My neighbor’s English ivy is creeping over the fence to my side of the yard. I decided to take cuttings of my neighbor’s English ivy to bring in as indoor houseplants. Below, I will show you everything I did and how this endeavor turned out to be a success. You can also watch the video I made documenting the entire process of propagating English Ivy from an outdoor plant to an indoor plant.
How to Propagate English Ivy Video
Here is a video of how I took cuttings from my neighbor’s English ivy and propagated it into indoor houseplants. Make sure to watch until the end of this video!
How to Propagate English Ivy from an outdoor plant to an indoor plant
1. Take stem cuttings
I took stem cuttings from the neighbor’s ivy. I randomly took cuttings from both old wood and new growth. You can see there are a lot of air roots coming out of the stems. Based on my experience taking English Ivy stem cuttings of both old wood and new vines, I think the stem cutting from the young vines rooted better than the old vines.
2. Put Stem Cuttings in a vase with water
I filled a flower vase with water and put all the stem cuttings inside. To be honest, I was rushing to go somewhere that day when I took the cuttings so I didn’t even bother removing the bottom leaves from the stem. I simply plopped all the stem cuttings in the water with the leaves submerged. My plan was to go back later to remove the leaves that were submerged. Life just got busy, and by the time I went back to check on my stem cuttings, it was one week later.
One Week Later
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the roots of the English Ivy stem cuttings have already developed. It was so fast- it took only 1 week! There were also some upper aerial roots that produced roots that weren’t even submerged in water.
I think the hourglass shape of the vase made a difference, it kept the upper portion of the stem cuttings moist that’s why the upper aerial roots developed roots. The hourglass shape of the vase must have acted like a greenhouse, trapping the moisture in.
3. Planting Stem Cuttings in Pots
I planted the stem cuttings in pots. Make sure these pots have drainage holes. Since the ivy cuttings are long, I cut them to make them shorter to fit the pot. I made sure each ivy cutting had roots, stem, and leaves. I dipped some of the cuttings that were from the upper part ivy in rooting hormones to encourage roots to grow in the soil.
4. Water Thoroughly
Make sure to water after planting the new stem cuttings. I’m growing these stem cuttings indoors in front of an east-facing window.
FAQ Propagating English Ivy
Is it Better to Take English Ivy Stem Cuttings from Young Vines or Old Vines?
When propagating English Ivy, you are better off getting stem cuttings from the young vines. The likelihood of rooting success with young English Ivy vines is higher than English Ivy stem cuttings from old wood. In fact, out of all the stem cuttings I took, only one stem cutting did not root and that was from an old English Ivy vine. The stem cuttings from the young vines had a 100% success rate in producing roots.
How Long Does it Take for English Ivy Stem Cuttings to Produce Roots?
It’s really fast for English Ivy stem cuttings to produce roots. The English ivy stem cuttings that I have in water took only one week to produce roots!
Can you successfully take cuttings from outdoor English Ivy vines to plant them in pots as houseplants?
Yes, you can successfully take cuttings from the vines of outdoor English Ivy and plant them in pots as indoor plants. I was able to root the vines of my outdoor English ivy in water and then planted them in pots. Check out the photo below of my English Ivy houseplants that were originally propagated from outdoor stem cuttings.
Good luck propagating your English ivy!
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