Are you busy propagating plants or trying to make your plant-cutting arrangements last a little longer? Plant cuttings involve taking a leafy plant—think pothos or philodendrons—and cutting it below a section of leaf, where you might already be seeing small aerial roots forming.
Putting the plant cutting in water will allow additional roots to grow straight out of the base and sides of the plant cutting (and help aerial roots grow faster). This gives you a brand-new plant that grows from just a few leaves of its original plant mother.
Oftentimes, when you're creating a new plant cutting, you have to take preventative measures to protect the fresh plant cutting since the open wound is prone to infection, mold, or fungus.Plants that are exposed to the air will be able to create a callus over their trimmed stems to prevent infection; once in the water, however, the exposed section of the stem can easily fall victim to root rot and not be able to create a natural callus.
To combat this issue, you can create a seal of your own to help protect your plant while it’s in water. If you’re tired of rotting roots and quick-withering plant cuttings, here are a few ways you can protect your precious cuttings from certain death.
Wax is one of the most common and easiest ways to seal a plant cutting. All you’ll need to do is dip the cut end of your plant into a bit of melted wax to form a complete seal around the open end of the stem.
Let the wax harden slightly and then apply additional layers of wax until the stem has a thick seal over the open cut. Once all of the layers have completely hardened, you can transfer the plant straight into a container of water. Digital creator, @plants_itsavibe, demonstrates how to create the wax
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