The Succulent Journal for Tidbits, Tricks, and Tips!

Procreation is Propagation: When a plant loves itself very much...

...It probably wont do much. For the most part, succulents aren't actively attempting to reproduce, they just grow. In the process of growing, they will probably drop leaves and cuttings that can be used to create more plants. When a plant is happy, it will grow. Probably. In some cases when the plant matures it will begin to produce offshoots, which will be covered later.

So you have your clippings, or your plant has died a tragic stem snap death, and you are ready to be the god of your little plant kingdom and bring them back to life from the brink of death. Yay!

First, you must check the clipping and/or snapped plant to see if
A. It was a clean break from the stem
B. It doesn't look sick or shriveled up
Why? Because the clipping or stem may not be able to grow a root system if it is damaged. The plant will be extremely weak if it grows up with problems, or it might not even grow at all. It is usually good that the leaves are twisted off and cleanly separated from the mother plant.

Your soon-to-be baby succulents are hopefully checked and cleared for propagation. Hooray! Now you need somewhere to put them so that they will grow. You can try some of these techniques:

Sand Pan: Place a cookie sheet or small pan near a window ledge and spread a thin layer of sand over the bottom of the pan. Lay your succulent bits out neatly across the pan or just throw them in. Alternatively you could use any kind of container to hold the sand, and potting soil instead of sand, but be sure it is a thin layer. It helps them stay alive and growing if you spritz them with water lightly every 2-4 weeks after setting them in the pan. Too much water could cause the parent leaf to rot, meaning no plants.

Terrarium: A friend of mine grows her baby succulents in a terrarium made of a clear glass Christmas ornament. It follows the same rules for soil, sand and watering as the sand pan, but apparently makes them grow faster because of the environment. Try it out!

Let it be: A surprisingly low maintenance way to propagate your plants is to just let the clippings  rest in the container of the parent plant. Depending on the content of your soil, this could to more harm than good. While this is the easiest way to spread plants in a single pot, all those wilting clippings could kill the aesthetic of your succulents. If you are an image-aesthetic sensitive person, this may not be for you. Same watering rules apply as above.

For all of these techniques mentioned, you should allow your leaves to callous over the area detached from the stem so that it doesn't soak up the water from the soil and rot before watering them. It may take weeks or even months for your plants to grow!

Just don't: Don't need those extra clippings? Try getting a friend to take them, or throw them out. Maybe try selling them.

On the topic of selling plants, succulents are relatively expensive compared to other plants. The smallest plants I have bought ranged in price from $2.00 to $6.00 for a 2" to 4" plant container to a fully grown adult plant for $15+. If you become proficient at propagating plants, you could sell them for a few dollars and BUY MORE PLANTS! ...or, of course, you could spend your new earned money on more necessary things like food, water, memes and clothing.

Anyway, you decide what you want to do with your clippings and how you propagate them. Perhaps you will discover a better method! Have fun experimenting, creating custom planting beds and propagating your own plants!