Lauren, wonderful information. For the plants you keep in water (sounds like you have some you root in water and then plant and others you plan to keep in water long term), do you ever trim the roots?

I also love to see roots grow. For some reason I am not always successful with pothos. I know, I know, supposedly pothos can root in anything. But I have had some that I put in water and they rot, even though some in the same container do not. I particularly have trouble getting Marble Queen or Neon to root before rotting.

I wonder if the time of year matters, meaning in the winter plants just grow slower so are slower at forming roots so can rot sooner (before roots can grow).

Thanks for the reply!

You could try putting a few drops of hydrogen peroxide (3%) in the water to help prevent or delay rotting issues.

Yes, what gold star said. I used to drop in a bit of hydrogen peroxide. I've forgotten to do it lately.

i got this transplant mix stuff at a garage sale, and you are supposed to use it to encourage new roots. Just for kicks, I soaked some philo and pothos cuttings in it for about an hour before I plopped them in water, and holy smokes, those roots came in like crazy.

with pothos, you need to cut right below the node and stick about two or three of the nodes under the water. It helps to roots cuttings with fewer leaves, though now, I will seriously just root a cutting that's about foot or so long.

Marble and neon cuttings tend to be pretty hard to root in water in general. I don't know why. But I have had 100% success rooting marbles in soil. The one neon I got to root in water had very little water in the cup. I just put the first two nodes under water.

Yes, I do cut the roots down sometimes. I have plants that have been in water for so long that the roots are just ridiculous. But if you put gravel or stones in the bottom of the vase, the roots will grow into them and start to wind around them, so you have kind of a "soil" system going on down there.

Instead of continuing to grow longer, they develop more feeder roots.

When you cut the roots back drastically, you need to reduce the cup size. If not, the plant will be kind of "overwatered"

ill find some pics on my other iPad and post them for you.

Lauren is right in saying I don't change the water. I've read rooting plants release a hormone into the water, so I don't change the water, I only add to it.

To prevent algae or yuck in the water, I throw in a couple of bits of charcoal chips (of aquarium grade charcoal form the pet store).

Wonderful ideas! The idea of charcoal (for fish tanks) makes perfect sense as does the hydrogen peroxide.

Interesting that others have had such luck with Marble Queen, that water rooting can be hard with this one. I wonder if most variegated forms of plants are more difficult to root in water??? I will have to try to propagate some in medium rather than water.

I have tried putting some cuttings (mostly golden or jade pothos, one neon and a heart leaf philo) into a clear plastic container. There is perlite in the bottom and it is liberally moistened. A few have rotted but most have begun to put out roots. The neon much slower than the others

Propagation is fun for me!

Second Karen on the charcoal. I keep forgetting to use it, though I used to.

Does your plastic container have drainage and top? If it has drainage, good. If has top, you don't need it. You can drop philo cuttings into perlite, and just mist them. They will root very easily. None should rot.

I have heard that variegated species are harder to root. Coco coir is also a really, really good rooting medium for hard to root stuff.

I love propagating too. But I really need to stop because I have too many little plants just hanging around!

If you have access to an aquarium, you could put the stem in it and leave the roots out. You could also just try either layering or air layering.

i water root quite a bit. some plants are very slow to root - like aglaonemas.

i can keep them in water for months - i add 3% peroxide to water about 1tsp per 1.5qt. you can drop a penny in water - copper prevents the algae growth and water going bad. i grow a lot of plants on water-wicks in small pots. most plants put out water roots into reservoir. Those get big and need to be cut and then most water roots rot too - so you'll need to trim them from time to time.

however if i just water-root for transfer into soilless mix i don't cut the roots on transfer - they can rot , better leave them be. putting marbles in the water helps to strengthen the roots, gets them fatter - so they get stronger for transfer.

also like Lauren said, if you keep them in water for a long time - it's better to use marbles.

sun increases water evaporation from leaves - if you have a lot of leaves or they are big - it stresses out the plant. also the sun can get hot - so you might burn the leaves. if it's dappled late/early sun not hot - it's ok .

for some plants i tent them with plastic (some need a lot of humidity) - for others i put them in open floral sleeve or open plastic bag. that keeps warmer and more humid air around the plant.

some plants are trickier then others. for some it's better to use flooded perlite instead of plain water (i do that a lot too).

seaweed extract helps roots development. but it makes water go bad - so then i'll change water ev 4-5 days.