Houseplant Cuttings

Rooting plant cuttings is an easy way to increase your collection quick-

ly, and to teach about vegetative propagation. Many common house-
plants root nicely in a light garden or on a windowsill. You can repot
these new plants for your classroom or send them home with the chil-
dren. Here’s a list of houseplants we recommend for this purpose.

Stem Cuttings Leaf Cuttings Plantlets

impatiens snake plant aloe
coleus jade plant spider plant
chrysanthemum begonia piggyback plant
African violet African violet
geranium
philodendron
wandering jew
Swedish ivy

How to Root Cuttings

1. W
 ater plants well the day before taking cuttings. This reduces
dehydration after cutting.

2. Y
 ou can root many cuttings in one container to save space and
soilless mix. Repot them once the cuttings have rooted. Use your
soilless mix (or a mixture made from equal volumes of perlite and
vermiculite) as a rooting medium. Make sure the mix is moist, but
not soaking wet, or your cuttings will rot.

3. F
 ill the container with mix, gently firm it in place, and make small
holes (1/2 inch to 1 inch deep) with your finger or pencil, spaced as
close as 2 inches apart.

4. N
 ext, take cuttings as described below. Be sure to hold a cutting by
the leaf, not by the stem. If a leaf is damaged, a new one can grow,
but a damaged stem can kill a plant.

Stem cuttings — Take cuttings from newer, faster-growing

stems by snipping with scissors just below the third or fourth
pair of leaves. Strip off the lower pair of leaves (roots will prob-
ably grow from here) leaving two to three sets of healthy leaves
above (see figure A).

Leaf cuttings — Cut a leaf with its stem (petiole). If you’re

propagating a snake plant, cut a two-inch section from the mid-
dle of the leaf (see figure B). Plant as described in Step 5.

Plantlets — Some plants grow tiny plantlets at the end of

runners (spider plant), or at the base of the stem of the mother
plant (aloe). Carefully cut these offshoots from the mother plant
(see figure C) and treat them as described below.

5. C
 arefully place the cutting into the hole and firm the soil around it.
Many people root cuttings in water. You can dip the cutting in a commercial rooting hormone (available
Although some plants will develop many at most garden centers) to speed rooting and prevent stem rot. It’s
roots with this method, the roots often have not necessary to use rooting hormone, but it offers an opportunity
fewer root hairs, are more brittle, and trans- for students to design experiments (like the one described in the
plant poorly. Your class can conduct an Classrooom Profile on page 79) to test its effectiveness.
experiment comparing the growth of cuttings
rooted in water and other rooting mixes. 6. P
 lace individual containers inside plastic bags and tie each one closed
78 GrowLab: A Complete Guide to Gardening in the Classroom
 to retain moisture for rooting. Use stakes or plant labels to keep the
plastic from touching the leaves.
Stimulating
7. P
 lace the containers under lights in a warm area. A light gar- Rooting
den offers a perfect environment for rooting. If you don’t have a A fifth-grade class,
GrowLab or other light setup, place containers in a warm, bright curious to find out
area, but avoid direct sunlight, which can result in a “greenhouse which techniques
effect” that can cook your cuttings! might hasten the pro-
cess of rooting in houseplant cuttings, set up
8. C
 heck the containers occasionally to ensure that the soilless mix is an experiment to test various rooting meth-
ods. These methods included: dipping the
moist. You should see some droplets of water on the inside of the
cuttings in a commercial rooting hormone,
bag, indicating high humidity, but the bag should not be soaking providing bottom heat to the cuttings, feed-
wet. If the soil appears too wet, punch a few holes in the plastic ing the cuttings with a fertilizer high in phos-
bag or open it slightly to allow excess moisture to evaporate. phorus, and even playing music for some
cuttings! They compared the results of these
9. A
 fter about two weeks, check for the presence of new roots by trials with one another and with the control
tugging very gently on the cuttings. When you feel resistance the group and measured the total length of roots
cuttings have developed roots and are ready for transplanting. If for each treatment after three weeks.
they haven’t yet rooted, keep checking at regular intervals. Once
you feel resistance, gently lift the cuttings using a spoon or other
tool and transplant them into separate pots.

Bulbs
A bulb is a living “storehouse” that contains the embryonic stem, leaves,
and flower of a plant. The bulb itself is a thickened underground stem
that stores food for the growth of the plant. Bulbs have food reserves
that enable them to grow and flower with no additional nutrients
during the first year. Once a bulb flowers, the plant must take in
nutrients and photosynthesize in order to develop reserves to flower
again the following year.

Bulbs that you can easily grow or force in the classroom include cro-
cuses, grape hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, and paperwhite narcissus.

How to Force Bulbs

1. P
 urchase bulbs for forcing in the fall when hardy types are com-
monly available from garden centers and nursery catalogs. If you
can’t plant them right away, store them in a cool (40º to 50ºF), dry,
dark spot. Because bulbs are living plants, you shouldn’t leave them
unplanted for long. Try to plant the bulbs by the end of October.

2. P
 lant bulbs in 6-inch pots filled with moist soilless mix (three bulbs
per pot). Bury the bulbs to their tips, with pointed ends facing up.
You don’t need to add fertilizer.

3. P
 ut the pots in a place where the temperature will remain between
35º and 45ºF, such as an unheated garage, cold frame, or refriger-
ator, for a minimum of eight weeks. Since these bulbs are generally
planted outdoors in fall for a spring bloom, this cold treatment will
simulate the winter conditions necessary for them to form roots.
Paperwhite narcissus are the only bulbs rec-
4. N
 ext, move containers inside and keep them in normal classroom ommended here that do not require a chilling
light for two weeks, then put them under your indoor garden lights period. Plant as directed in step 2 at left and
or on a bright windowsill. The bulbs should bloom in two to four place the potted paperwhites in a window.
They should set roots, grow leaves, and flow-
weeks. Once they begin blooming, move the plants from the bright
er in just 6 weeks.
light of the indoor garden to another bright, but cool, spot. This

GrowLab: A Complete Guide to Gardening in the Classroom 79

 will prevent blossoms from fading too quickly.

5. If you want to save your bulbs, remove the spent blooms, leave the
Growing Garlic foliage in place, and fertilize the plants every two weeks with plant
Garlic is another type food diluted according to the label instructions. During this time the
of bulb that you can bulbs produce and store food for next year’s flowers. Rather than
start indoors. Plant attempting to force these bulbs the following year, plant them out-
separate cloves with
side. It may take two or more years before they’ll produce another
the flatter end down,
2 inches deep and 3 inches apart in soilless flush of blooms.
mix. Garlic doesn’t like too much moisture,
so allow the soil to dry thoroughly between
waterings. It also isn’t picky about lighting
and will grow well in a GrowLab or on a
windowsill.
Tubers
Have children crush and smell some of the A tuber is another type of underground stem that acts as a food stor-
leaves and describe the characteristic smell. age organ. Tubers don’t contain embryonic leaves and flowers as bulbs
The bulbs form underground and are ready
do but new plants grow from them. The most familiar example of a
to harvest after the tops yellow, in three or
four months. Use the garlic as an ingredient tuber is the potato. The surface of a potato has “eyes” that are actu-
in your garden salad dressing or experiment ally buds. You can start new potato plants by planting pieces of tuber
with garlic juice as a pest remedy! that contain eyes (explain to the children that this is exactly how
farmers plant their potatoes.) Some grocery store potatoes have been
treated with a chemical to discourage sprouting. To ensure that your
potatoes sprout, start cuttings from several different potatoes or buy
certified “seed potatoes” from a garden center.

Although you won’t be able to grow potatoes to maturity in small

containers indoors, students will be able to observe the early develop-
ment of plants. (If you could grow potatoes to maturity indoors, you
would find that the new tubers develop above the old ones and are
attached by smaller stems to the main plant).

How to Grow a Potato Plant

You can start potatoes in growing mix, or sprout them in water so
that you can view root development. The class can even design an
experiment comparing the growth of potato plants in water versus in
potting mix. In either case, cut potatoes so that there is at least one
eye on every piece.

1. T
 o start potatoes in potting mix, place each piece in a 6-inch pot
so that the eyes are about 3/4 inch below the surface.

2. T
 o start potatoes in water, you’ll need toothpicks and a clear glass
container. Poke three toothpicks an equal distance apart into a
piece of potato, keeping the eyes on top. Set the potato, suspended
by the toothpicks, over the mouth of the container. Add water to
the container until it reaches the potato, but keep the eyes above
the surface of the water.

Place pots or containers in the classroom light garden or on a win-

dow-sill. Remember, you won’t be able to grow potatoes to maturity
indoors in such small containers, but the class can observe early stages
of development.
Sweet potatoes produce beautiful vines. To
start a sweet potato in water, leave it whole.
Poke three toothpicks an even distance apart
into the potato. Suspend the potato, pur-
ple-budded end up, one-third of the way into
a jar of water.

80 GrowLab: A Complete Guide to Gardening in the Classroom