OK guys, you asked, I delivered. I’ll be bringing you propagation tips and tricks over the next coming weeks so that your plants can keep on giving. Small plants are particularly easy to propagate (usually) and it’s so rewarding seeing them get roots and grow up!
If you’ve had your Pilea for a few months and been keeping her happy, she may reward you with baby plants, growing from the main (or mother) stem. These little plants are called ‘pups’ which is just the most adorable thing.
They’re attached pretty firmly to the. mother so the first thing is to dig down into the soil a little (gently), to try to find where the join is.
I had 2 pups on this plant, this one was pretty big.
This pup was very small and I was worried it was too small to be propagated but decided to give it a try so I could share the results with you.
You can just about see here, the roots and small woody stem of the pup, joining onto the larger stem – that’s where you chop.
Now that you’ve separated them, you’re ready to get them started on their own. There are 2 ways to move forward next, I’m going to show you the water method. As I wanted to grow them in water, I didn’t want lots of soil in there too as that could bring in bacteria so I gave them a bit of a brush with an old, gentle toothbrush very carefully to remove loose soil.
There are 2 ways of propagating from here. The first is to pop them in soil and let them begin to grow their roots in the pot, from the beginning. This does usually make for stronger roots overall, compared to growing in water.
The reason I like the water method is because you can actually see what’s happening to the plant, see the roots starting to grow and it gives the little plant a chance to develop a few more leaves before they go in the pot. It’s hard to tell if a plant is thriving or dying in a pot when you can’t see if it’s roots are taking hold so that’s why I prefer this method.
The next step is to place your little pups in water. I used a shallow bowl type dish (an old face mask pot.. no fancy equipment here.). Still the tiniest pup was too small and the water would have gone way over it. I used sellotape to create a very simple criss cross or grid across the top of the pot (this is a top tip for when you’re using a vase that’s a little too big and you don’t have enough flowers!). Doing this created enough of a support for the bottom of the tiny pups stem to dangle in the water but the leaves were held above.
Cut to exactly 3 weeks later and we’ve got roots! The first roots started appearing after about a week then gained real momentum after that.
The pups even grew a few more leaves and were looking really happy so I thought it was best to get them into a pot where they can get the additional nutrients that they need.
I used this tiny little pot a) because it’s cute and b) so not to overwhelm the plant with space that’s too big. It’s just an old cactus pot which is the perfect size to let your pups grow a little bigger. It’ll probably need repotting in a few months.
They’re still on the ‘nursery’ (spare room) windowsill but they seem to be doing pretty well. I’ll keep you updated as they get bigger!
Propagating is so easy for a lot of plants (not all!) and it’s so rewarding. So if you’ve got a Chinese Money Plant that’s sprouting pups left right and centre, get them in some water and watch them grow! If you love the idea of having one of these beauties, I’ve got them for sale with nationwide delivery!
If you’ve got any questions feel free to drop me an email or DM on insta. If you try it, PLEASE tag me in your photos – I want to see!