Pics attached, I'm at my wits' end trying to propagate Pothos, I've gone through maybe 20 cuttings that have all died, this is just the latest batch of dying plants.
I'm going to explain my process, hopefully someone can help identify where I'm messing up.
-I take cuttings and I leave them in water. I've left some for 3 weeks, some for even 2 months.
– When the roots are 2-3 inches of length, I move them to soil. I take soil that I buy from my local gardener, that's worked well in the past.
– I mix some Fertilizer pellets into the soil. I'm using Miracle Geo Shake n' Feed All Usage. I do about a tsp.
-The soil has some perlite, feels like about 20%, so I add some more, to make the mixture 30% perlite.
-For this batch I covered the roots in Root growth hormone.
– Then I water.
– It's at this point I'm not sure where I'm messing up. I can't tell if I'm overwatering. I watered these every 4 days and tried to keep the soil moist since they were growing in water first.
Please help, it's so discouraging to see the cuttings die. The weird part is I've done it in the past, but for the life of me I can't seem to get it right this time. Is the fertilizer overkill?
They get good light, well during fall they get a little less afternoon light, but I'm blasting them with white growlights 8 hours a day.
by girl_snap_out_of_it
16 Comments
There’s a typo in the title and some formatting issues I can’t seem to be able to fix, however I’m also wondering if the pots I’m using are too big? Should I try just putting a cutting in soil, no water propagation?
Cuttings don’t need fertilizer to root. That might be making things worse.
And I suspect it might actually be a case of the soil being too wet. The cuttings have the look of that to me.
A much smaller container would help you out here.
Really good light also helps cuttings out a ton.
Water every 4 days might be too much… you need to check root rot.
You overwatered them
agree with other comment- you’re watering too much. i’d probably let the roots get a bit longer just to be safe. good rule of thumb is when the roots start to grow roots, it’s a safer bet. you don’t want to let the soil get AS dry as you would on an established plant while the roots are acclimating to soil, but you also don’t want to drench them. every 4 days sounds way too frequent, I don’t even know if you would have to water every week. wait until the soil has mostly dried out, pothos cuttings are heartier than most even with underwatering, but overwatering is a quick way to kill them
It does read like you might be doing too much when you transfer the cuttings from water to soil.
Most premade potting soil already contains fertilizer, so there should be no need to add fertilizer pellets for at least the first six months. Also no need to add rooting hormone. At most, mixing in perlite is a good move, and maybe adding a bit of orchid bark just to get the soil a bit more chunky since pothos prefer a chunky mix.
Beyond that I would recommend giving it one deep drink the first time you pot it up, and then give then watering it like it is an established planting–giving the soil a chance to dry between waterings and then water again. With cuttings, I think bottom watering works even better because it does encourage even root growth, but it’s not required.
In other words, scale back on treatments and waterings and the transition should hopefully be fine. The cutting might be a little droopy at first, but that’s normal transpant shock, and plants just need a few days to a week to recover before they get back to normal.
Growth hormone should never be used when roots are already present. Growth hormones are for tricking non-root tissue into thinking that it must become roots. It will damage roots that are already present.
As well, potting mix has a lot of nutrients and no fertilizer is necessary for at least a month after potting. 💚
Nix the fertilizer, more perlite (at least 50% of mix), smaller pot, more light, less frequent water. Let it dry out completely between waterings. Probably would help to let the roots grow a bit more too.
Put them in water they might still survive. I’ve been lucky a few times even with them close to death.
They propagate very nicely in just water. Just change it out frequently. Add some plant food with it. I started using a fish tank aerator and it’s sped up the process 10 fold on my propagations. Less water changes as well.
There’s a difference between water roots & soil roots.
A lot of people struggle when going from water props to soil.
You’ll have an easier time transferring them to soil if you try propagating in sphagnum moss
I would recommend removing the fertilizer pellets and seeing if you have better success, I over fertilized my two favourite philodendrons once using the miracle grow shake and feed and they died. I put my cuttings into a regular potting soil and they typically do well. As a sidenote, I’ve moved away from using miracle grow products completely and only use marine phytoplankton to fertilize my plants now and most everyone seems to be healthy and happy.
Forget fertilizer for now. Fertilizer pellet will release their content whenever they are contact with water. If they dissolve faster than a plant can intake, the soil turn alkaline. I’d assume in this case the soil “drinks” the plant and not the other way. Personally, I’m not fan of any long-lasting fertilizer pellet since they can be deadly to your plant. Also the rooting hormone is not necessary. Optionally you can use rooting stimulant but even that is not a must.
Let the cuttings scab over before putting them in any medium. Literally just set the cutting on a counter or something for a few days, then put in a pot.
You’re definitely watering way too much. Most plants prefer the soil dry out completely before being watered again
I would put more dirt on the top, put it in bright light and let it recover, sometimes after transplanting a propagation some parish
Fertilizer is just going to burn plants that aren’t established yet. You are also way overwatering. You would be better off watering once a week and mostly ignoring it. It takes a lot of time for cuttings to root, especially if its indoor tempatures.