Propagating houseplants is a fun, easy way to make more plants for free! Here’s how to propagate a fiddle leaf fig.
I’ve definitely taken my time with getting the hang of growing fiddle leaf figs. I’ve had a few failures over the years but I’ve finally figured out the best windows for them around our house as well as the right watering and feeding schedules and now I’m able to keep them thriving without much effort at all. I bought a cute little fiddle leaf fig last year and I loved its table-top size, but it just keeps growing like a weed! So that’s the one I’m going to use for today’s demonstration. 🙂 This plant will be cut back to a bit of a smaller size (temporarily) and I’ll get a new plant! Here’s how to propagate a fiddle leaf fig plant.
Can I Propagate my Fiddle Leaf Fig?
If your plant is a good candidate to be propagated, it will have quite a long stem. You’ll need a clipping with enough leaf-free stem length to be able to stick it down into a vase of water, along with a few leaves at the top of the stem that will not touch the water. You’ll also have more success if you start with a clipping from a plant that is already generally healthy and happy, although I have sometimes used propagation to “save” a plant that had only one or two healthy sections on it and was otherwise pretty sad looking. Sometimes propagation can give you a clean start if you get lucky. 🙂
When to Propagate a Fiddle Leaf Fig
The best time of year to propagate your fiddle leaf fig is during its natural growing season – usually in the spring and summer when the light is brightest. Fiddle leaf figs can actually go dormant in the winter when there’s less light so you might find that you don’t have as much success at that time of year, depending on where you live.
How to Propagate a Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant
The actual propagation process is super simple! I almost always use water propagation for my houseplants because it’s quick and easy and mess-free, so that’s what I do with fiddle leaf figs as well.
Start out by looking at the plant that you want to take your clipping from and finding the “nodes” on the length of stem you want to use. Make sure that you’re able to cut a length of stem that will have at least three nodes on it. The nodes are the little connection points on the stem where leaves or new stems grow from. Some of the nodes may have leaves, and some of them may not.
Clip your length of stem using clean pruning shears and fill a small vase or glass with water.
Remove any leaves from your stem that will be below the water level, leaving at least 2 leaves at the top of your stem, which will not touch the water.
Dip the open cut at the bottom of your clipping into a little dish of rooting hormone, then place the clipping in your vase of water.
Place the vase in a spot where it will get lots of bright, indirect sunlight. In a few weeks, you should start seeing some roots starting to form! Note: Your stem doesn’t need to be quite as long as mine is here, as long as you have at least three nodes on your length of stem and you can get it in a couple of inches of water, you should be good. When this clipping roots, this will give me a bit more of a “tree” shaped plant rather than a plant that is full from top to bottom.
Pictured above: Mirror | Umbrella Stand | Market Basket | Console Table | Marble Links
In about 6-8 weeks, you can plant your clipping into a pot of soil. Be sure to keep the soil consistently moist for the first month, and then after that you can move to a regular watering schedule of once or twice a week.
Do you have a fiddle leaf fig that you think could be a good candidate for propagation?
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.