11 Stylish DIY Propagation Stations to Help You Multiply Your Houseplant Family

If there’s one thing a plant parent loves, it’s making plant babies. There is something so magical about watching a cutting take root. While you’ll find a few different methods for propagation, most popular houseplants can be propagated by placing a cutting in water (and sometimes adding a little rooting hormone).  

Propagating plants is not only a fun and cost-effective way to add to your plant collection—when displayed together thoughtfully, your plant babies can make a stunning statement on a blank wall or shelf.

Whether you’re a first time DIYer or a seasoned professional, here are 11 DIY wall propagation stations that will help you multiply your plant collection.

With a few items from Dollar Tree, Tina Le created this adorable propagation piece for only $5. That round centerpiece? Yeah, that’s a pizza pan. The planters are plastic travel-size bottles with magnets attached. The fringe? A cut-up hula skirt. This is DIY magic, y’all. 

Le documented her full process here.

For this propagation vase, Le got creative by reusing an old oil diffuser bottle and painting a terrazzo pattern on it. By leaving a little window of space at the bottom, she can see how her roots are growing from her cutting.  

“Have fun with your plant DIYs and customize them to fit within your space,” she says. “By simply changing up the colors of a project, you can create a completely different look to suit your personal style!”

You can see how to make your own version of this project here.

As a part of Megan’s Mystery Makeover, Ursula Carmona (@homemadebycarmona) took a strange thrift store clock and turned it into two beautifully chic pieces that now hold a total of six propagation tubes.

You can see how she pulled off this wild transformation (and only spent $20 on materials while doing it) here.

Having trouble keeping up with which plants you’ve propagated? Stacie (@staciesspaces) solved this problem by placing her propagation wall over chalkboard paint. It’s a creative way to label your cuttings.

She says there are a few other things to keep in mind when making a propagation station: “Choose a location within your home that gets an adequate amount of light and create a station that works with your space,” Stacie advises. “If you don’t have any wall space, create something that can sit on the countertop.”  

She also adds that you can have fun when choosing the bottles or vessels for your planters—just make sure to keep them out of reach of children.

If you don’t want to take up counter space but also don’t want to put any holes in your wall, this tiny suspended shelf by Mable, aka @hausofplantz, is a perfect space-saving solution. 

“For all you first-time DIYers, creativity is your best friend,” Mable says. She adds that starting the project is the hardest part, but once you have everything planned out, this piece is easy to pull off.

Mable used a small piece of wood, drilling holes for each of her vials. She chose containers with a wider neck so that they sit securely in the holes. Then, on either end, Mable drilled holes for hanging. She looped a piece of rope through a ring with a simple lark’s head knot, then slipped each end of the rope through the holes before knotting underneath the wood base. Simple!

This wood DIY from Bryant and Marko (@thecozyhomegays) is all you can really ask for in a propagation station. It holds 10 test tubes, but you can adjust to the amount you need. They recommend 2-inch spacing between tubes so that each plant baby has enough room to flourish. You don’t even need a drill for this one—just wood glue.

Get the detailed instructions in Bryant and Marko’s Instagram highlights.

Like the idea of a wood piece, but want a little more edge? 

Astro Geerligs did, too. She started with a few recycled Salud Juice bottles and, thanks to a friend with some sweet woodworking skills, ended up with this beautiful hexagon shelf with mirror inlays that fits her recycled bottles perfectly.

This project is a little more involved than others, but you can still DIY the look. Start by making a hex shelf. Use a thin wood project panel for the back. You can cut a mirror to fit it using a glass cutter; this takes some finesse, so if you’d rather not mess with cutting real mirrors, you can also fake the look using mirrored stickers. Then, attach a couple thin wood pieces to the front to hold in your bottles.

Meghan Moyer used leftover wood from her house rafters to make this freestanding propagation station. Drilled holes make room for six beakers that hold various cuttings.

Moyer’s best advice when it comes to cultivating your own cuttings: “Be patient! Some plant cuttings will grow roots faster than others, so hang in there and don’t give up.”

This DIY is simple: Just measure your vials before drilling holes that are slightly bigger than the containers into a block of wood.

Don’t feel like working with wood and power tools to create your propagation wall? No problem.

Nerissa (@lifesoulgarden) repurposed a large candle votive piece to create a twirling wall of plant life. This particular piece can hold 16 plant babies.

Mandi Gubler from Vintage Revivals and Happy Happy Houseplant DIYed this showstopping double arch propagation planter and walks you through the process here.

These stunners are reversible, in case you want to change up the look. Admittedly, they’re a more complicated DIY—so if you give it an A+ effort and aren’t satisfied, you can also buy the planters here.

These propagation planters on Happy Happy Houseplant made me fall in love with propagation as an art form. When lined up on a wall, they are simple and beautiful. I knew from the moment I saw them that I had to make my own.

I used Mandi’s Vintage Revivals DIY tutorial, and I have to say, it worked out pretty well for me. The only real mishap is that the magnets I ordered are too strong, so sometimes they only stick to each other (and therefore pop off the test tube), so I have to re-glue them to the test tube more often than I’d like to admit.  Mine didn’t turn out quite as picture perfect as Mandi’s, but that’s the fun of DIY.

Propagation walls are such a lovely way to quite literally bring new life and fresh air into your home. So get creative, get started, and show off those roots.

The Apartment Therapy Plants vertical was written and edited independently by the Apartment Therapy editorial team and generously underwritten by Greendigs.