Propagating Houseplants by Leaf Cuttings

As might be expected, most plants suited to this method of propagation have comparatively soft and fleshy leaves. There are two types of leaf cuttings : those that make use of leaf and stem and those requiring the leaf alone. An example of the first is the dainty African violet and of the second, the gorgeous Begonia Rex.

Again make use of a standard rooting compost medium as described earlier, although plain moist sand and sometimes even water alone can frequently be used. For a leaf and stem cutting remove the mature leaf from the plant together with two inches or so of stem. Insert the stem end in the rooting medium almost to the base of the leaf and new roots will grow from the base of the stem in anything from one to two months. If using water alone, either choose a narrow-necked phial or bottle to enable the leaf to stand upright while the, stem is in the medium. One frequently used method is to cover the flower pot or other container with kitchen foil or plastic and punch small holes in this to allow the stern to go through into the medium safely.

In some cases it is helpful to use this process of propagation in reverse, as it were. Perhaps you buy a new plant of ivy and wish it to grow thick and bushy instead of tall and slender. If two or three cuttings from the tall plant are inserted in the soil at its base they will grow and add to the bushy effect.

Plants permitting a leaf cutting rather than a leaf and stem also frequently have a further advantage, allowing the leaf to be cut into many pieces, each producing a separate plant. Examples here are Begonia Rex and Sanscvieria.

Exactly the same process can be used with the pretty little Saxifraga Stolonifera, which sends out long, hairlike growths each bearing a tiny baby plant at its end. This is allowed to rest in a pot of soil and when this is growing away well the umbilical cord, so to speak, is severed.

The new plant (for that is what it is) can then be cut away from the naked stem below and potted up in the usual manner.

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