DIY Plant Propagation Station

This post shares my DIY plant propagation station! A DIY propagation station is a cute way to display plants while propagating them in water. The glass cylinder tubes help you keep the cuttings organized and while monitoring root development—all without taking up a ton of space.

My cute little DIY plant propagation station

Hey gang, finally getting around to getting this project out the door! This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and other projects just kept jumping the line. It isn’t a hard project. I just kept putting off going to the store to find the right glass containers for it.

I was stressing a bit about finding glass containers that would coordinate size-wise with a hole saw attachment. One day when I was home with R, we decided to boogie over A.C. Moore to see what they had. I don’t usually shot at A.C. Moore just because it’s not super convenient for us to get to, but neither Michaels nor Joann had what I was looking for. So off to A.C. Moore we went.

First of all, I will definitely be heading back to A.C. Moore for my crafting needs. I loved their huge supply of wood crafting supplies and got tons of ideas browsing around. And I found the perfect cylindrical glass tubes for this project. So let’s look at the supplies I used.

Supplies

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• (5) cylindrical latch jars from A.C. Moore—I couldn’t find them online, sorry! But they were around $1 each, and they were on a buy 3, get 2 free sale when I found them. They are about 1 ¾” diameter.
• Pliers
• Poplar or other wood of your choice
• Miter saw
• Drill and 2” hole saw attachment
• Clamps suitable for attaching to a table
• Assorted sandpaper
• Wood glue and clamps or wood glue and finish nailer
• Finish of your choice, I used my favorite matte finish

Like propagating plants? Check out my guides for propagating snake plants, succulents, pothos, peperomia, string of pearls, rubber plants, and prickly pear cactus.

And here’s how I made my DIY Plant Propagation Station!

Always take the proper precautions and safety measures before working with any tools or materials. Wear safety equipment and work with a professional to complete projects when necessary. Read my full terms of use and disclosure for more. Happy making and stay safe!

Step 1: Prep glass jars

First I picked up the cylindrical glass jars and used pliers to remove the latch lids. I threw the lids and the wire out because I had no use for them. 

Step 2: Decide on size and hole placement

Next I decided how far apart I wanted each jar to be. I was working with a piece of 1×4 scrap poplar, so I used the length of that to decide on placement. Here are the measurements I decided on for my pieces (reminder: these are nominal measurements, the actual measurements for 1×4 are actually ¾ x 3 ½):

• Top and bottom: ¾” x 3 ½” x 14”
• Two sides: ¾” x 3 ½” x 3 ½”

Once I had the size of my pieces, I measured and marked where I wanted the 5 holes to be drilled in the top piece. I spaced them evenly, working from the center since there were an odd number of jars.

Step 3: Drill holes for jars

We used a 2” hole saw attachment for each of the 5 holes. We knocked this part out at my dad’s house because our lil drill is not strong enough to drive a 2” hole saw through ¾” poplar. (Note: I’m working on another project with a similar approach and borrowed my neighbor’s drill. Adding this to the list to watch for sales on. Love this thing!)

Using clamps is definitely necessary for safety here. We clamped the piece of wood in place on our workspace and took turns drilling the holes. I wouldn’t recommend trying to drill a hole yourself while holding the piece of wood in place or even having another person hold the wood in place.

Tip: To keep the hole saw bit from wandering from the exact center point you set it on, you can use a small drill bit to drill a pilot hole. Easy as that.

After drilling each hole, I used a medium-grit sandpaper to clean up the rough, splintered areas. Hole saw attachments mean business! Especially on the back/bottom side, so keep that in mind when deciding which side of your project you’ll drill into. 

Step 4: Assemble and finish

I assembled my DIY plant propagation station using wood glue and a few nails. The nails aren’t totally necessary if you don’t have a nail gun. You can use wood glue and clamps to join all four pieces of the propagation station. 

Using wood glue and nails just allowed me to move on to the next step a bit quicker and save some time. That next step was finishing. I used fine-grit sandpaper to polish the pieces and then finished it with a few coats of my favorite matte water-based urethane. Poplar is beautiful enough on its own…no bells and whistles needed.

Pop the jars in, add some water and cuttings, and you’ve got a fab new DIY plant propagation station! What do you think? You could hang this on a wall or put it on a shelf, but I think it looks perfect in our windowsill. 

Want more DIY planters? Check out my hanging stainless steel bowl planter, my modern plywood and hairpin leg planter, my suspended hanging pot holder, my DIY rolling plant caddy, and all of my DIY planters to help you decorate with plants. 

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