How to Propagate Tradescantia in water

Tradescantia is a very decorative plant. In this guide I will demonstrate how to propagate tradescantia in water, so easy…

Tradescantia (known as spiderwort) is a tropical perennial herbaceous plant with prostrate, succulent foliage.

Its leaves are very decorative, oval, shiny, with several varieties with different variegated stripes.
Its color ranges from deep purple to pink and also green and white. The flowers are small and pink and insignificant from an ornamental point of view.

Tradescantia (Spiderwort) variegated leaves in shades of pink and green

Given its compact appearance, small size and adaptation to the shade, tradescantia is an excellent option for ground cover in shady and half-shaded situations, where lawns hardly thrive, such as under the canopy of trees.
Its planting in pots and hanging baskets is also very popular, highlighting its beautiful hanging foliage.
It is in this way that we know it best, as a beautiful potted plant that we grow at home.

It is a typically tropical plant, it does not tolerate cold and frost, but it adapts very well to greenhouses or to be grown as a houseplant.
It propagates easily by cuttings and that’s what I’m going to show you now without further ado.

You will be amazed at how easy it is to propagate tradescantia in water.

We will need a mature parent plant that allows us to take cuttings, scissors and a jar or glass.

Prepare the jar with water

Fill the jar with water.

Jar with water to propagate tradescantia

Take the tradescantia cuttings

I cut segments from the tradescantia branches at a point just below a leaf node.

Taking tradescantia cuttings

They don’t need to be very long branches, the more compact they are, the better. It is enough that they have 2 or 3 leaf nodes.

Tradescantia cuttings for propagation

I remove the bottom leaves, leaving only the leaf cluster at the top.

Spiderwort cuttings without the lower leaves

Put the cuttings in water

I place the cuttings in the jar so that the leaves are out of the water and the stems are submerged as shown in the image.

Putting tradescantia cuttings in glass of water

And wait…

Then I place the jar in a warm and bright place, but without direct sunlight.

Spiderwort cuttings rooting in water

I usually place the jar inside an opaque pot to keep the water out of the light. This prevents the water from developing algae and turning green.

Want to see the results? Advance to the next page…