How To Propagate Succulents With 3 Easy Methods

How To Propagate Succulents With 3 Easy Methods.

In this post, we will be discussing how to propagate succulents in 3 easy methods. Succulents are the easiest plant to propagate which I am excited to share with you below.

succulents
Photo by Scott Webb from Pexels

Leaf propagation

            Have you ever moved or repotted your succulent only to accidentally remove or break a leaf? Don’t freak out! If it was a clean break from the stem, this leaf can be placed on top of soil and it will sprout roots. You can dig the part that broke off from the steam into the soil a bit, but this step is not required. Once the roots grow out, they will find and grow into the soil.

You do not need to care for this little leaf too much, just protect it from direct sunlight as this can dry out or burn your fragile leaf. In my post 5 Reasons Succulents Are The Best Plants For Beginners, I taught you how succulents are resilient and carry water in their leaves. This means you do not need to water your leaves.

After a week, check if you start to see little pink roots growing at the end of your leaf that broke off from the steam. Once you start seeing these roots, you can begin to water by gently spraying the roots every 3 days or when the soil is completely dried out. After a few weeks, you will start to see a new plant grow from the roots.

When do you cut off the mama leaf? You can pretty much leave it to dry off on its own. Once you have pretty established roots and a new plant, you can decide to cut off the mama leaf with clippers. You could also pull it away from the new plant if you can do so without causing damage to the new plant.

succulent chicks and hens
Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels

Division

            You could also propagate through division. Some species grow little babies that you can separate from the mama plant by digging them up and pulling apart. You can then put them in separate pots. Please wait until the baby plant is big enough to survive on its own. 1-2 inches is pretty good. By this point, when you pull them apart, your baby plant should have some roots of their own.

You can do the same method on a plant with multiple rosettes or clumps in one. You can then pot them up individually. Please put them in dry soil and wait a day or two before watering, remember these roots have open wounds and watering too soon can cause them to rot. Over on YouTube, Urban Gardening has a great video demonstrating how to leaf propagate.

succulent beheading
Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

Beheading

            You can also propagate by beheading. This is when you cut the succulent at the bottom of the stem. Treat this as you would leaf propagating and pot in dry soil and wait a week before you begin watering. You can use this method when your plant has grown leggy (etiolation) or you feel your plant is struggling with its old roots. You can also keep the old roots with the stem and this will grow new leaves in a few weeks. Now you have two (or more) new plants!

Please let me know in the comments or on Instagram if you have used these methods before. Add the hashtag #succulentflora to your posts to show us progress/success from the methods you’ve learned.

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