You may wonder whether it is better to grow a money plant in water or the soil medium. You should familiarize yourself with the best practices while growing a money plant in water. Money plants can grow ideally in both water and soil medium.
You may have wondered why your money plant shows sluggish growth in one medium or might not know how to grow a money plant in water. This article presents a guide on how to grow your money plant in water and a detailed analysis of how to do it right.
Money plants grow in both soil and water medium. You can propagate the plant from a stem and grow it in water until it develops roots. While growing a money plant in water has some added advantages over other mediums, it has some worthwhile setbacks.
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Do Money Plants Grow Better in Water or Soil?
The truth is, any of the two mediums is okay and will make your plant flourish. The decision is all yours depending on the materials you have available; if you have access to soil, you can use it; if you don’t, water will still do the trick.
However, there are significant differences between money plants grown in a water medium compared to those grown in a soil medium.
The plants have softer and more succulent leaves in the water medium than those growing in a soil medium. This difference in succulence is due to the high absorption rate of water in money plants growing in water.
While there is no harm in growing the money plant in any available mediums; you should never change the medium; do not change a money plant growing in water to a soil medium or vice versa.
This sudden change leads to the wilting of the plant. Your money plant experiences shock, which it may not recover from in due time.
If you transplant a money plant previously growing in water to a soil medium, the plant, having been accustomed to easy and continuous access to water, undergoes an acute water shortage as these are not the conditions available in the soil medium.
Similarly, when a money plant previously growing in soil is transferred to a water medium, it gains sudden access to unlimited water, absorbs much of it, and ends up rotting or suffocating. The difference in solution concentrations may at times dehydrate your plant if the water used is salty.
How to Grow a Money Plant in Water: Step by Step
You will find it relatively easy to grow your money plant in water. Money plants are vegetative plants that you can propagate through stem cuttings. All you need to do is have access to an existing money plant then follow the following steps:
Step One
First, choose a healthy stem from an existing money plant. Make sure that the stem you choose is thick and is approximately 30cm (12 inches) in length.
The stem should not be too soft, such as parts towards a branch’s tip, nor too hard such as those at the plant’s base.
Step Two
Next, make a sharp cut at approximately 45 degrees below a node. In your money plant, a node is an undeveloped bud where leaves will appear. Ensure that the stem you choose has at least three nodes to increase the chances of success.
Step Three
Now remove any extra leaves from the bottom part of the stem and place them in a container that holds water. There is no limitation to the container you choose so long as it has clean water. The water should cover at least one node and be clean and free from chemical contamination such as chlorine.
Step Four
Check to ensure that at least one node is always underwater. If your plant floats off and reveals the nodes from water, you can attach the stem cutting to the container using a string such that the selected nodes always stay underwater.
If your stem cutting has many branches, you can fold them and stick them under the water to have more nodes covered by water.
Step Five
Now place your money plant in a place where it has access to sunlight. A spot near a window may be an excellent location for your money plant, but avoid exposing it to too much sunlight.
If your money plant has long branches, you may hang it using a string to prevent these branches from touching the ground.
Step Six
It is now time to allow your new money plant to develop roots at the nodes. You should change the water regularly, preferably once a week or whenever it becomes turbid.
The origins of your money plant should emerge in a week or two’s time as long as you maintain the water level above the nodes at all times.
How Can I Make My Money Plant Grow Faster in Water?
Once you have established your money plant, you might be interested in learning how to make it grow faster in water. Money plants are cheap to look after, and it is also easy to borrow a few tips to make your money plant grow even quicker in a water medium.
Change Water Regularly
It would help if you took keen care to change the water in your money plant regularly. If the water stays for too long without being changed, it accumulates chemicals and toxins harmful to your money plant.
The water becomes too turbid and becomes a medium for rearing bacteria or fungi, which might later attack the money plant.
Water that stays for too long without being changed also hinders your money plant from access to a fresh supply of nutrients.
Over time, the water’s nutrients get exhausted, and the money plant may experience stunted growth due to inadequate nutrients. Changing water regularly in your money plant thus enables the plant to grow faster.
Proper Sunlight Control
Money plants do require a considerable amount of sunlight to carry out photosynthesis. You should take keen care to avoid exposing the money plant to extreme cases of sunlight intensity, neither too much nor too little sunlight.
If your money plant has access to too much sunlight, the leaves begin to turn yellow and eventually wither. To maintain a healthy money plant, place it in a place that is not too much hit by direct sunlight or heat. You may as well avoid placing the money plant too close to a window, door, or balcony.
Similarly, too little exposure to sunlight interferes with the metabolic functions of your money plant. The rate of photosynthesis reduces, and as a result, the plant fades in color and may eventually turn yellow. To prevent this condition, you may place your money plant in a dimly lit place or near windows with curtains.
Proper Temperature Control
Money plants do well in a specific range of temperatures. Too low temperatures make the cells of the money plant inactive and hinder growth. At such low temperatures, the leaves of your money plant turn yellow and start to develop spots.
Similarly, under the conditions of high temperatures, money plants lose excess water and become dehydrated. Higher temperatures are reportedly a cause for denaturing of cells and the eventual death of the money plant.
You should maintain a good balance on the temperature conditions you place your money plant to avoid causing it harm.
The standard temperatures under which a money plant thrives are slightly warmer and range between 59-86°F (15-30°C). Within this range, your money plant performs much better than while outside the range.
Clean Water Supply
For money plants established in a water medium, the water needs to be always clean. Like all other plants, money plants depend on osmosis to absorb water and most of their metabolic process, including support. Besides changing the water, this water replaced for the money plant should be clean and free from chemical contamination.
Chemical contaminants in water such as chlorine or salts raise the osmotic imbalance between the money plant’s cell sap and the water medium. Next, the money plant loses water and becomes flaccid, hence losing its support properties. In extreme cases, the plant undergoes poisoning by chlorine to the point of death.
To avoid such scenarios in your money plant, you should only use filtered water to change your plant’s potting medium. You should ensure that the water used is free from chlorine or any salts. The baseline is, you should use water that is fit for you to drink whenever changing the potting medium.
Propagation Techniques
It is worth noting that your money plant’s success in a water medium is also dependent on the technique used to propagate it. You should make sure that every gardening practice you apply on the money plant is right from the start. Poor propagation will reflect on the quality of the money plant.
Money plants propagated with few nodes are likely to have inadequate root systems, while those with many nodes that emerged in water have strong root establishment. To obtain an excellent new money plant that will grow faster, select a good stem and observe that it has enough nodes. The plant from which you select a branch should have desirable characteristics such as leaf shape and robust growth.
Common Problem of Money Plant Growing in Water
Most money plants growing in water encounter several hindrances. The continuous access to water happens to have some detrimental effects on the money plant.
Money Plant Dying in Water
Excess water in the money plant tends to suffocate the plant’s roots, causing it to die. This problem is quite evident for newly propagated money plants, where the stems rot and lose viability.
Solution
You should always check the roots of your money plant to ensure that no rotting is taking place. If you see a rotting root case, you should use appropriate antibiotics to treat it or cut away the rotten part. Also, you should keep close monitoring of fresh propagates, which run a high risk of death by suffocation or root rot.
Money Plant Leaves Turning Yellow
Money plants leave often turn yellow for several reasons. Among other reasons are high toxicity levels of the water medium, pathogen attack leading to disease infections.
Solution
You should regularly change your water to eliminate the toxins. Also, you should treat your plant against pests and diseases once you note their presence.
Pest Attack
Pests such as mealybugs and aphids feed on the leaves of your money plant, causing holes in stems, dry patches, and yellowish color. Aphids feed on the cell sap and perforate leaves. These pests destroy the beauty of the plant and form a basis for secondary infection.
Solution
Spray neem oil on the infected parts to control these pests. You should also isolate heavily infected plants from the rest to avoid spread.
Care Guide for Money Plant in Water
- Regularly change water without failure
- Use clean water
- There is no need for fertilizers in water medium
- Avoid excess direct sunlight exposure
- Maintain standard temperatures
- Control pest and diseases
- Follow the proper steps when propagating a new plant
Benefits of Growing Money Plant in Water
Although it is entirely your choice to decide what medium you will use for your money plant, growing your plant in a water medium does have several advantages. You do not have to worry about regularly watering your plant when it is growing in water. Also, use fertilizers to nourish the soil.
Money plants produce beautiful flowers with pleasant smells that attract insects. You would enjoy the scene of a flowering money plant in your house or office.
Final Words
Money plants can grow well in a water or soil medium. It is your choice to decide what medium you will use. However, the water medium does have some advantages over the soil medium. You must familiarize yourself with the best practices to apply when caring for your money plant.