How to Propagate Philodendron Hederaceum Directly into a Soil Mix
I made a video to show you how to propagate Philodendron Hederaceum directly into a soil mix. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/0cP-KEE-rRA?si=H6GE1TuLzlMlpA2P
Philodendron Hederaceum is commonly known as Heart Leaf Philodendron. You see the standard green variety of these growing in shopping malls, Burger Kings, and on teacher’s desks all across America. We finally got something right! These plants are stunning with delicate heart-shaped leaves and trailing vines. Philodendron Hederaceum comes in many varieties besides standard green. The two shown in the video above are Lemon Lime and Philodendron Brasil. The Lemon Lime variety is a solid bright green color and the Brasil has the base color of the common green variety with splashes of the bright green of the Lemon Lime on the leaves.
I have a wall of cascading Philodendron Hederaceum and Scindapsus that was wildly out of control. Plants were trailing all over the floor and tangled together. I cleaned it up the other day, and ended up with a ton of cuttings that I needed to do something with so I recorded the video linked above to show you all how to do it.
In addition to propagating these Philodendron, I thought it would be interesting to do an experiment to see if there is much difference between using cinnamon on cuttings and using commercial rooting powder. I put together 4 pots of cuttings (2 of each) and I will check them in a month and let you all know what I find out.
What you need:
Small nursery pots with drainage holes
commercial potting mix, peat moss, and perlite to make your own soil mix or a commercial seed starting mix
scissors
cuttings from Philodendron Hederaceum with leaves
How to propagate Philodendron Hederaceum in soil mix:
1. Make a potting mix made up of about 30% commercial potting mix, 60% peat moss, and 10% perlite. This is a great mix for starting cuttings because the commercial potting mix provides structure and nutrients, the peat moss keeps the cuttings from drying out, and the perlite allows for drainage. You can also use a prepackaged seed starting mix if you prefer.
2. Cut the stems into pieces ensuring there is at least one leaf and one leafless node per stem.
3. Brush cinnamon or rooting hormone onto the leafless node and stick that end of the stem into the soil mix. This is actually optional. For years I rooted cuttings directly into potting mix without using cinnamon or rooting hormone and I got roots every time. These niceties just speed up the process.
4. Water well and set aside in a humid environment.
Humidity stimulates growth. I set these 4 pots in a small glass greenhouse. If you don’t have a greenhouse, you can use a sunny window in a bathroom or even place them inside a large ziplock bag (just don’t zip the bag all the way closed). Water your starts once a week to make sure they don’t dry out. That’s it!
If you try this, I’d love to see pictures and hear how it went. Bonus points if you do your own experiment comparing cinnamon and rooting powder!
