One of my favorite plants is coleus. As annuals, coleus die after one season, usually from the first frost. However, coleus are easy to propagate. With a few simple steps and little care, you can have a whole flat of coleus to plant outdoors next spring. Here are two methods to propagate coleus, and most any type of cutting.
Material for First Method:
- Pony packs or 1” pots
- Sharp snips or razor blade
- Rooting hormone
- Starter soil
- Drip trays
Note: If you are reusing nursery pots, be sure to sterilize them inside, and out with a stiff brush dipped in one-part bleach to nine-parts water, rinse thoroughly with water. Always sterilize cutting tools before trimming. This will help eliminate any possibility of transferring diseases.
- Fill pots with starter soil, wet thoroughly. You may have to stir the soil like cake batter to ensure that all of it gets wet.
- Select only healthy stems and cut them just above the soil.
- Cut stems into sections making sure each has two leaf nodes. Leave 2 inches of stem below the lower node.
- Remove all leaves except the top two. Do not leave any flower shoots.
- Dip the cuttings in rooting hormone just above the bottom node.
- Place the cuttings in pots filled with wet starter soil. You can plant 2-3 cuttings per pot about half-an-inch apart.
- Lightly push soil around cuttings just enough to secure it.
- Water well.
- Place indoors near a window with filtered sunlight.
- Keep cuttings moist, not soggy.
Material for Second Method:
- Sharp snips or razor blade
- Room-temperature water
- 3-inch pots
- Jars
- Fill each jar with water.
- Follow steps 2-4 in the first propagation method above.
- Place in jars by a window with filtered sunlight. Change the water daily.
- Once the cuttings have 3-inch roots (this takes about two weeks), transplant to 3-inch pots.
- Keep moist, and place in a sunny window.
In and Around the Garden 