Hi, I'm Michelle.
It started, like a lot of obsessions do, with one plant I couldn't stop thinking about. One Hoya became a shelf, the shelf became a wall, and somewhere along the way the Alocasia, Philodendron, Monstera, Scindapsus, Synogiums ALL took over too. I wasn't a beginner — I'd been growing for years — but the more rare and variegated my collection got, the more a hard truth set in: propagation is where collectors lose plants. A $5 cutting failing is a shrug. A tissue-culture Alocasia or an imported Hoya rotting in the cup is a different kind of heartbreak.
So I got methodical about it. I stopped looking for a stronger rooting hormone — because rooting was rarely my actual problem — and started treating propagation as a system: not just whether a cutting throws a root, but whether that root is strong, whether the root zone stays clean, and whether the plant survives the move to its next medium. Months of side-by-side trials on my own props — water, pon, perlite/Fluval, prop boxes, recovery cups — turned into a formula I kept reaching for. That formula became Root Awakening™.
Eventually I left my full-time job to do this for real. Plant Lab Collective is the result — and Root Awakening is just the first bottle. The bigger vision is everything I wish I'd had when I started: structured training, lab-crafted tools built for the way collectors actually grow, and one day the rare plants themselves, propagated in-house. If you've ever stared at a cutting wondering why it just sits there, you're exactly who I built this for.
To raise the success rate of propagation for every grower.
From the first-time hobbyist to the working collector — through systems-based products and education that's practical, honest, and evidence-based.
The Lab standards
Evidence first
Side-by-side trials and documented results. If we can't show it, we don't say it.
Small batch
Formulated and bottled in small batches, by the person whose name is on the company.
Education included
Every bottle comes with the protocol. Every protocol comes with the why.
Collector grade
Built for Hoya, Alocasia, and rare aroids — the plants where failure actually costs you.
Where the Collective is going
Root Awakening™ — the flagship propagation support system.
Plant Lab Training — structured video curriculum for propagation, acclimation, and rehab.
Lab-crafted accessories — precision moss poles, self-watering pots, propagation tools.
The plants themselves — nursery-licensed rare Hoya and Alocasia, propagated in-house.