The Best Way To Propagate Your Snake Plants

Propagation is the easiest way to grow your plant collection because you can use your cultivars to develop new ones from cuttings or by dividing pups. To that end, snake plants (Dracaena trifasciata) are extra easy to propagate because they grow pups. They are also good plants for beginners since they will adapt to most environments.

Now, the first step to propagate a snake plant is taking a piece of the original plant. However, even if your cultivar has a pup, you will want to wait until it is 4 to 6 inches tall and has about three roots. To get a cutting, you will need a pair of sharp scissors, which are best cleaned thoroughly before you use them, so ensure you're wiping them down with isopropyl alcohol. Clever Bloom recommends cutting the pup off from the middle of the rhizome, which is the horizontal root that connects the offset to the main plant. You can use a leaf if your snake plant doesn't have an outgrowth. Simply pluck one from the main plant, and you are ready to propagate.

Propagating your snake plant in water is very simple. You can use plain tap water if that's all you have access to, but Mod and Mint recommends room-temperature rainwater. Glass containers are also frequently used because they allow the sun to get the roots and give you a window to watch them grow. When picking your container, make sure there is enough room for at least 3 inches of water to cover the cutting.

Take your pup or leaf cutting and place it into the water with the cut end submerged. If someone gifted you the cutting, ensure it's been clipped very recently; if you're unsure of this, it's best to trim it a bit off the bottom, so the split is fresh. Then, place it where it will get bright, indirect light. Furthermore, you should change the water every week, so algae doesn't grow. After about two months, you should see long roots. The cuttings can then either be planted in soil or left to grow in water.

Another method to grow your snake plant cuttings is using soil as a medium. The good thing about this approach is that it allows you to make more plants from one leaf, and you can either use potting mix or sphagnum moss. To begin, cut your leaf horizontally into 2-inch pieces. It doesn't matter what kind of container you use as long as it has drainage holes; you can even put each cutting into its own pot or all in a large one.

Before putting your cuttings into the soil, you should use a rooting hormone. This step isn't necessary, but it will encourage root growth and decrease the chance of the plant piece rotting, according to Missouri Botanical Garden. To use rooting hormone, place some of the powder in a separate container to not contaminate the whole thing with moisture. Then, dip the cut end of your leaf into the powder to cover about 1 inch of it and tap off any excess. Next, make a hole in your soil and then place your cutting, but don't cover the entire thing. Keep your soil moist, and you should have a new snake plant in the next two months.