Home & Garden Trees & Houseplants

How to Propagate Desert Rose Plant

By Home & Garden Last updated Tuesday, June/11/2024

Cutting

1). Fill the plant pot with perlite and moisten the perlite.
2). Cut a piece of stem about 5 inches long. Cut at a 30- to 45-degree angle about 1/4 inch below a leaf or leaf node.
3). Remove the leaves on the lower 4 inches.
4). Apply rooting hormone to the cut end of the stem, according to the directions on the rooting hormone package.
5). Make a small hole, about 1 inch deep, in the perlite and plant the stem, cut side down, into the small hole.
6). Fill the spray bottle with water and mist the cutting, then cover the cutting and plant pot with the plastic bag and set in a warm place.
7). Mist the plant whenever you notice the perlite is drying out.
8). Transplant the desert rose plant to its permanent place when it has at least six leaves. Its permanent place must have well drained soil and full sun.

1). Choose a healthy branch from which to grow your new desert rose plant and make a cut through the bark, but not all the way through the branch itself, about 12 inches away from the tip of the branch.
2). Make a second cut 1.5 inches further away from the tip of the branch and peel off the bark between these two cuts.
3). Apply rooting hormone to the exposed wound according to the directions on the rooting hormone package.
4). Spread out a 1-foot length piece of plastic wrap and make a pile about the size of a baseball of the sphagnum moss on the plastic wrap.
5). Wrap the plastic wrap around the branch, centering the ball of sphagnum moss around the exposed wound. Tie a rubber band tightly around each end of the plastic wrap. It should resemble a wrapped hard candy.
6). Wrap the sphagnum moss ball with aluminum foil to protect the growing roots from the sun.
7). Check the growth of the roots every week by pulling the foil away. The branch will be ready to separate from the main desert rose plant when the roots are visible on the outside of the moss ball.
8). Cut the branch off the main plant below moss ball, toward the main part of the plant. Remove the foil and plastic wrap.
9). Plant the rooted branch in well drained soil and in full sun.