How to Root Impatiens

Impatiens plants often are the jewel of your summer beds and baskets. Despite deep green foliage and luscious-hued blooms, these annuals regrettably will be relegated to the compost heap by the end of the growing season. Fortunately, with a little forethought and tenacity, your annual impatiens can be propagated to live another day through rooting.

• 1

  Fill a 6-inch pot with perlite and mist it with water until the planting material is evenly moist throughout.

• 2

  Take a cutting from the tip of a healthy impatiens plant using clean, sharp garden shears. Choose a stem that appears vigorous. Get up to 4 inches of stem.

• 3

  Remove the foliage from the bottom inch of the cutting.

• 4

  Dip the impatiens cutting in a rooting hormone. Available at garden centers, rooting applications contain the natural plant hormone auxin and give your cutting a better chance of creating a healthy, vigorous root system.

• 5

  Plant the cutting in the perlite, completely covering the end dipped in rooting hormone. Up to three cuttings can coexist in one 6-inch container.

• 6

  Cover the planted impatiens cuttings with a plastic bag, sealing off the pot with a rubber band.

• 7

  Place containers in indirect or filtered light to encourage the new plant to create a root system and become strong. Condensation appearing on the inside of the plastic is normal and healthy, but mold is not.

• 8

  Check the cuttings at 4 weeks to see if they have developed a root system. A gentle tug should be met by some resistance. If so, the new plant is ready for re-potting into an individual container.