Succulents are some of our favourite plants here at Jar and Fern. Not only do they look beautiful in hanging globes, mixed together in pots or in a bouquet, they are really easy to propagate… we promise!
Now succulents are slightly different to a lot of plants as new plants can be grown from their leaves. This is great, especially if your succulent loses a few leaves whilst you are planting it.
Whenever we buy an unusual succulent we make sure to save some of the leaves to grow baby succulents from. It is so simple and really rewarding. Follow these simple steps and you should have lots of baby succulent plants!
1. So the first step is to check for leaves that may have dropped off your succulent plant. It’s really important to make sure the leaf has come off completely intact, you can check this by looking at the base of the leaf. It will have a small indent in the end and will not have any rips or tears.
2. If you are removing leaves from your plant make sure you do remove the whole leaf. We think the best way to do this is to give the leaf a little wiggle; it shouldn’t be difficult to take the leaf off once it’s loosened.
3. Take all of your leaves for propagation and lay them on a plate or tray in good sunlight. The base of the leaves needs to dry out before they will start to grow roots. This is vital for propagation as if the leaves don’t get the chance to dry out they will start to rot from the water in the soil.
4. Once the leaves have dried out at the ends (this could take a day to a week so be patient!). Take the succulent leaves and place them on a tray of soil or on top of a pot of soil. Place the tray in good sunlight; we think it’s best on a windowsill or sunny kitchen table.
5. After a few weeks you should start to see little ‘hot pink’ roots appear, followed by baby succulent plants. Once we see the roots and babies we give the succulents a light watering, and keep doing this every week, or if the soil gets completely dry.
6. As the baby plant grows bigger you will notice that the parent leaf will start to shrivel. This is normal! Eventually the leaf with wither away completely, but if you feel confident you can remove the leaf in the same way you took it off the parent plant.
7.Once the baby is a bit bigger you can plant it into its own pot! Don’t worry not all leaves will propagate, but you should have success with most of your leaves!
8. Remember succulents are native to dryer, more desert like conditions, so water plants once a week and sparingly over winter when they are dormant!
9. Celebrate! You have successfully propagated succulents.
