How To Propagate Syngonium Albo (Easy Propagation Guide)
Welcome to our guide to propagate a syngonium albo plant with step by step instructions and pictures of my plants and propagations. I cover water, soil, leca and sphagnum moss propagation methods.
The syngonium albo variegata is a type of syngonium podophyllum, a vining plant with green arrow-shaped leaves that originates from South America, known for it’s beautiful green and white variegation. It’s really fast to propagate and grows very quickly, making them easy plants to look after. You have lots of new plants in no time!
See also: Syngonium Soil, Types Of Syngonium Plants, Syngonium Milk Confetti.
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See also: our guides to: variegated syngonium, syngonium mojito, pink syngonium.
What You’ll Need
You will need:
- A jar of water.
- A syngonium albo plant with a few growth points and nodes, big enough to take cuttings from.
- A sharp knife or scissors.
- Soil (or leca or sphagnum moss) to move it to once rooted.
Syngonium Propagation Methods
You can propagate syngoniums in water, soil, leca or sphagnum moss. For all methods I like to take stems cuttings and water prop the cuttings first…
How To Propagate Syngonium Albo
Whatever potting medium I use (soil, leca or moss) the best way I have found is to water propagate the syngonium albo cuttings to root them before potting them on. Then I move the rooted cuttings to the medium once rooted. I find you get a higher success rate. I’ll cover all below, starting with step by step water propagation instructions…
Water Propagation
Follow these steps to propagate syngonium in water…
Step 1:
The first step is to locate the part of the parent plant you’ll take the cuttings from. You want to be able to take some cuttings (preferably each cuttings with two leaves and a node on it) and leave one or two leaves on the plant so it can re-grow quickly.
Step 2: Taking Stem Cuttings
Take a cutting (or more than one). You need to get one node and one leaf at least for each cutting, I prefer two leaves. A leaf without a node will not grow into a full plant, but you can keep it in water for some time. You ideally want cuttings with balanced variegation – too much variegation and the plant may not survive, too much green and the new plant may be greener with less variegation.
Step 3: Let The Cuttings’ Wounds Callous Over
Leave the cutting aside for 4 or 5 hours as the cut needs to heal over. If they have open wounds when you put them in water the cuttings can rot more easily. Make sure the cut ends are sealed over. Syngoniums have thin stems and heal over in a few hours. This is the key to arrowhead plant propagation – they grow and prop easily but can rot if the wounds are open. You can take the cuttings and put them in the jar (without water) for a few hours, as in the image below.
Step 4: Root The Cuttings In Water
Put the cuttings it in a jar of water to root. I use a clear jar so you can see the root growth. I use filtered tap water, I have a Brita, as cuttings can sometimes be sensitive to really ‘hard’ water.
Step 5: Give Them Light
Put the cutting in indirect sunlight to encourage growth of the roots. You want it to be fairly warm as well. But no direct sunlight.
Step 6: Keep The Water Topped Up
Make sure the water is always topped up to cover the nodes. Change the water if it goes cloudy. And remove any rotting cuttings.
Step 7: Root Growth
Syngonium albo root and grow very quickly. Within 1 or 2 months it should have a good sized root system. Once it is well rooted you can pot it up in soil or leca. You can keep it in water for a long time, even for ever but it will grow much slower. The roots look amazing on show in a clear jar, as you can see in the picture of my propagations.
For more on syngonium see our syngonium category with all our care guides.
Move The Cuttings To Another Medium (Soil, Leca And Moss):
Once rooted you can move the cuttings to a soil, moss or leca…
Propagate Syngonium In Moss
Prepare the moss by soaking it and then squeezing it off so it is moist but not wet. Fill the cup out about halfway with moss, and then hold the cutting in place on top of the moss. Fill in around the sides with more moist moss and firm it down a bit, but not too much, as the roots do well with some air and space.
Keep it moist but not soaking and the roots should take well to the moss and you’ll see new growth from the top soon, at this point you can treat it as a juvenile plant and consider fertilizing it.
Propagate Syngonium In Leca
Prepare the leca by rinsing a few times, then soaking it. I fill the cup a quarter full with leca, then put the cutting on top and fill around it while holding the cutting in place. You do not want the roots right at the bottom of the pot, as leca works by keeping a small amount of water at the bottom and the leca wicks up the moisture it needs to the roots above. You want to keep the bottom 10 to 20% of the cup full with water for the leca to suck up what it needs.
Tip: when using leca: keep the water from the water propagations and use it on the leca. I also fill the cup up with water completely the first time so that the roots transition slowly from water prop to leca as the water evaporates. Then once it has been used I maintain a small reservoir at the bottom of the cup.
Propagate Syngonium In Soil
Once the cuttings are rooted in water you can move them to soil. They tend to take really well. I prefer using soil as it contains plenty of nutrients and the plants grow really well there on-going. Keep the cutting in humid conditions until you see new leaves growing from the top of the plant. You can put it in plastic bag with the top slightly open to keep a high humidity around the cutting, but still allow air to circulate.
Make sure the pot has good drainage, well-draining soil mix and drainage holes in the pot, you do not want a soggy bottom (!) as you can get root rot from excess water.
You can go skip the water prop stage if you like and go straight to soil, planting the cuttings straight into so. If you do this, just keep the cuttings humid and make sure you let the wounds heal over as open wounds in soil can lead to rot. Although I find I get better success by water propping the cuttings first.
Syngonium Albo Care
We have other, full, care guides to syngonium plants here, but just as a quick summary, they like high humidity levels and humid conditions although will do ok in lower levels. You can use a moss pole or trellis as a simple way to support the plant when it gets bigger as the plants can get tall and thin. Water them when almost dry, test the soil with your finger. Don’t stick to a regular watering frequency as sometimes the plants will need less or more water, always check the soil first.
Frequently Asked Questions About Syngonium Propagation
You can root syngoniums directly in soil. Make sure the wounds are healed first, and keep the cuttings humid with a plastic bag or pebble tray for example.
You can grow syngonium in water alone. It is best to start with a cutting and root it in water (don’t transition a plant from soil as it’s roots may rot). Then you can keep the water topped up and let it grow in water indefinitely.
You want to cut a plant the plant below a node (it needs a node to root from), this is easy to find as it is the place the plant’s branches split out from, also it may already have aerial roots growing from it – so cut below that.
They will grow in water without a node, but in order to root and grow a new plant you need a node as this is where the plant will produce roots from.
Feed them fertilizer in the warmer summer months to encourage growth. Give them plenty of indirect sunlight too, low light is not ideal for propagation.
Cut below the node, which is the joint where the plant splits into two branches.
The best time is about Spring time so the plant can root and grow over the warmer growing season.
Yes they grow well in water alone.
Further Reading
You might also like our other articles: variegated syngonium, syngonium mojito, pink syngonium.
