Money trees guarantee exponential growth

Timing doesn’t always matter

There’s some controversy regarding the right time to propagate money trees. In my experience, both spring and autumn is possible, but the cuttings grow roots faster in spring. As a general rule, indoor plants grow faster in good light conditions and warm temperatures – in other words, spring or summer.

Multiplying your money tree

I want to turn my money trees into little bonsais. I particularly want to stimulate dense growth, so I prune them quite radically using a sharp knife. Disinfect the latter with alcohol to protect the plant from contamination. If you want to take a more brutal approach, you can also break the shoots and branches off the tree. I position the knife between the second and third pair of leaves and cut off the upper part, which I use to make new leaf and shoot cuttings. Two new branches will now grow from the top pair of leaves, which again make for new cuttings. In other words, the future holds an infinite number of money trees in store for me.

Propagating cuttings à gogo

If the branches you cut off have enough leaves, you can try out two methods of propagation – with shoot cuttings and leaf cuttings. I’ve had good experiences with shoot cuttings so far. When they’re big enough, I put the little plants in the soil and place them in a bright spot in my flat. Use either cactus soil, succulent soil or special potting compost as a substrate. Mix these with clay pebbles to make the soil even more air-permeable and reduce the amount of water that collects.

Shoot cuttings – simple

Remove all leaves except for the top couple and place the cuttings in a shot glass of water. If you want to be on the safe side, leave the plants to dry for two days before putting them in water. Then all you can do is wait and change the water every three days until the roots are long enough to pot up the cuttings.

Leaf cuttings – trickier

So far, I’d had no success with propagating from leave cuttings, but my latest attempt miraculously worked. I placed the leaves vertically on the edge of my money tree’s pot and pressed them into the soil slightly. This means, whenever I watered the main plant, my cuttings got water, too. How can that work? I’ve tried placing the leaves horizontally on the substrate before, but they died. I’ve also stuck them vertically and halfway into the soil, but they didn’t survive that either. Many people swear by this method, but it’s never worked for me. Might the light conditions or watering cycle have been wrong? In any case, my new method finally brought me success after several failed attempts.

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  Background information

  The prickly paradise you’ll never want to leave

  by Darina Schweizer