How To Propagate Succulents

People everywhere are excited about growing succulents. Why? Because they’re pretty darn cool! I first became interested in succulents while scrolling through Pinterest. It wasn’t until after I bought my first succulent that I found out about propagating. Now that I’m in college, I have no livestock to watch grow, so I needed something else. This neat hobby turned into something I now love (and may have a slight obsession with)!

After an hour long conversation with a lady in Lowes and a few inquiries from my friends, I decided to share with y’all How To Propagate Succulents!

1.   First you'll need to buy a succulent, or many. There are so many different kinds succulents, but these are some of my favorites! I prefer to use cactus potting mix because, like cacti, succulents grow best in a relatively dry environment. Also, you will need a well draining pot! If you prefer to use cute little cups or bowls like a few shown below, you will need some rocks for the bottom of the container to allow excess water to drain. 

2.   Now to begin PROPAGATION! The definition of propagate is - to breed specimens of a plant by natural processes from the parent stock. So basically what you're doing is taking a leaf from the parent plant and growing a whole new plant! How stinkin' cool is that?? 

To begin, carefully remove leaves from the bottom layer of the succulent. I usually wiggle it back and forth to ensure I get a clean break.

3.   Now that you've removed as many leaves as you'd like, it's time to allow the break to callous over. This may take a few days to a week. I usually put my leaves on a paper plate and set it in a sunny spot. 

4.    After the leaves callous over where they were broken from the parent plant, it's time to put them on soil and watch them grow! For the longest time, I was propagating succulents in the only cake pan we own. Nolan complained enough that I bought a foil cake pan to propagate my succulents in. I put just a thin layer of soil in a pan (any container will do) and simply place the succulents on top the soil. I lightly sprinkle the soil with water about once a week because that seems to help them grow!

The first sign of new growth will be tiny pink roots, like in the pictures above! Some will grow quickly and some may not grow at all. That's why I recommend trying to propagate many leaves. But be patient with however many you chose to propagate because it may take a week or more to see signs of new growth.

5.    This is my favorite part! A few weeks after the roots develop, a tiny new succulent will emerge from the leaf! 

6.   The leaf will begin to wither and die. Eventually it will fall off or can be easily removed. However, this may take a month or so. Again, be patient. Once the leaf dies, you are left with a tiny new succulent. At this point, I place mine in a tiny pot, give it some water, and allow it to grow! (Succulents are like cacti, water them every 7 to 10 days!)

Isn't succulent propagation amazing? I bought my first succulent a couple months ago. All the pictures on this post were taken today. I am pretty excited to have succulents and leaves at every stage of the process and to be able to share this with you! 

I hope this was helpful and if you have an questions please feel free to ask!

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Happy Propagating y'all!

Xoxo,

Julia Grace

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