Ever since I started propagating plants I've wondered is it better to root the cuttings in
water first, then move them to soil, or just plant the cuttings in soil from the very beginning.
So two months ago I started a mini experiment on water versus soil propagation to answer this
question, and I documented the entire process. On June 22nd, day one of this experiment,
I took 12 cuttings from my golden pothos. I just did a video last week on how to make the
cuttings so I won't bore you with it again and I'll put the link in the description
if you want to check it out. After making the 12 cuttings, I planted half of them in soil directly.
I'm using a 10 centimeter or four inch pot with drainage holes. The soil mix I used is
about 70% houseplant potting mix to retain moisture, and 30% perlite for drainage.
Once the soil was mixed, I poured some water in and placed the cuttings in.
And this is what it looks like. From then on I've been keeping the soil moist, especially for the
first month or so. Then after the first month I've been watering only when the soil becomes dry. For
the other half of the cuttings I grabbed a small glass jar and filled it up with some tap water.
Then I put the cutting seam one by one making sure that the aerial roots are submerged in water
while the leaves are above the water. My plan was to wait
until the roots are about one to two inches long and then I move these cuttings to soil.
When I was done I placed it next to the first pot of cuttings in the southeast facing window
to make sure that they get enough and the same amount of light. From then on, I change the water
every week or so to replenish the oxygen and replace any water that has evaporated.
It's been 10 days since I made the cuttings and all of them are still alive. So for the one in
soil, you can see that some of them are standing tall and this one's even growing on your leaf.
And for the one in water let's see. Some roots are starting to grow as well as some new leaves,
so it's looking good. Soon it was day 17. There's not much going on with the soil
propagation besides this one baby leaf that has been unfurling. Maybe the roots have gotten longer
too but there's just no way to tell besides removing the dirt which I didn't want to do
because it would disturb the cuttings. On the other hand we can see a lot more root growth
on the water propagation. They look so cute. Most roots were still too short for me to feel
comfortable enough to move them to soil, plus the last two cuttings haven't been rooted yet.
so I decided to leave them in water for another week. And in case you're curious
what the mother plant looks like after I trimmed it. This is where I cut it off and
you can see new shoots coming out everywhere on this vine, so it looks pretty crazy. But
yeah it's definitely growing back and you can see the leaf forming right here. By day 24,
all the cuttings in water have some roots, so it's the day I am transferring them from water to soil.
So this one looks ready. Oh this one is definitely ready, look at all these roots.
This one's also ready. This one should be ready too. These two don't have very long roots but
I'm going to put them in soil together with these ones anyways. And it was mostly because I didn't
want to wait for any longer since the more time the cuttings spend in water the harder it will be
for them to adjust to being soil. I'm planting these cuttings into the same soil mixture and
pot as the one I put directly in soil just to keep the comparison fair. Gonna make some space
and make sure that they're in there nice and secure.
For the first few weeks I'll also be keeping the soil moist.
That's the pot that we just planted just now and I'll show you what the other pot looks like. So
all the leaves are alive. This leaf is brand new, this one here is new and that one there is new.
It's day 49, the end of week 7, and let's check on the propagations. This is the one that was
directly propagated in soil. To be honest I don't notice any significant growth since
the last time I filmed but all the cuttings are still healthy they're all standing tall
and there is some new growth coming out.
There's one tiny root coming out from the bottom so that's great to see.
Now let's check on the cuttings that were rooted in water. You can see there's a lot more growth
coming out. The pot looks a lot fuller and seems like all the cuttings are doing really well.
So this is definitely very exciting to see and um also so I have a label here so that
I know this is the pot that was originally rooted in water.
Now if we were to look at the bottom of the pot you can also see a root coming out.
Overall you can see that the difference between the two pots is very noticeable,
and I'm very impressed and surprised by how well the cuttings rooted in water first are now doing.
But regardless all the cuttings even the ones in soil, they're all alive they're all looking good.
Besides the obvious difference in growth here are a few other things to consider
when you're deciding between water versus soil propagation. The main advantage of propagating
soil for me is that it's really simple and straightforward, but the disadvantage is not
being able to see whether or not the roots are growing. In contrast when you propagate in water
you get to watch the roots grow, which makes the propagation process more exciting. And also it's
easier to care for because they're already getting water so even if you forget about them for a week
or two they would be just fine. But if your end goal is to grow these cuttings in soils anyway
then rooting them in water is an extra step. Because of this I used to prefer soil propagation
but seeing how much faster the cuttings rotating water first are growing, I'm definitely going to
propagate in water from now on. Also everything in this video is very specific to my environment,
so depending on where you live your weather time of the year the soil use
whether or not you use routine hormone blah blah blah perhaps you'll see very different
results. So let me know in the comments do you prefer to propagate in water or
in soil. Hope you found this video helpful and don't forget to leave a like and subscribe, bye!