Thursday, April 18, 2013

Plant Propagation: Pothos (Devil's Ivy)

Pothos is another easy to propagate plant.  Cuttings from a mature plant can easily be rooted in water, and then planted in bunches to make a new, full potted plant.  These are the steps I took to propagate my pothos plant (I am in no way an expert in this field!). 


1) Select a few strands of pothos for cutting.  People generally recommend cuttings around 6 inches long and having a few leaves on each cutting (I did manage to successfully root and grow a plant from a cutting that only had one leaf on it, but that might not always be the easiest way to go about it).  You will want 3-4 clippings to plant in a pot to make it look good. 

2) Cut vines a quarter inch or so below a root node.  These are the little brown bumps that occur every few inches on a pothos vine.  Remove leaves from the bottom few inches of the clipping, but make sure you still have a few left!  If you have a long vine, you can cut it up into multiple pieces as long as each segment has a root node.   


3) Place cuttings in water, making sure the root node (or nodes) are submerged and the leaves are not.  Place the cuttings in filtered light (they don't do well with a lot of direct sun light).  Roots will grow out from the root nodes.  Add water if you notice the water level getting low while the roots are growing.

4) Once roots are 1-2 inches long (this will likely take a couple weeks), carefully plant in regular potting soil.  The roots are fragile, so be careful placing them in the dirt or they may break off!

5) Water often for the first few weeks while the roots establish.



This is my new plant made from three cuttings.
For all my plant propagation posts, click here