Easy Tips For Propagating Succulents

Fantastic news for succulent lovers... you don’t have spend so much on buying new plants because the ones you already have can be used to make more baby succulents from their leaves and stems. This incredible method is known as propagation and it is fascinating to watch. Sedum and Echeveria are two unique succulents that use both leaves and stem cuttings to propagate, while Aeoniums use only stem cuttings. This guide will provide you some excellent and practical tips on both ways of propagating your succulents successfully.

Propagate Succulents from Leaves

Take a leaf that has detached from your succulents, or you can gently detach one from its stem. Always pull the plant’s leaf off in a twisting motion to ensure it is detached entirely from the stem without any breakage.

Place the plant’s leaves on a paper towel and wait for the cut ends to dry out completely. Wet cuttings can cause leaves to rot while you plant them. After waiting for a few days of letting the plant’s leaves dry abd callous on the paper towel, it’s time to shift them on top of some succulent potting mix.

Provide your plant leaves with some bright and filtered sunlight and properly mist them with water whenever you notice the soil is drying out. You need to water your plant probably more often once a week but sparingly. The plant's roots will begin sprouting and baby succulents will grow just after some weeks.

Propagate from Leaves – The Baby Succulents

When the baby succulents reach a height of about half an inch and the previous plant’s leaf seems to dry up, tenderly cut off the plant’s leaf, lift the baby succulents out of the potting soil and replant it in a container. Don’t cause too much distress to your plant’s roots, which ultimately require to be coated with potting soil.

Because you removed leaves from stem, there will be new growth there too, so it's a win-win situation with the leaves and the original stem.

Propagate Succulents with Stem Cuttings

Stem cuttings for propagation are best suited for succulents like Aeoniums and Echeverias. It's easiest to do when they are etiolated, i.e., mature tall, and thin due to insufficient bright sunlight. Try to use a sharp pair of scissors for cutting a portion of your succulents from its stem to avoid breaking it. You can also remove leaves on the edge of the stem or the rosette on the upper part of its stem for propagation. Be meticulate as poor stem cuttings can cause the leaves to sprout weak and dormant roots.

Before you bury the succulent cuttings in the soil to generate fresh and new baby succulents, make sure the cuttings are entirely dried out. Let the stem cutting rest for some days to dry out properly. Avoid excessive moisture, as it can rot your plant. Next, you need to plant the bottom of the stem in potting soil and water it frequently every week when the soil is seemingly dry.

Propagate From Stem Cuttings – The Baby Succulents

Baby succulent plants will begin to sprout all around the original stem in just a few weeks. These new baby plants will replace the old leaves that were pulled off before planting them. This is great because now you have two plant stems that are growing lots of new baby succulents!