How to propagate a Pinstripe Calathea

Adored for their pink striped leaves, Pinstripe Calathea is one of the most popular Calathea varieties and we totally understand why. However, they aren’t always as widely available as we might like them to be so propagating your mother plant is a great way to multiply the number of Pinstripe Calathea plants you have. Propagating Pinstripe Calathea plants is also quite easy and the success rate is pretty high if you follow the right method.

In this post, we will go through how to propagate a Pinstripe Calathea and share our top tips to make sure it’s a success!

Is it difficult to propagate a Pinstripe Calathea?

We have good news for you, propagating a Pinstripe Calathea is actually really simple and it’s super quick too! As long as you use the right propagation method and have a healthy plant to begin with, you should be able to successfully propagate your Pinstripe Calathea without any issues.

What methods can I use to propagate my Pinstripe Calathea?

There is one downside to propagating Pinstripe Calathea plants and that is that you can only use the division method. Although you could propagate through the cultivation of seeds, this is a very slow, tricky and often unsuccessful process so we don’t recommend it to anyone other than the professionals. It’s important for the division method that you have quite a mature plant as you’ll need to separate the stems and the root system into multiple new plants.

Below you’ll find the step by step method of how to divide your Pinstripe Calathea!

1. Take your Pinstripe Calathea out of its pot

   Carefully lift your Pinstripe Calathea out of its pot. You want to make sure you aren’t pulling at the leaves as this can damage them. If it won’t come out of the pot easily, then take a firm grasp on the bottom of the stems near the root system and gently move from side to side. You might also need to untangle the roots from out of the drainage holes.

2. Shake off the potting mix from the roots

   To be able to divide your mother plant into various new plants, you’ll need to locate the natural offshoots. To do this, carefully remove some of the potting mix from around the root system so you can see what’s going on underneath the soil. Loosely run your fingers through the root system to shake off the soil.

3. Untangle the various natural sections
   

   To do this, you might need to slice through a few roots using pruning scissors. As long as you are only cutting through a few of the smaller thinner roots, this shouldn’t impact the overall health of your plant.

   If your Pinstripe Calathea only has one central section, then you will need to slice your plant in half or slice off a section to create two individual plants.

    

4. Grow in water or straight into fresh potting mix

   Pot your original plant back into its pot (or downsize if you have removed a large section of the root system). Then you need to decide if your new plant is mature enough to grow straight into soil or if you want to grow your new plant in water for a few weeks. Usually, when using the division method, the roots will be mature enough to support the plant in soil.

5. Continue your normal Pinstripe Calathea care routine
   

   If you are growing the new plant in water, change this out every few days and pot your plant into soil once you’ve seen the roots start to mature a bit more. Now your propagation efforts are complete!

Can I propagate my Pinstripe Calathea from just a single leaf?

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use just a single leaf or stem to propagate your Pinstripe Calathea. It needs part of the node found in the central section of the plant as this is where the roots will grow out from.

What time of year should I propagate my Pinstripe Calathea?

With other houseplants where you can use the leaf or stem cutting method, we always recommend spring and summer as the best time to propagate. However, as you are propagating your Pinstripe Calathea through division, and the root system on the new plant is already mature, you can get away with doing this at any point in the year. Spring and summer will offer better weather for your plant to grow new leaves so if possible, we do recommend doing it at this time.

Those are all the important details you need to know to successfully propagate your Pinstripe Calathea. If you have quite a mature plant, you can often get 3 or even 4 new plants from just one mother plant so this is a great way to instantly multiply your plant collection! Keep a close eye on your plants for a few weeks after propagation just to check that there aren’t any issues popping up as a result.

To learn more about how to care for your new plants after propagation, check out our Pinstripe Calathea care guide.