stem that’s above the leaves. Remove any leaves from the bottom half of the stem cutting. Leave the top half of the stem with leaves intact. Remove all dirt from the bottom half of the stem cutting. Place your stem cutting in a pot of clean water. Make sure the water covers the bottom half of the stem cutting. Keep your stem cutting moist, but not soggy. You can use a plant or aquarium pump to help keep your water clean and oxygenated, but you can also use a filter or simply change the water every few days. Wait for roots to grow and the stem to die back. This will take a few weeks. You can speed up this process by changing the water and keeping it warm. Transplant your snake plant and enjoy the new plants!
Other Ways to Propagate a Snake Plant
You can also propagate snake plants from leaf cuttings, or you can use the same method to root stem cuttings in water. Take leaf cuttings from a healthy snake plant. You’ll need to leave a small amount of the leaf stem on the leaf. Place the leaf cuttings in moist, but not soggy, soil in a pot. Make sure the leaf cuttings are not touching each other. Keep the soil between 60-80 degrees F, and wait for the leaves to root. Take a few stem cuttings from a healthy snake plant. You can either root them in water or plant them in soil.
More Helpful Tips For Successful Snake Plant Propagation
Snake plants are very easy to propagate, but there are a few things you can do to make the process even easier and more successful. Clean your plant regularly to get rid of insects and bacteria that can infect new cuttings. Use a clean pair of scissors and a clean pot to propagate snake plants. Wait for the plant to produce new growth before cutting it. If you want to propagate a mature plant, you can cut it below a node. Make sure to leave the top half of the stem with leaves on it. If you are cutting a mature plant, make sure to leave a few nodes below the cut. This will help the plant grow new roots. Keep the soil moist but not soggy to help the plants recover quickly. Wait for the roots to grow before transplanting the new plants. This will help prevent transplant shock.
Conclusion
If you love the look of snake plants, but can’t get one because you don’t have room for a full-sized specimen, you can propagate new plants from cuttings. Snake plants are one of the easiest houseplants to propagate, making them perfect for new plant parents. When you propagate a snake plant, you’ll have more plants than you started with, and you can share your new plants with friends and family to grow their own indoor gardens. If you want to enjoy the low-maintenance charm of snake plants but can’t get one because you don’t have room for a full-sized specimen, you can propagate new plants from cuttings. Snake plants are one of the easiest houseplants to propagate, making them perfect for new plant parents.
Photo by Kara Eads on Unsplash