The Propagating Succulents Guide
/Propagatin' Propagatin'! Err'day I'm Propagatin'! But For Real - It Does Take A Long Time
So you want to grow some cute little babies from your succulents? We don't blame you, it's like FREE PLANTS! Maybe you were wandering through Lowe's or Home Depot and "Oh, Whoops! Look at all these succulent leaves that are just laying here, to be discarded..." You can give them life!
Propagating succulents, growing little babes from leaves takes patience and a little luck. Not all leaves will produce roots,
Don't fret! It's still fun, and if you're reading this you probably already enjoy watching your babies grow!
How do you get started if you haven't scavenged your local plant store for fallen leaves? Check out your own babies! Got any stretched out succulents?
Stretchy Stretchy
See those little curves? that's a good leaf!
You can easily pop off a few leaves and start hoping, and wishing, and praying that you'll get some teeny, tiny, baby, wabies. If you are plucking leaves from a succulent, start at the bottom, and look for leaves that are already a little loose. You'll want to lightly twist or wiggle on your leaf to try to keep the leaf in tact and not cut the leaf off too short.
That was the hard part! Now you just lay those babies down into a shallow dish with some succulent soil. Put them in a sunny, warm area like a window sill and then give them some time for the ends to callous over. This can take about 5-7 days, maybe a little more or less. It's nature.
Broken or cut leaves like this wont work
When you start seeing those pretty pink roots reaching out, you can start watering. This is the only time we recommend using a spray bottle to water your succulents. Since these newborns are on shallow soil, they don't need much. A light spray every few days - or about once a week. Just to keep them thirsty and stretching out those roots.
Pro Tip: Try rooting hormone! Give your succulents an extra boost, with a dip in rooting hormone powder to encourage faster growth.
Got Questions? We're here to help! Email Us or Comment and we'll do our best to help.
Peace + Plants,
Amy