Watercress is an extraordinarily easy plant to grow.
In reality, most schools will ideally show children how to grow watercress (alongside sunflowers) because there is little that can go wrong.
You cannot overwater them, and they will basically grow anywhere – but in those scenarios, you will always be growing from seeds.
On this page, we want to focus on growing them from cuttings
To grow watercress from cuttings, all you need to do is to get some watercress from your local shop, plant in a waterlogged pot, and just leave it. Just ensure that it gets sunlight and you will have buckets and buckets of watercress.
Let’s expand on this a little. We want to go through step-by-step the actual process that you need to follow.
The Best Time to Plant Watercress
Watercress has a long enough growing season that there is really no ‘best’ time to plant it.
You can plant it pretty much any time of the year.
The only times it probably won’t grow is in December and January, although you may be able to get around that if you keep the plants indoors.
Obtaining Watercress Cuttings
We’re fairly certain a garden center likely has watercress cuttings for sale.
But that is likely going to be costly. A much less expensive source of watercress is your local grocery store.
In fact, go ahead and head to your local grocery store to buy some fresh watercress.
There are two things you, however, want to confirm:
- To begin, it is recommended to buy organic watercress. This way, you don’t have to worry about pesticides, and similar issues ruining your crop.
- In addition, you’ll want to make sure your watercress has roots, which will be white in color. You don’t want to see any evidence of rot or browning on the roots. Otherwise it will be tough to grow them.
Stripping the Watercress Cuttings
Once you have your watercress, take it home.
Don’t try to plant the watercress right away. You need to strip the leaves from the watercress you are planting.
You have to understand that stripping the leaves off of the watercress does not actually inhibit your cuttings from growing.
It is the fact that the watercress leaves will rot in water, and that’s not very nice.
Also, If you do not strip the leaves off of your watercress, you will not actually be able to tell when your cuttings are rooting.
Preparing Your Growth Container: Initial Growth
Begin with a shallow bowl or container.
You will need to “fill it with rocks”! You also need to “fill it with water”!
You can then place your watercress cuttings on the rocks.
Make sure that the watercress root is covered completely. If they’re not covered, then add more water.
Be careful not to cover the top of your plant in water. It won’t cause any real problems–just slower growth.
Now you want to wait for the watercress to grow. If you cut the leaves off, you should see new leaves growing now!
You should change the water out every 2-3 days. When you see that the watercress is growing, you can move to the next step!
Plant the Cuttings
The next stage is to plant the cuttings.
For this, you are going to need another pot. Make sure that it has decent drainage, because you’re going to want to put a lot of water in this one as well.
You will fill the pot with compost. You should try to ensure that it is a soilless compost. This means something like husk, or a similar product. You could even use your own compost if you’ve been making it!
You will place your watercress cuttings into the compost, and now you’re ready to water them. You want to ensure that soil is pretty moist.
Keep in mind your watercress won’t get over watered however you don’t want too much water in the pot that you’re “drowning” the top of the plant.
Again, the water only needs to be in the soil i.e. covering the roots. You will now want to place the cuttings in direct sunlight. It doesn’t have to be outside. You should be just as fine growing your watercress is the comfort of your own home.
Just make sure the products are getting sunlight during the day.
Works Best: You will want to water on a regular basis. Your cuttings should be ready to be harvested in about four weeks.
Wait for Them to Grow
As we’ve mentioned, the cuttings will take around 4 weeks to grow properly.
You may harvest the watercress leaves early, but they will be small.
We believe the best time to harvest watercress will be when the stem is 5″ long.
If you are harvesting your watercress, remember to not pull the plant from the roots, otherwise, you will have to go through the painstaking process of planting the cuttings over again.
Instead, you will want to harvest just the top of the plant.
You will want to leave the roots, and some lower leaves. This way the watercress can continue to grow.
Keep in mind, the watercress is likely dropping seeds by this point.
Meaning, you may end up with more watercress than you started out with. If that happens, don’t hesitate to break the watercress into multiple pots.
If you are growing the watercress from seed, it will take a bit longer, but as you have cuttings still producing, we are sure that will not be a problem.
Conclusion
It’s surprisingly simple to grow watercress from cuttings and there’s very little that can go wrong.
If you make sure that the watercress gets plenty of light and plenty of water, you will be rewarded with a continuous supply of watercress.