Decades before “green” became a movement and “sustainability” a campaign, Ila Jean Carothers was busy tending her garden, propagating ornamentals and veggies alike with a passion few Waco hobbyists could match.

Decades later, she is considered among McLennan County’s foremost experts on propagation, practicing her art from several acres in Crawford, on a patch of earth she calls her “playground.”

Long considered something only for serious gardeners —“It can become a full-time job if you let it,” Carothers said — propagation is a skill almost any hobbyist can learn. Some of the simplest methods look suspiciously like grade-school science projects and require nothing more than potting soil, soda bottles, plastic baggies, plants and a little know-how to get started.

Ila Jean Carothers is considered among McLennan County’s foremost experts on propagation, practicing her art from several acres in Crawford.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

What is propagation?

For the uninitiated, propagation is nothing more than growing plants from seeds or cuttings. A “cutting” is any severed vegetative part of a plant. When plants are reproduced from the cuttings, the process is called vegetative or asexual propagation. The process is quicker than waiting on seeds to germinate and grow, and the new plant is generally a sturdy duplicate of the parent plant, something not always possible with seeds.

“When you plant seeds they don’t always come back like the parent plant,” said Carothers, a long-time McLennan County Master Gardener. “When you divide you know what you’re getting.”

Three propagation methods Carothers teaches in her lectures to students and interns are, in no particular order: the self-watering home propagator, the soda bottle propagator and the plastic bag propagator.

Among the plants Carothers finds easiest to propagate are wandering jew, coleus, geranium, begonia, impatiens, chrysanthemums, crotons, roses, shrimp plant, plumbago, ivies and lantanas, but this is by no means a complete list.

Rules for success

The following tips are crucial to your success, no matter which of the propagation methods you try:

Propagating plants requires sterile potting soil or some other clean medium.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

* Remember clean, clean, clean. Use clean containers, cut your cuttings with a clean, sharp knife and plant your cuttings in sterile potting soil or some other clean planting medium, like vermiculite or perlite. Do not use backyard dirt!

* Choose cuttings from healthy looking plants. A cutting is never healthier than the parent plant. Lateral shoots of freely branching plants are easiest to root.

* Make cuttings early in the day when the plant tissue is firm and crisp. Make a fresh cut about  1/4 inch below a “node.” Make sure the cutting has at least two nodes. Immediately place in water or in a wet paper towel to keep fresh.

* Cuttings work best when they are 3- to 4-inches long. Any longer and the roots will not grow.

* Remove blooms and bottom leaves from the cutting stem but leave a few leaves at the top to manufacture food for the cutting while it roots.

* Dip cuttings in rooting hormone and shake off the excess. Root hormone wards off diseases and aids in rooting.

* Make a hole in the planting medium (potting soil, vermiculite or perlite) with a “dibble” stick. Stick the cutting in the hole and firm the soil around it.

* Water thoroughly and gently and keep it moist, but not drenched. Cuttings can be misted, too.

* Place cuttings in shade (or a greenhouse) and remember to label them with a name and a date.

Now that you know how to make a cutting, try one of these simple methods to help your cutting get rooted.

Self-watering

Plug the drainage hole of a clean, extra small clay pot (approximately 3 inches at its widest point) with floral clay or wax. Place the pot in the center of an 8 inch nonporous planter. Pack planting medium between the two pots.

Stick the cuttings into the planting medium between the two pots. Water will leach from the small, center pot into the soil, keeping it moist but not drenched.

Transplant cuttings once they begin to take root and do not let them become root bound. Place them in a pot that is bigger but not too large. Plants like to “sense” the edge of a container so they have something to grow to, Carothers said.

Soda bottle propagator

Place moist planting medium and cuttings in a plastic pot. Cut the top off a 2-liter plastic soda bottle. Place the cut top of the bottle over the plastic pot with cuttings. Leave the twist top on the soda bottle.

Ila Jean Carothers explains different methods for propagating plants while in her greenhouse in Crawford.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

The plastic soda bottle makes a “greenhouse” over the cuttings and holds in the moisture. If some of the leaves from the cutting are especially large, cut off the leaves so they don’t rub against the side of the bottle.

‘Pillow’ propagation

Fill a plastic, zip lock-type bag with a moist planting medium. Grocery bags, garbage bags and newspaper sleeves also work.

Fill the bag as full as you can before zipping it shut or sealing the ends shut with tape or staples.

Using a dibble stick, poke holes in the top of the plastic sack (also make drainage holes in the bottom of the sack). Place the cuttings in the tiny holes made by the dibble stick on the top of the bag.

Place the bag in a bright area. It will require no further watering, and the roots will be easy to see once they start growing. Once you see roots, transplant to a larger pot.