Succulent Cutting Propagation

Awe man, I love succulent cuttings. Cuttings are no root succulents where it is just the fat chubby leaves and the stem. It seems weird that a succulent can be perfectly fine leaving its roots but they usually prosper!! I will show you how this is possible and easy to do.

Getting a cutting:

Whether you ordered cuttings online, lost a succulent from root rot, or it was etiolated, you should have a freshly cut stem. Another way to get cuttings is taking them directly off of a producing succulent with lots of babies. That is what I will show you here.

Here are some cuttings from their mama plants.

You will want to water your succulent 3 days in advance to take a cutting if possible. This ensures there is enough water stored in your succulent to allow it to survive without roots for awhile. However, if you are in a bind you can do without.

You want your cuttings to usually have the top rosette and then a couple centimeters of stem space. If you need to wiggle off some leaves from where you cut you can use them for propagation too, so don’t throw those away!

Here you can see in the upper right corner how there is exposed stem under the rosette.

After removing your cutting you will want to let it dry in a barely lit spot for 3 days so the freshly cut stem can grow a callus. This prevents rotting.

If it is a hard to root plant such as the string of pearls, it is best to use water propagation for this method which you just stick your succulent stem in water, no leaves touching the water until you see strong roots form. This usually takes more than a month.

However, with these succulents and majority of cuttings I have used, I usually stick them in cactus soil and plant them.

**If you are nervous that rotting may occur, try dipping freshly cut stems in cinnamon. Cinnamon is an anti-fungal and I have used it on everything in my succulent garden and have not had any problems. **

You can use a stick to dig a small hole to fit the stem but otherwise, you might be able to just push them gently into the soil.

Now you can water as normal and roots will form on their own.  Keep in mind it does take a while for roots to form. If the leaves become wrinkly that is completely normal and there is nothing to doubt, the succulents are just using the water they have stored in their own leaves to supply what they need.

That’s it! I hope you won’t feel nervous hacking off the head of your succulents now and will have fun with them!