Ficus benjamina propagation: cuttings, water or compost, and air layering

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A weeping fig cutting roots readily, which is unexpected for a plant with a reputation for sulking. The obstacle is not the rooting itself but the milky sap: it seals the cut surface within minutes, and a cutting taken without dealing with it simply sits there and does nothing.

Handle that one detail and the success rate goes from disappointing to routine.

Taking the cutting

• Choose a healthy stem tip of 10 to 15 cm, semi-ripe: firm at the base, still flexible at the tip. Soft green growth rots, fully woody stems are slow
• Cut just below a leaf joint with clean secateurs. That node is where roots form
• Stop the sap immediately — this is the step everyone skips. Stand the cut end in tepid water for a few minutes, or blot it until the flow stops, then let the surface dry for half an hour before planting
• Remove the lower leaves, keeping three or four at the top. Halve any very large remaining leaf to cut water loss
• Take several. Losses are normal and cost nothing

Water or compost?

Both work, and they fail differently.

• In water: put the cutting in a clear jar, change the water twice a week, keep it bright but out of direct sun. Roots appear in three to six weeks and the progress is visible, which is why beginners prefer it. The catch is that water roots are fragile and adapt badly to compost — pot on as soon as they reach 2 to 3 cm, not later
• In compost: a free-draining cutting mix, one third perlite, kept barely moist. Slower to reassure but the roots are the right kind from the start. Cover with a clear bag to hold humidity, and air it daily

Compost is the better route for a plant you intend to keep. Water is the better route for showing a child how roots form.

The conditions that decide it

• Warmth at the base: 20 to 25 °C. A propagator or the top of a fridge does more for the success rate than anything else
• Bright indirect light. Direct sun cooks a cutting that has no roots to replace lost water
• High humidity until roots form, then reduce it gradually rather than all at once
• No fertiliser. There are no roots to take it up, and it encourages rot
• Do not tug to check. Wait for new leaves — that is the only reliable sign of rooting

Air layering, for a plant that has gone leggy

When a specimen is bare at the base with all its growth at the top, a cutting throws away the trunk. Air layering keeps it:

• Remove a ring of bark 2 cm wide from the stem, below the leafy section
• Wrap the wound in damp sphagnum moss, enclose it in clear plastic, seal both ends
• Roots appear in the moss within two to three months, visible through the plastic
• Cut below the new roots and pot up. The parent regrows from the stump

Potting on, and what comes next

• Move into a small pot — a large one holds water the young roots cannot use. The method is the same as repotting any young plant
• Group three or four rooted cuttings in one pot for an instantly full plant
• Expect leaf drop after potting. It is the species reacting to a change of conditions, not a failure — see why weeping figs shed leaves
• Settle the young plant in one position and leave it there

For the growing method itself, see the weeping fig care guide. The same technique works on fiddle-leaf figs and Ficus microcarpa.