TL;DR: mama plant already gave me 30 plants this past year, I just got 31 more cuttings. Also the process I use when rooting.
Pictured: Cuttings in their new homes, the cuttings I got today, my new DIY propogation containers, mama before then after her haircut, and the leaves sacrificed to the prop gods for success.
Just wanted to share my mama Calico Kitten. She started as a cutting from a plant my brother bought from his school’s gardening club about 4 years ago. So mine is a cutting of a cutting, and about 2 years old now. She's technically a succulent, but don’t tell her that! She grows like a weed when watered heavily. The pots that do the best are self watering.
In this past year, she’s produced at least 30 plants total (I’ve already given quite a few away). Right now I have around 15 of her babies at home.
Every ~3 months I trim the longer vines to encourage her to bush out instead of just trail, which keeps her fuller and gives me a steady supply of cuttings. She also seems to grow much quicker with a regular trim.
Today I took:
• 26 cuttings from the mother
• 5 from her largest baby
From past experience:
• Usually only 1–2 cuttings don’t root in water
• All but one of today’s cuttings already had aerial roots. I’ve noticed even the cuttings with the tiniest barely visible roots tend to root faster and do better than cuttings without them
• I might lose another 3–4 when transitioning to soil
So even on the higher end of loss, I’m expecting around 25 new plants from this round.
I recently found a local plant trade, so I’ll finally be able to rehome some and pick up a few new plants too. (Thank goodness I was running out of space! Had to buy new shelves just for soil transition stage.)
New propagation setup I’m trying:
In the past I’ve used my mushroom propogation containers (red one pictured). This time I wanted to give them more individual space.
I used:
• A short glass vase
• A tight layer of foil
• A tight layer of plastic wrap over that
• Larger holes for the cuttings + smaller ones for airflow
Hoping the extra space helps them do even better.
My general timeline:
• Water prop until roots are ~2–4 inches (about 1–2 months)
• Then into soil for at least ~3 months before I consider them established
Overall it takes about 4–5 months per batch, but since I prune regularly, it’s a continuous cycle. Even if I lose all these cuttings for whatever unseen reason, I will still have many more to come.
I just realized mama plant probably needs a name, if you have any suggestions please leave them!
by Sea_Language_2163
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