CategorySUCCULENT CUTTINGS

How To Propagate Succulent Leaves In Water – Fast Results

Why did I not think of this before? I propagate many plants in water and it had never entered my mind to try it on succulents.

I am horribly impatient so this method is perfect! if like me, you’re fed up of staring at leaves wishing them to have babies 😂

  • Super easy to do and very cheap method
  • Works Fast!
  • Roots are easily seen
  • works with most succulents leaves cuttings and offsets and a variety of houseplants.

 

How The Magic Happens.

The first and most important step is to let the cutting or offshoot callus. Leave it in an empty tray for a few days don’t skip this part or the leaf or cutting will absorb too much moisture and it may cause rotting.

Next rest the cutting or offshoot on the cling film you have wrapped around a dish. ( see video below) leave in a well sunlit place.

The callused end must be just above the water, without touching it.

In a few days you will see the roots starting to reach down into it.

 

RESULTS – 14 DAYS

 

Creative DIY Succulent Planters Made from Upcycled Finds

Upcycling is a way of giving new purpose to waste. Here are some creative and inspiring ideas to upcycle at home.

 

Plastic / Polystyrene Food Trays.

These are perfect to fill with a little succulent/cacti mix and get those leaf babies going. I have also started to experiment with water propagation and these have been very useful.

 

How To Propagate Succulent Leaves In Water – Fast Results

Food Tins

I use cans all the time as planters, both indoors and outdoors. Huge dog food cans all the way down to little sweetcorn tins #cute. They need to have drainage holes drilled out the bottoms but they are lovely once planted up.  I have started to varnish my outdoor tins now as they do degrade after a year or two if left in the garden.

 

 

Paper / Plastic Cups.

Once the party is over and you are left with a garden full of disposable cups, fill a bucket with soapy water give the cups a quick rinse.  Drainage holes are easy to punch in the bottom of paper cups plastic cups need a snip to create the drainage. Now you have lots of planters ready to start cuttings or seedlings these are handy to re-pot any 5.5cm succulent.

Coffee Cups

You can also apply this to your takeaway coffee cups, They are easy to put a hole in the bottom and when you have more plants than pots anything goes.  Add plenty of grit as these are deep pots or plant up some sedum cuttings, they will enjoy the root space and grow into lovely healthy plants.

Perfect for starting tomato plants and sweetcorn too 😉

 

 

How To Propagate the Same Succulent Leaf Again and Again.

Yes! it is possible! I only found this out by pure chance and thought I would share It with you all, in the hope you have the same joy 🙂

Granted I have only tested this on ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense ) and they are prolific little rooters anyway.  I was still shocked to find that gently removing the baby from the mother leaf left a good clean break, so I placed mum back in the dish and waited to see if anything would happen and it did 🙂 new babies growing just as well as the first set.

Removing the baby plant from the mother leaf can be quite a delicate operation, you cold gently cut away the baby but this never feels right to me so I hold the baby between my fingers and gently rock the mother leaf back and forth as you would taking a leaf cutting, slowly and gently it will come away from the baby and you should have a nice clean break.

I should point out that I have only done so with leaves that are still plump and reasonably healthy looking, ones that have been sapped of all life creating babies would not work.

Within a week new life has started to emerge from the mother leaf again!

Please give this a try, you have nothing to lose and a new plant to gain, let me know how you get on 🙂

 

How To Root Sedum Cuttings.

 

Sedums are one of the easiest plants to start from stem cuttings. Starting new sedums from cuttings is a very simple way to propagate them. When you take a stem cutting, you’re removing a portion of stem from the mother plant and forcing it to generate an entirely new root system. As you are taking your cuttings, store them in a sandwich bag to keep them from drying out, this is best practice when taking any cuttings from your garden.

To take stem cuttings, fill a pot with damp potting mix then cut several stem pieces off the mother plant with the scissors. Each stem section should have at least two growth nodes (the place where the leaves meet the stem). Remove the lower leaves, but keep two or three of the leaves on the top because they will provide the energy needed to grow new roots. No need for rooting hormone just firmly insert the bottom quarter of the cutting into a pot of potting soil all the way up to the bottom of the remaining leaf or at least 1/4 of the cutting.

Place one cutting in each pot, then water the soil and allow the pot to drain. Water, when compost appears dry to prevents the cutting from drying out until it can form its own roots in a few weeks. Place the covered pots on a bright windowsill or in a shady spot in the garden and soon you will see new growth.  Two weeks later, the plants will be ready to plant in the garden.

You also can make more sedums by taking leaf cuttings. This method takes a bit longer, but each leaf cutting can result in dozens of tiny plants.

To make a leaf cutting, remove a single leaf from a sedum plant, using a clean, sharp knife. insert the bottom half of the leaf into a pot filled with potting mix. Cover the cutting with a plastic bag and keep it well-watered. A new plantlet will grow where the cut leaf contacts the potting mix.

25 Assorted Variety Succulent Sedum Cuttings Winter Hardy

Check out our shop for Sedum Cuttings and Cutting Planters.

 

Sedum Rupestre Blue Spruce – Hardy Blue Succulent

‘Blue Spruce’ stonecrop has narrow, fleshy, needle-like, blue-green foliage which often becomes tinged with orange or red in winter. Bumblebees and butterflies visit the yellow star-shaped flowers of ‘Blue Spruce’ in the summer.


A Super easy to care for plant. Robust, low maintenance and easy to establish.

Because it is a succulent, Blue Spruce Sedum is exceptionally drought tolerant and easy to grow. Provide very well-drained soil adding gravel if necessary to improve drainage. It prefers full sun but will tolerate shade.

Blue Spruce Sedum is useful as a groundcover or border in garden beds, rock gardens & look stunning in fairy gardens. Will trail over walls and the edges of pots in container gardens and head planters.

Very easy to grow from cuttings at any time of the year. Just snip off an established stem and place in well-drained soil in a sunny spot. Can be grown indoors in a bright location or any bright/semi-shade location outside.

BUY SEDUM BLUE SPRUCE FROM OUR SHOP – HERE

 

 

Mini Succulent Gardens – Root Cuttings With Style

For the last few weeks, I have been popping in all my local charity shops to find planters in white/cream for my living room. I thought it would take forever to find planters I liked on such a tight budget but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it all came together.

With so many cuttings and baby succulents all over the place, I needed a way to save some space and display them so they are pleasing to the eye.

This was also a way for me to protect a few prized plants from the snow and intense cold weather we had in Feb/March, having a few of each plant in different locations around the home/garden for me gives peace of mind.

Once the small plants and cuttings have become more established plants they will be potted up or added to a larger display.

 

My charity shop planter finds totalled £5.60 #bargain 🙂 all the plants were ones I already had so this was a very cheap way to give the living room some life and soul.

Will update over the coming weeks with new plants and planters 🙂