The Friendship Plant, Pilea involucrata, is a popular houseplant known for its visually striking, textured foliage. Its deep green, velvety leaves often display a crinkled or quilted appearance, sometimes with silver, copper, or bronze hues and pink or red undersides. This plant is admired for its unique beauty and relatively easy care, making it a favorite for indoor gardening enthusiasts. Propagating the Friendship Plant allows you to expand your collection, rejuvenate an older plant, or easily share new plants with friends, which contributes to its common name.
When to Propagate Your Friendship Plant
The favorable time to propagate your Friendship Plant is during its active growing season, typically in spring or early summer. During these months, the plant produces new growth, increasing the likelihood of successful rooting for cuttings and quicker recovery for divisions. Warmer temperatures and increased light availability support faster development of roots and foliage in newly propagated plants. Propagating during the plant’s slower growth period, such as winter, reduces success.
Propagating Friendship Plant Through Stem Cuttings
Propagating Pilea involucrata through stem cuttings is a straightforward and effective method to create new plants. Begin by selecting healthy, mature stems that are at least 3 to 4 inches long and possess several sets of leaves. Ensure each cutting has at least one node, the point on the stem where leaves attach and new roots will emerge. Using clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears, make a precise cut just below a node.
After making the cut, remove the lower leaves from the cutting, leaving only the top few leaves intact. This prevents submerged leaves from rotting or being buried in soil, redirecting energy towards root development. You have two options for rooting: water or soil.
For water propagation, place cuttings in a jar of clean water, ensuring at least one node is fully submerged. Change the water every few days to prevent bacterial growth. Roots typically form within 2 to 4 weeks.
Alternatively, plant stem cuttings directly into a well-draining potting mix. Insert the cut end into the moist soil, ensuring at least one node is buried to encourage root development. To create a more humid environment, cover the pot with a plastic bag or place it within a propagation dome. Keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged, and position the cuttings in bright, indirect light.
Propagating Friendship Plant Through Division
Propagating the Friendship Plant by division is an effective method, suitable for mature, clumping plants that have developed multiple stems or “pups” growing from the base. This method allows you to separate these offshoots, which often already possess their own root systems, into new plants. The ideal time for division is when repotting the main plant, typically in the spring, as this minimizes stress.
To divide your plant, remove the entire Friendship Plant from its pot. Shake off old soil from the root ball to expose individual sections or pups. Identify the smaller plants growing alongside the parent plant. Using clean, sharp shears or a knife, separate these offshoots from the main plant, ensuring each division retains as many roots as possible. If a pup has no roots, it can still be rooted in water or soil, similar to a stem cutting.
Once separated, each division can be repotted into its own container filled with a well-draining potting mix. Choose a pot that is slightly larger than the new plant’s root ball to prevent overwatering. After repotting, water the newly divided plants thoroughly to settle the soil around the roots. Placing them in bright, indirect light will help them establish in their new pots.
Caring for Your New Friendship Plant Propagations
Once your Friendship Plant propagations have rooted and are ready for their new homes, attentive care is essential for establishment. After transplanting rooted cuttings or divided pups into individual pots, provide an initial thorough watering to settle the soil around the root systems. Maintain consistently moist, but not waterlogged, soil conditions, allowing the top inch or two of soil to dry slightly between waterings. Overwatering can lead to root rot, detrimental to young plants.
Position your propagations in an area that receives bright, indirect light. Direct sunlight can be too intense for young plants, scorching leaves. Maintaining a warm environment, ideally between 65°F to 75°F (18°C to 24°C), and high humidity levels, around 50-70%, supports growth. You can increase humidity by misting the foliage, placing pots on a pebble tray, or using a humidifier. Begin fertilizing with a balanced, liquid fertilizer diluted to half strength only after the propagations have shown significant new growth.
Common Propagation Problems
During propagation, several issues can arise, but many have solutions. If stem cuttings fail to root, it may be due to insufficient light, overly wet soil causing rot, or using an unhealthy parent plant. Ensuring cuttings are taken from vigorous stems and placed in appropriate rooting conditions (moist soil or fresh water) can improve success rates.
Wilting or yellowing leaves on propagated plants can indicate either too much or too little water. Overwatering leads to root rot, causing leaves to yellow and droop, while under-watering results in dry, stunted foliage. Adjusting your watering schedule to allow the top layer of soil to dry before rewatering, and ensuring adequate drainage, resolves these issues. Brown leaf tips signal low humidity, addressed by misting, using a pebble tray, or grouping plants. Sudden leaf drop can also occur if the plant experiences fluctuations in temperature or light.