HOME GROUNDS FACT SHEET Horticulture Center Cornell University Demonstration & Community Gardens at East Meadow Farm Cooperative Extension 832 Merrick Avenue East Meadow, NY 11554 Nassau County Phone: 516-565-5265 Techniques for Propagation of Plants for Interior Decoration RAYMOND T. FOX, DEPT. OF FLORICULTURE AND ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY One of the best ways to add color, best method. Seed culture is of Rinse thoroughly in clean water and texture, form and a feeling of life particular interest in hybridizing, let dry before use. The seeds and freshness to your home is to which may give rise to variations in should be dusted with a fungicide use indoor plants in abundance. plant form and flower color. This before sowing. Damping-off dis- Today’s decorating calls for foliage offers exciting possibilities for the ease is the biggest danger in propa- and flowering plants in every room. amateur as well as the professional gating plants from seed. The root- With so many cities swallowing up indoor gardener. ing mixture should be moist without green spaces outside, there is a Seeds are commonly grown in being soggy and should be moist- real psychological need to bring na- shallow pots or, for larger quanti- ened before the seeds are sown. ture indoors. Though it is possible ties, in shallow seed trays or flats. Scatter seed thinly over the surface to buy plants in florist shops, plant Nowadays, flats are usually plastic or sow in rows. The seeds should shops, garden centers,super- instead of wood, and some seed be covered over with a light screen- markets and many other retail out- trays are made of a number of ing of sphagnum or peat moss. A lets, you can also produce them small compartments in which a mist spray of water dampens the yourself. This will provide you with single seed is sown. Small, sterile , surface material sufficiently without an interesting, absorbing hobby and fiber flats are also available. Since washing the seeds away. a real sense of accomplishment. plastic flats are usually watertight, it To prevent drying, a pane of glass is necessary to put a half-inch layer or piece of plastic can be placed of sand or pebbles in the bottom for over the top of the tray, or the tray Seeds drainage. The tray is then filled or pot can be enclosed in a clear There are several ways to propa- with a rooting mixture of 1/2 coarse plastic bag. Avoid placing flats in gate plants for decorative use and sand or perlite and 1/2 peat moss sunlight when there is a glass or enjoyment in your home. Many or milled sphagnum. plastic covering because tempera- houseplants can be started easily The rooting medium should be ture buildup may cook the seeds or from seed. Geraniums, coleus, sterile. Do not use garden soil in emerging seedlings. In either case, fuchsia, African violets, cacti, as- the rooting mixture. Soak used this covering should be removed as paragus fern, avocado, bird of para- pots or flats in a solution of 1 part soon as the seeds have germi- dise, ornamental pepper, Jerusa- chlorine bleach to 10 parts water. nated. lem cherry, sensitive plant and pomegranate are a few examples of plants readily grown from seed. Some plants can be propagated by more than one method; others re- spond best to only one. Geraniums are commonly propagated from ter- minal-stem cuttings and African violets are usually propagated by leaf-petiole cuttings. They can be Seeds are usually sown thinly in a communal flat or pot and are “picked off,” or grown from seed, also. When a transplanted, into compartmented trays or individual small containers as soon as one or two sets of true leaves develop. When the individual plants reach a reasonable size, they large number of plants is desired, are again transplanted into suitable containers. propagation by seed may be the A-1-30 DWM/ln reviewed RT 1/03 Building Strong and Vibrant New York Communities Cornell Cooperative Extension in Nassau County provides equal program and employment opportunities. When the seedlings emerge they large number of plants can be grown and several leaves and is essen- should be fertilized with a weak by the seed method, extra plants tially a plant minus its roots; gerani- liquid fertilizer solution—use 1 table- can be traded with friends for other ums, ivies, philodendron, fuchia, spoon of soluble houseplant fertil- varieties, or they can be grown on Wax plant, peperomia, begonia and izer per 1 gallon of water. Apply for gifts, for sale, or for church coleus are cases in point. Long the solution carefully to avoid wash- bazaars and community fairs. stems can be cut into sections ing away the small seedlings. A Propagation by seed is not al- called sectional cuttings. They con- small bulb syringe works well. Wa- ways feasible, either because seed tain two or more nodes with leaves tering pots or porous flats from the is not available or viable or be- but don’t have the terminal growing bottom is another method of pre- cause plants from seed do not al- point. However, they are treated venting seedlings from washing ways come true. If a duplicate of the same as a terminal cutting be- away. the parent plant is desired, sexual cause the dormant bud in the axil of When seedlings have develop- propagation by means of cuttings, the leaf grows to establish a new ed two true leaves they should be division, layering, runners or off- growing point or terminal. transplanted to individual small peat shoots is the technique required. Often, stem cuttings are placed or pottery pots. A good sterile Other means, such as rhizomes, in a glass of water until roots form. potting mixture should be used. For tubers, bulblets and plantlets, are However, roots form slowly in win- most plants, equal parts of sand, also possible in specific cases. ter months and these stem cuttings soil and peat make a good growing Seeds are usually sown thinly in may rot before they root. Even if mix. Baking garden soil for 1/2 a communal flat or pot and are roots do form, they are water roots hour at 250° F kills most soil organ- “picked off,” or transplanted, into that may not transplant success- isms. However, a soilless mix of 1/ compartmented trays or individual fully. A better procedure is to dip 3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 sand small containers as soon as one or the cut end of a stem cutting into a or perlite is a good sterile substi- two sets of true leaves develop. rooting hormone powder and plant tute. Cacti should be grown in a When these individual plants reach the stem in a pot of rooting mix until soil mix with 2 parts of sand or a reasonable size, they are again roots form. Succulent or fleshy perlite to 1 part peat and 1 part soil. transplanted into suitable con- stems should be dried out a few The seedlings should be watered tainers. days to seal off the cut end of the regularly with a weak solution of stem before planting. A good root- liquid houseplant fertilizer to en- Cuttings ing mix is 1/2 sand or perlite and 1/ courage growth. The growing seed- For many plant lovers, the most 2 peat or ground sphagnum moss. lings should be placed in good light. common method of acquiring a new When roots are well formed, as They can be placed directly in a plant is by means of a slip or cut- evidenced by the fact that the slip window in all but the hot summer ting. This is not a complete de- does not pull out of the rooting mix months. scription, however, because there easily, the rooted cutting, now a During the summer, the seed- are several types of cuttings. complete plant, can be potted up in lings should be in indirect light rather a good growing mix. than in full sun. When the seed- Stem cutting lings have attained a fair, compact Stem, slip or terminal cutting is sim- size, they should be transplanted to ply a growing tip (or tips) of a plant small regular containers and grown that is snipped or pinched off from on to an appropriate size. Since a the parent plant. It contains a stem African violet Leaf-petiole cutting Leaf-petiole cuttings Geranium The leaf, plus its stem or petiole, is Stem cutting used for starting African violets, gloxinias, rex begonias and peperomias. Two different tech- niques are used. African violets, gloxinias and peperomias are propega propagated by inserting the petiole Cane cuttings in the rooting mix with the leaf Some plants such as dracaenas, standing upright above the surface dieffenbachias, aglaeonemas and of the mix. Many leaves can be yuccas develop long stalks or canes planted close together in a some- as their bottom leaves are shed what shingled effect. The rex be- naturally. These bare canes show gonia petiole is inserted in the root- a series of rings where each leaf ing medium with the leaf itself had previously been attached. Be- pinned flat on the surface. Small tween every two rings or leaf scars cuts are made across the main is a dormant bud. The cane should veins of the leaf. New plants form Echeveria be cut into sections with at least at these cuts. Entire-leaf two leaf scars and a dormant bud. cutting The section should be laid horizon- tally just under the surface of the Entire-leaf cutting rooting medium with the dormant Sedums, echevaria and other eye facing upward at surface level.