Multiply your plants and grow them yourself

Multiply your plants and grow them yourself: you will save a lot and, most importantly, you will feel more pleasure than buying a few more.

Ways of multiplication

It’s easy to get new plants if you know a few basic rules. In the plant world there are two ways of multiplication.

To the first, which is called vegetative or monogenic, belong all forms of graft (piece) from a stem, leaf or root of a parent plant, even the aerial roots and shoots, as the root pieces, tubers and bulbs are called. This method of propagation produces plants identical to the parent. The second way is called amphigenic and is done by sowing seeds (seeds).

Indoor plants that can be made from seed are rather few. As a rule, most are propagated by cuttings, that is, by monogenic propagation, which yields identical plants faster than amphigenic.

Both multiplication modes have the same basic settings

• They need a consistently warm and humid atmosphere for cuttings to take root or seeds to germinate. This is helped by small greenhouses (there are many types on the market) that ensure ideal conditions wherever you grow.

But you can start in ways that you will invent, e.g. covering the cutting, after planting it, with a jar or a transparent and slightly perforated bag, a cut plastic bottle, etc.

• Cuttings and seeds do not need soil with nutrients, because at this stage only the roots are trying to build. Use a light soil, which you will dilute the common plant with an equal amount of sand and 1/3 peat.

Best time to take cuttings from a plant and propagate is from mid-spring to late summer.

Graft selection

• Cut a shoot (scion) with scissors, a sharp knife, or carefully separate it by hand from the axil of the plant. Prefer a husky piece, without a flower.
• The stem to be cut has at least 3 nodes and a length of 7-15 cm. Clean the leaves and leave only four on the stem.
• Place the shoot in a pot about halfway up and press the soil in well with your hand. Use rooting powder beforehand for best results.
• Do not expose the cuttings to direct sunlight.
• When pruning plants before or after winter, choose a few healthy shoots to use.

Try with an easy plant

Geraniums are one of the most favorite summer flowering plants and they multiply very easily. So start with these.

4. Cut fresh branches of 10-15 cm.
5. Remove their lower leaves and let them dry for a few hours.
6. We prepare the soil for planting them. Garden soil or packed soil for outdoor plants, enriched with pumice stone. Fill the corresponding pots with this.
7. We make holes in the soil, insert the twigs and press with the hand so that they come into contact with the soil. Place the pots in a shady place and water well. Then, water before the potting soil is completely dry. No excesses, because they will rot. In 4-5 weeks the cuttings that have taken roots will now be ready.

However, you can also cut a section from the base of the shoot. This helps the roots to grow better and faster on the clarion knot, since there is no wound there.

Propagation by seeds (amphigenic) is a simpler story

Seasonal plants such as violets, pansies, carnations, basil, fine leaf, etc., are propagated by seed. Almost all seeds need sowing and transplanting. But they can also be sown directly in pots or in the garden soil when the weather warms up in early to mid-spring.

The seed packets write instructions and the sowing season. If you keep seeds from your own flowers, store them in a dry and ventilated place until spring.

The very small seeds are sown thinly and scattered on the soil of the pot and need to be covered with a thin layer of finely sifted soil. Be careful, the watering should be done with a spray, so that the seeds do not move and later the small plants are not uprooted. Those that grow faster and are caught with a small spoon, are transplanted into other pots, until the existing ones are sufficiently thinned out. Finally, leave 2-3 plants in each pot, depending on the species and their final size.

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