Heuchera can be propagated by several different methods and most are very successful
1. Division: This is by far the easiest and most successful way to replicate your heuchera. When your heuchera starts to grow into a nice size you will be able to see the “plants within the plant” which means it could be divided. This doesn’t mean you have to, heucheras get more beautiful with time and some do reach their glory for years so don’t be hasty but if you must….Start by carefully digging up the plant. We recommend in the early spring because many times the new division freeze out from heaving during the winter if done in the fall. After you’ve dug the plant you should be able to see the natural division and be able to gently pull apart the pieces. You shouldn’t have to do any cutting. You will get some big pieces and most likely some small ones as well. Plant these pieces is tilled or “worked up” soil and water frequently. The plants may wilt on you and may look small in the beginning, but keep them watered and they’ll eventually look just like the original plant. If you want them to grow a little faster take the individual pieces that came apart and remove all but a few leaves. Dip the piece in rooting hormone and plant in a pot filled with peat and a little compost. Again keep them moist. The perfect soil and hormone speeds things up a bit. You’ll soon have a plant that looks like you just bought it at the local garden center.
2. Cuttings: Cuttings take a little more practice, some root hormone, and a little mist but can be very effective as well. Using a sharp knife, take a piece of the stem with as little as one leaf. The stem should be a 1/4 inch or so, but can make it even if it comes out smaller. The leaves do take a lot of moisture to stay alive so take off half the leaves or if a one leaf cutting, cut it in half (not down the middle). If you do larger cuttings, several sections of leaves will be OK but again we limit the amount of leaves. Dip the stem into a rooting hormone of your choice, many people use IBA quickdip powder at 500 ppm or so. Shake off the extra powder by tapping the cutting and put the cutting into a mixture of half peat, half perlite. Next comes the tricky part, the cutting does best if it receives regular misting. Since many of you don’t have a mist house or a professional set up, I recommend putting the cuttings in part shade and in a one gallon pot (you can fit several cuttings in there) because you can place a freezer ziploc bag over the top to retain moisture. Mist with a spray bottle when you leave in the morning and again at night (not too late). Get them too wet, they rot. Get them too dry, they die. So be careful. Do it right and you could get 25-50 plants from one large plant.
3. Leaf Cuttings: Exactly the same as above with a few difference. Take off a leaf and include a small part of the stem with it. It doesn’t have to be much but there does have to be some. Take that piece and follow the instructions above starting with dipping in hormone. We do keep the leaf whole in the this case and don’t actually stick the leaf straight in the soil but rather lay it on the surface and cover the end of the leaf and the stem. Just make sure to keep it covered with soil. If you follow the misting procedure above you should start to see growth from the stem in several weeks. To get even more plants from one leaf you can take a sharp knife and cut down the center vein and through the stem. You can cut the leaf and stem into several sections. Don’t cut the entire leaf but just the stem and main vein. You should have a leaf that looks “cut up” towards the vein. Put this in the soil and each slice will become a plant eventually. A sharp enough knife and good skill and you can get a lot of cuts on a leaf. I’ve been able to get 30 plants off one leaf in the past. It’s almost like the next way to propagate, tissue culture
4. Tissue Culture: This is the process of growing little “plantlets” in a lab. Thousands of plants can be produced from one plant but it take a lab and high setup costs. This propagation method is best left up to the experts and is overkill if you need a few plants. It is also illegal if it is a propagated plants and that leads to this statement
People have spent years and much money coming up with these varieties we all grow and love. Reproducing heuchera that are patented is illegal. That is not to say that if you produce a few extra plants for yourself that you are going to get in trouble, but if you are producing these to sell you are essentially stealing. I often reproduce plants just to see if I can and that’s OK in your own garden, but if you are doing it for others or to avoid ever buying plants you are hurting the propagators. If you think they are already rich and don’t need the money I can tell you from experience that is not true.
5. Seed: Most of the new varieties are not true (clones of the parent) and many are even sterile. ‘Palace Purple’ is an old variety that actually has a high percentage of seedlings that show the same characteristics as the parent. They may not look correct the first year but do by the second (this is true with many seedlings). It is certainly worth a try to sow some seeds and even if they look different than the parent you may get some exciting new plants. An article on how to collect and sow seeds to come
