How To Propagate A Philodendron?

Propagating your own plants is a great – and pretty cheap – way to grow new plant babies. But how to propagate a Philodendron?

If you’ve never done it before, you’re in for a treat – here is our comprehensive list of everything you need to know in order to grow your own new Philodendrons.

How To Propagate A Philodendron

There are a few ways to propagate this plant, and luckily for you it generally respond well to this, and you can grow lots of new baby Philodendrons!

Start by finding a node on the vine – this is usually a little bump near a leaf, where you may already see aerial roots starting to form.

Using sharp shears or secateurs, cut a length about 5 inches long, with 2-3 leaves. If your cutting is leggy or longer than this, it may need cutting back.

Trim off any leaves at the bottom of the stem, and you are now ready to root your cutting.

Propagating in water

Place your cutting into a clean jar of water (rainwater or spring water is preferable, but tap water will do if you can’t find any other type).

Making sure all the nodes are fully submerged, place your jar in indirect sunlight for a few weeks.

Change the water every few days, or if it starts to look cloudy and murky. You should see roots starting to appear before long.

Propagating in soil

Prepare a pot with well draining soil, ensuring that there are drainage holes at the bottom of the pot.

Dip the end of the cutting in rooting powder, then place it straight into the soil, firming it up around the end of the cutting.

Place the pot in indirect sunlight and keep it moist, but not soggy. Your plant should have formed roots and started growing in a few weeks!

This great article will take you through the different methods of propagating Philodendron.

Can You Propagate Philodendron In Water?

In short, yes you can. In fact, Philodendrons actually seem to respond very well to this method, better than many other plants, in fact.

1. Look out for a good, strong piece of stem, and make sure you choose a piece that has at least one “node” – a little bump on the stem that will grow leaves or roots.
2. You can also use a larger, longer stem that also has leaves already on it – in fact, growing a cutting with leaves on can actually help speed up the rooting process.
3. Take a glass of clean water and pop your Philodendron it it – try to make sure that at least one node is under the water.
4. Place the glass in a spot that gets bright, indirect sunlight. Avoid direct light; we’re not trying to boil our cutting!
5. Change the water every few days, and rotate the glass every now and then, and you should see roots start to appear within a few weeks.
6. Once the roots are well established, you can either simply leave your cutting in the glass, or you can choose to pot it into soil.

Propagating is a very easy thing to do, plus it gives you the added bonus of being able to see when the roots are forming, which you can’t do with soil.

Can You Propagate A Single Philodendron Leaf?

There are a great many plants that you can propagate simply by placing a leaf into a pot of soil, but sadly Philodendron is not one of them!

The leaves of these plants, unlike some, do not contain the right structures to create a whole new plant.

Propagating Philodendrons is best done from cuttings taken from the main plant and either rooted in water or in soil.

However, you CAN propagate Philodendron from an aerial root – this is a root that grows straight out of the main stem of the Philodendron.

Simply removing this from the mother plant and rooting it in whichever way you prefer, will result in a brand new Philodendron in no time.

Where Is The Node On A Philodendron?

Anywhere on your Philodendron that you see a leaf growing, this will be growing from a node.

That being said, you can identify nodes even if leaves aren’t currently growing out of them – run your hand up the stem and you will feel hard, raised areas – these are the nodes.

Once you have established where they are, you can snip in the right place to get the perfect Philodendron cutting!

The nodes on smaller, younger stems will be harder to find that those on more established stems, but you should still be able to feel a bump.

Here is a little video showing us how new growth emerges from a spent node:

Why Is My Cutting Not Rooting?

So you’ve found the perfect cutting, you’ve given it everything it needs – but it is not producing roots. What do you do? Read on, we have some tips for you!

• Make it smaller. Cuttings need energy to make roots, and if energy is being diverted into leaves or too much stem it will be distracting it from making roots.
• Change the water. No plant will enjoy sitting around in murky, dirty water day after day, so ensure you change the water regularly.
• Change the water! Try using rain water or spring water if you have been using tap water – some plants really can’t tolerate the chemicals and minerals in tap water.
• Keep it warm. Your cutting will need to be coddled and kept cosy! You can mimic a greenhouse by simply popping a plastic bag over the pot or jar – after all, these are tropical plants!
• Make sure you are propagating a node. Cuttings which don’t have nodes simply won’t be able to produce roots or leaves.
• Keep it in bright, indirect light. If you Philodendron is getting too much direct light this can damage it, and not enough indirect light will prevent it from growing.
• Be more patient! Philodendron can take a couple of weeks to start to show their roots, so if you are impatient after three days you’ll just have to wait longer.

Once you know how to propagate plants, you will wonder why you ever spent money on full grown plants – this process really is easy.

Growing a whole jungle full of Philodendrons is great for your environment, plus you can give them away as gifts or sell them to make money to buy even more plants!