ZZ Plants - Growing From a Leaf!

 

Zamioculcas Zamiifolia are one of the plants that have been very popular in 2020. Although the price is coming down, it is still on average $30 to $40 for a very small plant. The Black Raven ZZ, Variegated ZZ and ZZZ are more expensive again because they are harder to find.

If you can be patient and have the time, these can be grown from a single leaf!

These plants are so popular because once they are established, they can go weeks between watering. Depending on their environment they can be either slow or fast growing and they can live in pretty much any environment. If they are in a room with very little light, they will grow slowly. In a bright room, they grow much faster! They need very little water and can survive come neglect really well. If you forget to water your plants, this is the plant for you.

How to Propagate

Get a leaf cutting, with the small stalk if possible and leave to callous for 24 hours. 

You can either propagate by putting in a well-draining potting mix and watering lightly or by putting in water. I like to start these plants off in water because I can see what is happening! When they have roots growing, then I transfer to potting mix.

My setup is really simple, a clear plastic cup so that I can see what is going on without disturbing the leaves, a shot glass inside the cup to stop the leaves from falling over and water!

I have about 1 cm (approximately half an inch) of water in the cup!

Note: The only reason the variegated ZZ is in a separate cup is because I started it a couple of months after the others!

I change the water about every 2 weeks, normally at the same time as I am checking the leaves for signs of growth!

This is after about two months:

Here is a comparison between the variegated ZZ rooting taken 6 weeks apart!

Notice how the bottom of the leaf has turned brown and is splitting. This isn't rot, don't try and clean it off, this is the rhizome (this looks like a bulb) forming, the roots will grow from this!

Here are the ZZ and the Raven ZZ after approximately 6 months and the Variegated ZZ after 3-4 months.

This is the stage that I pot the ZZ and Raven ZZ into a well draining potting mix and I will leave the Variegated ZZ until the roots reach the same stage of growth!

I will update this page with more photos as the plants grow!