How to propagate: Tradescantia (Spiderwort)

The Tradescantia is a special-looking plant that can fit in any interior. The leaves are green-silver with purple edges, which differentiates the plant from other indoor plant species.

Propagating a Tradescantia in 4 steps

Step 1: Disinfect

First clean the scissors you might be using.

Keep the scissors under hot water and clean them well. This prevents you from unnecessarily transferring bacteria during the propagation.

Do you happen to have disinfectant or pure alcohol? Disinfect the tools after using hot water. Let's get away with those bacteria and fungi!

Step 2: Take cuttings

As soon as the scissors are clean you can start propagating. Cut a stem that is at least 10 cm.

Step 3: Place the cutting in water

A Tradescantia grows best when it's propagated in water. Place the stems in a glass with water, and make sure that no leaves touch the water.

It's important to remove the leaves at the bottom of the cutting. If leaves are hanging in the water the cutting can rot.

Step 4: Taking care of the cutting

After a few weeks you can see that roots are developing on the stem.

As soon as the roots are at least 5 cm, you can repot the cuttings. Place the sides of the roots in the soil. The cuttings may have to get used to the soil a bit, but after a while the cutting will soon make new leaves.