English ivy is Hedera helix. Indoor plants sold as ivy, Glacier ivy, Baltic ivy, or needlepoint ivy stay on this URL. Devil’s ivy is pothos (Epipremnum), at how to propagate pothos. Swedish ivy is Plectranthus, not Hedera.
Iowa State answers “how can I propagate an English ivy?” with stem cuttings. Illinois lists stem and leaf-bud. UNL says English ivy is easily started from leaf-bud cuttings. Missouri: a herbaceous cutting, and compound layering; easy, sometimes slow to start. NCSU’s strategies include stem cutting. The juvenile houseplant vine also makes adventitious roots along the stem.
NCSU: in North Carolina it is safer as a houseplant. Outdoors it is invasive there.
For mix in a drained pot, see soil propagation. Water lives on water propagation.
Stem cuttings
Iowa’s English ivy FAQ: 4- to 5-inch shoots. Pinch off the lower leaves. Dip the cut in rooting hormone. Root in perlite or coarse sand, bottom 1 to 1½ inches in the medium. A clear plastic bag over the pot, or a dome over a flat. Bright light, not direct sun. Keep the medium moist. Roots in 6 to 8 weeks, then pot up.
Iowa’s stem-tip houseplant page also lists Hedera helix with that list’s general recipe: 3 to 6 inches, at least two nodes, 3 to 6 weeks for most houseplants on that page. Those inches and weeks are the list page, not the ivy FAQ. Do not average 4 to 5 inches with 3 to 6, or 6 to 8 weeks with 3 to 6.
Illinois: stem cuttings for Hedera. Their general stem recipe is 3 to 6 inches, two to six nodes.
Missouri: herbaceous cutting. Easy to root. Sometimes slow starting.
NCSU’s home-gardener stem-cutting table lists English ivy as semi-hardwood and hardwood.
UVM names English ivy among vines that are easy to root in water. On that page a general cutting is 3 to 6 inches; pot when roots are more than 2 to 3 inches. Time is “days or weeks, sometimes months,” for houseplants in general.
Illinois: ivy and philodendron will root in water, and they still do not recommend a jar. Roots in water are often weak. Iowa’s general stem page says water roots are coarser and may stress after potting. Keep both names. The ivy FAQ itself is mix, not water.
UF/IFAS commercial Hedera: juvenile ivy from tip or nodal cuttings; single-node cuttings are more common in production; mist, 70 to 86 °F. That is nursery, not a home week count.
Leaf-bud cuttings
UNL: English ivy is easily propagated this way. A single leaf on a 1- to 1½-inch piece of stem. The bud sits where the leaf joins the stem. Insert it so the bud is about ½ inch below the surface.
Wisconsin 4-H names English ivy for leaf-bud cuttings. One node, a short stem, bud buried ½ inch. Care as for stem cuttings.
Illinois lists leaf-bud (C) for Hedera: leaf blade, petiole, and a piece of stem that holds a bud. Useful when you want many plants from a short vine.
A leaf with no bud is not this method.
Layering
Iowa lists Hedera helix for simple layering, not air layering. Pin or bury at least one node, 2 to 4 inches deep, in soil, perlite, or sphagnum. Leaves off the buried stretch. On that page, new roots in 6 to 12 weeks, maybe longer depending on the species. Cut free when the stem is firmly rooted.
Missouri lists compound layering for English ivy: a long vine alternately covered and exposed, then cut into rooted pieces.
Simple layering and compound layering are different. Follow one source. The juvenile vine’s adventitious roots (NCSU) are why a node on moist mix takes.
Common mistakes
- Averaging Iowa’s ivy FAQ (4 to 5 inches, 6 to 8 weeks) with Iowa’s general stem-tip list (3 to 6 inches, 3 to 6 weeks).
- A leaf with no bud, filed as a leaf-bud cutting. UNL and Wisconsin want the bud in the mix.
- Treating devil’s ivy or Swedish ivy as this page.
- A jar as the only method. Illinois names ivy as a water-rooter and still prefers media. Iowa’s ivy FAQ is perlite or sand.
People also ask
Ivy or English ivy?
Same URL. Hedera helix. Cultivars stay here. Not pothos, not Swedish ivy.
Stem or leaf-bud?
Iowa’s FAQ is a stem. UNL and Wisconsin name leaf-bud as easy. Illinois lists both.
How long until roots?
Iowa ivy FAQ: 6 to 8 weeks. Iowa stem-tip list: 3 to 6 weeks for most houseplants on that page. Iowa simple layering: 6 to 12 weeks. UVM does not give an ivy-only week count. Those are not one number.