Start New Indoor Plants with Leaf Cuttings

Expand your indoor plant collection and have fun by starting snake plants from just a small section of a leaf.

Use a sharp knife and cut one of the long leaves into several 3-inch-long pieces. Notch the bottom to mark the end of the cutting that was closest to the roots.

Stick the notched end about an inch deep into a fast-draining potting mix. Water often enough to keep the soil slightly moist. In a month or two a tiny snake plant will begin to grow at the base of the leaf cutting. The original leaf section will eventually die as the new plant begins to grow.

Variegated snake plants will not retain their variegation with this method of propagation. Divide large overgrown clumps into smaller sections if you want to start new plants and maintain the variegation.

Simply slide the plant out if its pot and use a sharp knife to cut through the fleshy underground rhizomes.

A bit more information: You can also start African violets from a single leaf.  Just remove a leaf and bury the leaf stem (petiole) in a moist well-drained potting or African violet mix. Place the leaf cutting in a bright location. Keep the potting mix moist and wait for the new plant to appear.

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