The easiest way to add more plants to your home for free by dividing plants you already have to give away, sell, or add to your own plant collection. And tips on how to transform plants into adorable gifts with a handmade care tag.
Larisa and I have been crazy plant ladies over here lately!
She’s been starting her houseplant jungle and I’ve been turning every container into a plant pot to house my own growing plant collection.
I’m not sure why we’re both so into houseplants recently.
For me, I think it is because fall is right around the corner and then winter. So, I want to make sure I am surrounded by green living things when everything outside is dead and covered in snow.
Can you tell I love winter? Not!
I want to give Larisa some of my plants so she can add more plants to her home quickly and without spending too much money. So, today I am going to make more plants from the ones I already own in the easiest way possible.
Plant propagation by division.
Nothing too fancy here. I’m just going to take plants I already own that have already grown another plant and pot them into their own containers.
Table of Contents
- How to Add More Plants to Your Home by Division
- What you’ll need to Propagate a Plant by Division
- Step 1: Gather your supplies and find a comfortable spot to work with your plants.
- Step 2: Gently remove your plant from its planter.
- Step 3: Divide the Plants
- Step 4: Pot the plants
- Tips for Repotting a Houseplant Successfully:
- Supplies to make a care tag for a plant
- How to Make a Care Tag for a Plant
How to Add More Plants to Your Home by Division
The first thing you need when you are dividing plants is a plant that has multiple plants growing. Does that make sense? I’m not sure. Let me show you what I mean.
Below are a couple of my houseplants. The first one is a White Jewel plant. At first glance it is hard to tell that there are actually two plants growing in the pot. But when you take a closer look and rummage around in the leaves, you can see two.
It’s a little easier to see all of the shoots coming up in this snake plant below.
What you’ll need to Propagate a Plant by Division
- Plant
- Plant pot
- Potting soil
- Sharp clean knife (depending on what kind of plant you are dividing)
Step 1: Gather your supplies and find a comfortable spot to work with your plants.
Protect the surface of your work area with some paper or plastic. I like to work with my plants right at my kitchen island during the winter. I line the counter with a garbage bag to protect it from the soil that spills and then I can just dust the bag off when I am done.
In the summer, I keep the dirt and mess outside by repotting my plants outdoors.
Step 2: Gently remove your plant from its planter.
While carefully holding the plant with one hand, tip the plant pot mostly upside down. Use the other hand to tap and manipulate the bottom of the planter until the plant and soil fall out.
Step 3: Divide the Plants
To divide this White Jewel plant, I gently pushed the soil away with my fingers to expose the roots. Then I carefully separated the roots of the intertwined plants.
If you are dividing a plant with rhizomes, like a snake plant gently push the soil away from the rhizome (large root looking thing that holds two or more plants together) and use a clean knife to cut through the rhizome to separate the two plants.
Step 4: Pot the plants
Using potting soil, fill each planter with soil so that when the plant “sits” on the soil the plant is where you want it in the planter.
Then fill in the rest of the pot with the soil mix and press down the soil around the plant with your fingers.
Next you can give the plant a good watering.
If I transplant a rhizome that I have cut, I generally wait a few days to water the repotted plants.
I like to add small stones to the top of the soil because I think it makes the plant look more complete.
I make sure I press down the soil around the edges of the plant pot really well so that it won’t peak through the stones I’m about to put on. Then, I just take a handful of stones at a time and I spread them out over the top of the soil until I can’t see soil anymore.
Tips for Repotting a Houseplant Successfully:
- Use clean planters or use new planters, plant pots should be cleaned before reusing to help prevent the spread of disease.
- Use planters that have a drainage hole in the bottom. This is one of my number one tips for beginner gardeners. I’ve bought pretty containers, that do not have drainage holes, and used them as planters. But it is just too hard to manage the amount of water that a plant needs without having a hole that will allow excess water to just drain out the bottom.
- Use new soil, when you transplant a plant from one container to another use new soil to give them fresh nutrients and keep them growing and healthy.
Now, onto the part where we transform it into an absolutely stunning gift!
Supplies to make a care tag for a plant
- Card stock paper
- computer with word processing and printer
- small hole punch
- bamboo skewer
- scissors
- glue if you use give the tag a picture frame effect with two different colors of card stock paper
How to Make a Care Tag for a Plant
1. Use word processing program on your computer or tablet to type out the name of your plant, what level of sun it does best in and how much water it likes. Have fun with it, try different fonts and font sizes!
2. Print out the information you have just entered and cut to a size you like.
3. Punch a hole in the top middle and a hole in the bottom middle of your tag.
4. carefully thread a bamboo skewer through the hole at the top of the paper tag, behind the paper tag and through the bottom hole.
5. Now, just poke it into the soil of your planted pot! Isn’t it adorable!?! Doesn’t it take it from potted house plant to amazing, creative, thoughtful plant lover gift!?!
Isn’t that the easiest way to propagate plants? And, if you are a plant person especially, the easiest, inexpensive thoughtful and cute gift?
What is the easiest gift that you have ever made for someone?
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