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Craig Miller-Randle poses with indoor plants grown on totems, bulked up with propagation.

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A clear pot taped to an indoor plant, being filled with perlite to help it develop new roots.

  • Perlite
  • A plant with aerial root buds, like Philodendrons, Monsteras and Epipremnums
  • Rooting hormone
  • A clear plastic pot or cup
  • Scissors
  • Tape

  1. Takes a clear plastic pot or cup, cut in half and cut a little circle in the bottom of the pot for the stem from the original plant to fit through.
  2. Apply rooting hormone on aerial root buds on mother plant. It can be found at hardware stores and nurseries for under $15.
  3. Closes both halves of the pot around the "mother" plant stem you wish to propagate.
  4. Tapes edges of pots closed.
  5. Pack the interior of the pot with wet perlite and water.

A snake plant stem is split from the original plant, propagating through division.

  1. Unpot the plant, revealing the underground organs.
  2. Carefully split the underground rhizome, using a knife or even your hands (ensuring some of these tubers end up in both clumps).
  3. Repot each clump into a new pot with some fresh mix.
  4. Keep the watering lighter at this stage to avoid rot, but don't let it dry out completely. Over the next few months each clump will grow new roots and establish into their own plants.

Close up of scissors cutting into an indoor plant below the node, to allow for propagation.

  • Scissors
  • Rooting hormone
  • Perlite
  • Plastic pots
  • Plastic bag

  1. Take a stem of a plant that's not too young and not too old and cut it just a few centimetres below a node. A node is an interval in a stem where leaves appear. Make sure your cut is a clean one by sterilising your scissors beforehand. You're aiming for a cutting about the length of your index finger.
  2. Dip the base of the cutting in a hormone gel, found at hardware stores and nurseries for under $15. Craig says he sees a difference when using it. It will seal the wound to infection and stimulate the cells in the plant to start putting out roots.
  3. Pot up your cuttings into 100 per cent perlite. The perlite is friable enough to allow tender roots to grow and will drain freely to stop fungal pathogens forming.
  4. Water your cuttings well.
  5. To prevent the perlite drying out too quickly, tie a plastic bag over the top to form a mini greenhouse. Cuttings "root better with the bag", says Craig. "You do need to release the humidity, but you need to be checking it every few days anyway and that's the time to air."
  6. If you have one, place the cuttings on top of your tumble dryer or even the fridge. "They get the warmth from the bottom when you use your dryer and it encourages them to root. It's better than a heat mat!" Craig says.
  7. When you see roots poking out the bottom of the pot (likely after a few months), your new plant is ready to be potted up!

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