7 Important Things to Remember while Growing Succulents from Cuttings

Have you seen a succulent garden at your friend’s house and are now dying to have the same type of beautiful, colorful garden at your home? Good news for you is that you can easily have one! You may not believe it, right? But yes, it’s true! You can create a whole new succulent plant just from a stem cutting! So, if your can get a stem cutting of a succulent, you can just start your garden and have a lovely green corner in your home or yard. But how to do that? Let’s learn 7 important things to remember while growing succulents from cuttings.

1. When Should You Take Cuttings?

As such, you can take cuttings any time of the year. But if you wish to enhance your odds of success, try taking cuttings in spring or summer. It’s because light, a primary need of succulents is abundant during these seasons.

2. Do succulent cuttings need to dry out before planting?

A great difference between taking cuttings of non-succulent plants and succulent plants is that dehydration can be a big problem in case of non-succulents, whereas in case of succulents this is not a big problem, but actually keeping the cutting dry and free from rot or fungus should be the focus.

Whenever you take the cuttings, take them several days before the planting time and let them dry out in a dry, warm place (out of direct sun). You should aim at allowing the cuttings to form protective calluses at the open wounds. This should take 3 to 4 days.

3. Can you put succulent cuttings straight into soil?

No, as mentioned earlier, you should allow the cut ends of the cuttings to callus. Once the cuttings have calloused, you can put them in soil or water. Fill a shallow tray with well-draining cactus/succulent soil and place the cuttings on its top. You will be delighted to see roots and tiny plants growing from the base of the cuttings.

4. How Long Do Cuttings Take To Root?

Propagating from stem cuttings may take around 4 weeks or even longer to form roots. While most succulents root easily, some may take long.

5. How do you encourage root growth in succulent cuttings?

You can speed up the process of developing roots with the help of rooting hormone. Rooting hormones stimulate root growth and encourage the cuttings to form more uniform roots. This results in more vigorous, healthier, well-rooted plants.

Once you prepare your planting tray or container by filling it with coarse, fast-draining cactus/succulent soil, dampen it slightly and make planting holes in it with a small stick. Take a small amount of rooting hormone into a dish. Use only what you’ll need and throw away the excess.

Work on one cutting at a time. Moisten the base of the cutting and then dip it dish or rooting hormone. Cover the base thoroughly, but shake off any excess rooting hormone powder. Now insert the cuttings carefully into planting holes so the rooting hormone stays in place. Then gently firm the potting mix around the cuttings. Insert the bottom half of the cutting, so, your soil covers at least a few bare nodes.

6. How and When to Water Cuttings?

Don’t water until the roots develop. Then water around once a week. Make sure the soil is dry.

7. What to Do Next?

Once you get new tiny succulents from the cuttings and their roots are established, replant them in small containers from the trays. Use the same type of potting medium you used in the tray for the cuttings. During the entire process, take care not to disturb the newly formed roots. Do everything very gently.

What is the easiest succulent to propagate?

Now that you have decided to form your collection of succulents, you may want to choose succulents that you can easily propagate. This has certain prominent benefits. Firstly, you can get a large collection of beautiful plants with not much efforts. Secondly, you can share new plants with friends and family and get their praises, so, they too can create their own succulent collections. So, let’s know about some succulents that you can propagate easily.

Portulacaria afra

Popularly known as Elephant’s Foot, Portulacaria afra is one of the easiest succulents to propagate through stem cuttings. It reliably forms 2 new sprouts at each point where you cut it. It has bright burgundy stems that are strong and straight and have small, bright green, round leaves. This is an ideal plant for mixed succulent plantings.

Aeonium kiwi

This lovely succulent has perfect rosettes of yellow and green colors with an amazing blush of pink at the edges with good lighting. Stress results in turning the pink into bright red. Rosettes form dense shrubs that completely hide the twisted, woody stems. Aeonium kiwi is extremely easy and quick to grow through stem propagation.

Jade Plant

Succulents that have stems can be easily propagated from stems and jade plant is perhaps the best plant for this. This is because it drops its stems and tries to instruct you to plant them. Letting it dry out a little will made it curl and it’s all set to go! Its roots will point downwards and leaves will grow upward.

If your jade plant is falling over or breaking apart easily, don’t worry. Doing so helps it to propagate. Columnar species are usually shallow-rooted and top-heavy. So, by falling over, they can launch a new colony!

Sedum clavatum

Sedum clavatum is not only easy to propagate through stem cuttings, but also through any other method of propagation. With its amazing powder blue rosettes, it soon forms dense mats that beautifully tumble over the edge of a pot or rock garden.

Sempervivum jovibarba

Sempervivum and jovibarba are also known as Sempervivum heuffelii which are some of the easiest succulents to propagate through division. Because each of them forms several baby plants around it connected by an above-ground, single stem, it’s also known as hens and chicks as the babies surround the mother plant like chicks around hens. To propagate through stems, simply pinch the stem into two when the plant reaches a good size. Now set the baby plant on dry succulent soil. It will develop roots and form a whole new plant soon. This amazing succulent is extremely cold-hardy and displays striking colors all year long!

Bottom Line

Growing succulents from stem cuttings is an easy and fun method of succulent propagation. We hope that you will create your own lovely succulent garden with these 7 important tips while growing succulents from stem cuttings. If you need any other help for your succulent garden, read other helpful articles on this website. Don’t forget to leave a comment about how you liked those articles.