Is it better to grow cuttings in water or straight into soil? I've got a strong opinion now

I've been propping plants for about 3 years now, and I always thought water was the safest way to go. You can see the roots, change the water weekly, watch for rot. But last spring I decided to run a little test with my pothos and coleus cuttings. I took 10 cuttings from the same mother plant and put 5 in water, 5 directly into moist potting mix. The water ones rooted fast, no doubt, but when I transplanted them to soil after about 4 weeks, nearly half of them went into shock and dropped leaves. The soil ones took a little longer to show growth, maybe 6 weeks, but once they took off they were way more robust and never had that transplant struggle. Has anyone else tried both methods and found a clear winner for certain types of plants? I'm curious if it's just my specific setup or if this holds true for others.

3 comments

3 Comments

oscarw831mo ago

Water propagation is way more versatile than people give it credit for... your issue with transplant shock probably came from moving them too fast. I've got spider plants and philodendrons that lived in water for months before I finally potted them up, no problems at all. The trick is to slowly add a little dirt to the water over a week before you transplant, it eases them into soil. Plus water lets you catch rot way earlier than soil does, where you might not notice mushy stems until the whole thing is gone. That pothos of yours would have been fine if you'd just left it in water longer and let those roots get thicker before the switch.

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the_oscar1mo ago

Hold up - a whole MONTH in water for a spider plant? I always thought they'd rot if you left them in there that long. Gotta try that myself cause I've killed so many cuttings by rushing them into soil.

lily_singh21mo ago

Oh wow, that slow dirt trick is genius actually! I just read about something similar in a gardening blog where they called it "weaning" the plant instead of shocking it. The person said to add a tablespoon of soil to the water every other day for like two weeks, and their monstera went from water roots to soil roots without missing a beat. I've been too scared to try it because I'm always worried about the dirt just making a muddy mess in the jar, but maybe I'm overthinking it. Definitely gonna test that out with my next batch of cuttings.