Plants that Grow in Water – 8 Water Plants Growing Tips
Intro:
Today, we’re going to let you know plants that grow in water, so without any further delay let’s dive into it…
Plants That Grow In Water
Here is the list of plants about whom we are gonna talk:
- Monstera Deliciosa
- Pothos
- Micans Philodendrons
- Wandering Jew
- Sanseveria or Snake Plant
- Dwarf Anthurium
- Aglaonema
- Alocasia
No 01: Monstera Deliciosa
The first water plant is the Monstera Deliciosa, so I have had this one growing in water for four months now. Before this, I had it actually growing in soil, but I transferred it into the water because when it was growing in soil, it was suffering from root rot and it has been four months, so the roots have really established themselves already. I’m very happy with the growth of this and there is no more root rot, although, it did take a while for all the root rot to stop and that’s because I was afraid to cut off all of the roots.
So, the best thing to do is, if you are trying to transfer a house plant from soil to water because it’s suffering from root rot or from some disease is actually just to cut off all of the old roots or all of the old soil roots before placing it into water. The root system of my plant is very healthy now. Monstera does have a quite thick root system.
No 02: Pothos
After the Monstera, I would say one of the easiest plants to grow in water is the Pothos and I talk about this plant all the time but there are actually different varieties of pathos. So, if you don’t want just the boring green jade pathos, you can also go for something with a little bit of variegation and is called Njoy and it is also part of the pathos family, it is also really easy to take care of and you just propagated it in the exact same way as you would a regular green pothos.
I really love the Njoy because it is a low-light plant as well. So you can just put a few stems in water and then just put it into an area that doesn’t necessarily get a whole lot of light and this one is super pretty. I really love the way that this one is growing and it is a relatively fast grower. So, if you want some instant gratification, I would say that pothos is a really nice plant to grow in water.
To get to know about pothos plant care: Click Here!
No 03: Micans Philodendrons
The next one that is competing with my pothos is Micans. Micans can grow in water, this has really nice velvety leaves but the thing about micans is, I actually prefer to grow it in sphagnum moss and the reason for that is because micans have a very delicate roots system. It is a really thin root system and I find that even though micans do extremely well in water, I prefer to grow it in sphagnum moss because sphagnum moss gives it something more to cling onto and it just allows your plant to cascade and to grow nicely.
So, the one that I have growing has a layer of sphagnum moss on the top part and then on the bottom part is growing in liquor and you can actually just go ahead and water it exactly the same as you would a water plant fill it up with water and then wait for the water level to go down before you put in any more water.
The micans are a very beautiful trailing plant that can grow in water and they also do have aerial roots. Basically, in order to propagate them all, you have to do is take a few stem cuttings put them into the water and they will eventually grow out water roots as well. They are very slow in the beginning, when they are trying to establish themselves in water or in sphagnum moss so, you will not see a lot of growth but the moment that they start growing, they really really shoot out very quickly.
The one, which I have, took a very long time. So, I’ve had this in water for about four months as well and I remember in the first two months, it really wasn’t growing, I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong and then all of a sudden it just started growing like no tomorrow and it just started trailing nicely. Once it established itself, I think a new leaf will form almost every three days or so and it just keeps growing and growing and growing so you might have to prune it as well from time to time.
No 04: Wandering Jew
The next plant that I have growing in water is the Wandering Jew and I actually have two varieties, so the one is the purple one and I also have the green one. This is also a trailing house plant. It’s a kind of going all over the place and it is a relatively fast grower. The only thing that I will say though is, I don’t exactly like the way the roots look, it looks long and mushy.
I was thinking at first that I may be doing something wrong but apparently, that’s really how the water roots look like and this plant grows really fast. I have had this in water for about three weeks and he has grown about two inches on every single stem. It’s growing two or three new nodes and you propagate this in the same way as the other water plants, just take off a stem cutting, place it into the water and it will start to grow in new leaves and new roots from the node area.
So, these are the wandering jew different varieties and very fast grower as well and for light requirements, it will need bright indirect sunlight. So, the purple one which I have is losing its color, it’s because it’s not getting enough sunlight. You want to make sure that especially if it is the purple variety or the pink one which is really pretty that you give it a lot of bright indirect sunlight so that it will maintain its color.
No 05: Sanseveria or Snake Plant
This is one of my favorites water plants. This is a very low maintenance plant, I love the fact that you can grow it in low light or you can grow it indirect light, it seems to be okay with any sort of light situation but it does take a little bit of time to establish itself and then I also found that when I am trying to propagate this, sometimes, what happens is there will be no roots growing and then the bottom part will actually start to get mushy which means that you have to cut it and then just try again.
I have been growing this for about four months as well and it’s growing a nice set of roots. The one that I have already had pups growing at the side and pups is like new leaves, so it will grow from the on the side, and then it will grow straight up as well and you can leave this guy growing in water. It doesn’t also need a lot of fertilizer, I’ve never fertilized this one, you could probably put in fertilizer after a year or so in a very small dosage and I think it’s just a very nice beautiful low maintenance house plant that can grow in water.
No 06: Dwarf Anthurium
It does need actually some fertilizer in order for it to bloom or for the space to start to grow. This one I’ve never put in any fertilizer, I’ve had it growing in water for a really long time, I have had it for almost eight months not put in any fertilizer, it’s surviving but it’s not doing extremely well and I think the reason for that is because I don’t give it enough sunlight.
So, most house plants like bright indirect sunlight, unfortunately, I don’t have enough windows, window space for all of the house plants that do need bright indirect sunlight. It can definitely grow in water and I actually just propagated it by taking a stem cutting and then placing it into water.
No 07: Aglaonema
I just thought of this because actually, you propagate it in exactly the same way as you would propagate the anthurium which is to take a stem cutting. So, what you want to do is when you look at the mother plant, look for the lowest area that you can cut and then just take a cutting from there. So, the roots will start to grow in about two weeks’ time.
The aglaonema does take a little bit more time to establish a root system. I have had this in water for about one and a half months and it’s not really a fast grower, if you wanted to grow a little bit faster, you could put it in bright indirect sunlight. This is in medium light and not growing quite as fast as it should but of course, I am limited space so that’s why I put it a little bit further back from the window.
I like the aglaonema because it comes in so many different types of varieties. The one, I have, is called the red siam. It has a little bit of red and pink on the leaves and a lot of them have really beautiful variegations and that’s why aglaonema is definitely on my list of house plants to grow in water.
No 08: Alocasia
The alocasia is a little different from all the previous house plants. It actually grows from a bulb, so you will need the bulb area in order to grow it. The one, which I have, originally was growing in soil but I thought it was dead, actually, I really thought I had killed the plant and what I did is, I dug up the bulb area and then I placed it into the water as a last resort and luckily it started to grow water roots. So it shed off all of its old soil roots, I had to wash those off and then all came in all of these new water roots.
So, this has been in the water for approximately three months and now it has grown a really nice root system as well and I’m very happy that it survived. The thing though about alocasia and the variety which I have is called Mickey Mouse in common language, the scientific name is Xanthosoma Varigetas.
The thing about alocasias though is that depending on the size of the bulb, it can only hold a certain number of leaves before the leaves start to die out. So, usually, alocasias are not the type of plant that will grow into a very bushy plant, something like the pothos. They usually will only grow two or three leaves at a time up until the bulb is very much established or very much larger than this, in that it can support more leaves.
So, what you will see is, the moment that a new leaf starts to grow, the old leaf starts to die. I’m lucky that my alocasia’s both leaves are okay but in the beginning, when I was growing this plant it could only support one leaf. Every time a new leaf would grow, the old leaf would die down. This time my alocasia has two leaves and is very happy but I’m sure the moment that I start to see a third leaf start to grow. It’s going to one of these leaves will start dying, the older leaf will start dying.
There’s nothing wrong with your plant, especially, if you do have this growing in water. It’s just really that’s the way that it grows, at first I thought I was doing something wrong but apparently, that’s really the nature of the alocasia. It did actually grow a lot smaller because before my leaves were like the size of my hand but now since I’ve transferred it into water and since it did shed off all of its roots, it’s just growing very small leaves but every new leaf that grows is going to be a little bit bigger. I am glad that I was able to get this to grow in water.
FAQ: Commonly Asked Questions
Q1: How much should I fill up the water level?
For me what I do is, just try to make sure that the water level is enough to cover all of the roots and not anything higher. Actually, you could put it a little bit higher but I’m kind of scared, the reason why I’m scared is that this plant did suffer from root rot and I don’t want it too high to the point that if everything is touching the water, I’m afraid that the stem, might also start to rot.
Although I don’t think that is always the case in the monstera, I’m just being very careful. In this case, I also have the stem portion of the original node where it was cut. I have a propped up against a bunch of pebbles which I put into the water and that just keeps it dry for most of the time. I just want to make sure that the roots are the ones that are in the water, while, the node or the stem portion is the one that is propped up a little bit higher.
Q2: How often should we fertilize the water plants?
Actually, for this, I have not fertilized my monstera and the reason that I don’t want to fertilize him yet is that I want the roots to really establish themselves. So, what I found is that fertilizer can actually hurt your water plant, especially, in the beginning, stages or when it’s just starting to form water roots.
What you can do is, if you really want to add something to your water is try super thrive. I have not tried super thrive but I’ve read a lot of reviews and I’ve seen that a lot of people are very successful using this. it’s not a fertilizer, it’s actually just vitamins that will help establish the root system and help it grow a little bit faster.
The other thing that I do add to this water is hydrogen peroxide. The reason why I have hydrogen peroxide is actually to stop it from root rotting as well as add a little bit of oxygen to the water. It also helps maintain the cleanliness of the water, at least I find that it does. So, I put in hydrogen peroxide every time I change out the water. Usually, I only use one or two drops of hydrogen peroxide and I find that’s perfectly fine for the amount of water that I have.
Q3: How often should you change out the water?
So, for me, I don’t have much of a schedule for when I change out the water. Whenever I see that it looks a little bit murky or I feel like I have time to change out the water then I go ahead and change it out. Sometimes, the water level actually drops really low, and then I remember that I forgot to change the water that’s the only time that I top up and add in new water.
I would say that it’s probably every two to three weeks. In the beginning, you want to change it out a little bit more often than that I would say once a week or so because freshwater provides oxygen to the water plant but once the roots are established, you can go ahead and change it out every month or whenever the water is murky.
Q4: What type of water should you use?
For me, I use regular tap water, let it sit out for 24 hours, and put it into most of my water plants. If you can collect rainwater that’s definitely the best but I am a little bit more practical, so I only get regular tap water, let it sit out for 24 hours, and then use that instead for all of my house plants.
Hope so guys you liked reading this article. I tried my best as much as possible ways to make you understand everything clearly so hopefully, this article is gonna be helpful for you in plants that grow in water. Keep visiting us to learn many more things. Have a nice day!
