Coleus are a type of plant grown as an annual here in Minnesota / Zone 4 for their foliage rather than their flowers. They are a favorite of mine in the garden for a few reasons:
- They come in a rainbow of colors and patterns
- They have a wide range of height and growth habit
- Their leaf shapes can be smooth, scalloped, ruffled, round, pointed, twisted …
- Previously known as a shady annual, there are new varieties that can tolerate sun, making them even more versatile
- They are easily propagated, and even though not hardy outdoors over winter, can easily be saved indoors until the next growing season
This post will focus on propagating coleus via cuttings. If you’ve read my post about succulent cuttings, it follows the same general technique with a few adjustments.
So before it froze outside this Fall, I took cuttings from all of my coleus in my gardens to keep indoors and then use as my “stock plants” to take further cuttings. I keep them in an East facing window throughout the winter and they do quite well – well enough to take cuttings from!
There are a couple of ways you can propagate coleus cuttings – either in water or in soil. You would take your cuttings essentially the same way for either method, but I will be placing mine in soil.
I like to use styrofoam egg cartons – I separate the top and the bottom, and then place the top portion underneath the bottom portion to create a more sturdy tray. They’re great because they hold a nice amount of soil for developing roots, they don’t leak, they’re reusable, and they’re free!
Below is a stem from which I’m going to take a cutting from.
I am going to make the cut below a set of leaves so my cutting is a couple of inches in length. This length will fit well in my egg cartons. If I were using water to root them, I would take a longer piece just for ease of placing the stem in the water.
Once I have clipped the cutting, I remove the lower sets of leaves by pinching them off. Coleus will develop roots all along the stem, but the majority will develop at the leaf nodes (where the leaf attaches to the stem).
If the lowest set of leaves that remain are quite large, I will trim them a bit.
Next, I use rooting hormone powder at the end of the cutting to help stimulate root growth. If propagating in water, I skip this step. Only a thin layer of powder is necessary.
Once the rooting powder is applied, it is ready to be placed in the soil. ProMix is my go-to potting soil for just about everything. After it is in the soil, I used a spray bottle to moisten the soil around the cutting – I make a mess if I try using a watering can – the spray bottle is my friend!
The process is repeated until my stock plants are stripped of any viable cuttings. Yes, they now look pathetic…
… but no worries! Now that all the growing points that have been telling the plants to grow taller have been removed, all that energy will go back down the stem and tell the plant to start producing more branches, which will result in more potential cuttings! This is also good practice once they are planted out in the garden as it will result in a more full, bushy plant.
These cuttings will hang out in a window again and start to develop roots over the next couple of weeks. Initially I will make sure the soil does not dry out – I want it to stay evenly moist. Once roots start developing, I’ll let the soil dry completely before watering again. I’ll move them into larger pots once their roots fill their little egg space. In about 4 more months, they will be planted out in my gardens! Bring on Spring!
