How to Propagate a Fiddle Leaf Fig (Soil and Water)

Before you touch the plant, wipe your pruners down with rubbing alcohol. Spray both sides of the blade, then blot off the excess with a cotton ball so the alcohol isn't sitting on the metal.

This looks fussy, and it's the step most people skip. Clean blades stop you passing disease from one plant to the next, and that alone lifts how many cuttings actually take. Two minutes here saves a lot of rot later.

Run your eye down a healthy stem and look for a node. That's the small joint where a leaf meets the woody stem, and it's the only part that grows roots.

Pick a section that has at least two nodes, more if you can. Each node is another chance for the cutting to root, so a length with a few of them gives you a better shot. No node, no new plant, so this is worth a careful look.

Line the pruners up just below a node and make one clean cut. Cutting under the node keeps that growth point on the piece you're rooting, which is the whole point.

Go for a single decisive snip. A clean cut heals faster than a crushed or half-sawed one, so let sharp blades do the work in one pass. Aim to leave each cutting with two nodes or more.

Strip the leaves off the bottom of the stem and leave one or two up top. Then cut those remaining leaves in half.

It feels wrong to chop up good leaves, but a fiddle leaf fig has big thirsty ones. Trimming them down tells the cutting to put its energy into growing roots instead of holding all that leaf up. Remove leaves with the pruners rather than tearing them, so you don't strip the side of the stem.

For the soil cuttings, mix a light medium that drains fast. MonstroFarm uses equal parts peat, coco coir, and perlite - two handfuls of each - and blends it in a bowl.

The peat and coir hold just enough moisture to keep the cutting happy, while the perlite keeps the mix open and airy. That balance matters: too dense and the fresh cut sits wet and rots before it ever puts out a root.

Tip a little rooting hormone powder onto a napkin, then dip the cut tip of each cutting so the end is fully coated. Pouring some out onto a napkin instead of dipping straight into the bottle keeps the whole jar clean and uncontaminated.

Rooting hormone isn't strictly required, but it nudges the cutting to root faster and more evenly. On a plant as slow and stubborn as a fiddle leaf fig, that extra push is worth it.

Fill a small pot with the damp mix and firm it lightly. Open a hole for each cutting with a wooden dowel, then set the cutting in deep enough that the first node sits under the soil. Press the mix around the base so the cutting stands on its own.

If you're planting a few in one pot, spread them out. As they root and push new growth, they fill in and give you one full, bushy plant instead of a row of thin sticks.

For the water method, stand the remaining cuttings in clean glass tubes or a jar of water. No rooting hormone needed here. Rain, distilled, or plain tap water all work, so don't overthink it. Keep the nodes under the surface and put the tubes in bright, indirect light.

Give it about six weeks. If the water clouds or grows algae, swap it out and add a splash of hydrogen peroxide. You'll end up with a thick tangle of roots, ready to pot up into the same mix.