A succulent is a magical plant. With proper leaf propagation, a leaf can grow into a small succulent. Succulents have the ability to "clone" themselves.
So what do you need to know for succulent propagation? If you pay attention to the following tips, you can improve the survival rate of leaves and create little “clones” to call your own!
1. The planters and soil selection
I recommend using nutrition soil or granular soil for propagation. If you are mixing the soil on your own, you need to use a watering can to spray water on the soil and stir the soil simultaneously to keep the soil slightly moist. Having the right amount of moisture in the soil will affect the rooting and germination of leaves. If the soil is too dry, the leaves may dry up as well.
There are no special requirements for the flowerpot, except that it should not be too deep. The general depth is about 5 centimeters. The size of the flowerpot can be selected according to the number of leaf inserts.
2. Ensure the Leaves/Cutting are healthy
The succulent leaves you want to select should be from healthy succulent plants and should be medium or small-sized full leaves. Hold the leaves on both sides, and then gently shake the plant. In the process of shaking the leaves, you want to ensure that the growth point of the leaves is undamaged; otherwise, it will affect the budding rate.
In addition, some varieties of leaves are very fragile. When taking them from the plants, they are easy to break off, or the leaf growth point is easily be destroyed, such as Sedeveria Pink Ruby and Echeveria Blue Bird. I would suggest that you stop watering for a week and let the soil dry before breaking off the leaves.
3. Leaf placement process
When planting your leaf, ensure that the soil surface is flat, and then place the leaves neatly on the soil surface, with the back of the leaves facing down and the front of the leaves facing up. Alternatively, place the leaves diagonally in the soil, with the base on the soil and the back resting on the edge of the pot or soil surface.
Once the leaves are in place, place the pot away from direct light. To keep the air humidity suitable, you can spray once every other day to keep the environment humidity high.
4. Rooting and budding maintenance
After 1-3 weeks, your leaves will begin to grow roots or buds. Some roots will grow into the soil to absorb water, but some may not. In this case, we can bury the roots into the soil.
Once the succulents have roots, gradually expose them to light and spray them regularly to make them grow healthy and strong.
5. Announcement for leaves propagation
After the cutting placement, the leaf rooting and bud time are not the same. Different varieties of succulents have different growth roots and leaf bud root times. It is recommended to place the leaves densely in a leaf container with many leaves. Some leaves can be transplanted to other planters first when they take root. Also, grow together leaf-plug seedlings for easy management.
Once the leaves have roots and buds, they should be moved to an east balcony or placed in an area that only receives morning light. Because the propagated leaves are very fragile at first, it is easy to burn the young shoots if the sun is too strong. If the light is intense, the leaf will be transparent, which means it is being damaged.
When the cutting seedlings’ root tender turns white, roots develop, and their water absorption capacity is more substantial. At this time, we can give them more water to help the seedlings grow faster.
6. If there are still no roots.
Due to different varieties of succulents, the rooting and budding times will be different. It can take half a month to root for some regional areas, but it can take a month or even longer in others. Different varieties and different regions vary greatly.
As long as the leaves are healthy, it cannot be regarded as a failure of leaf propagation. At this time, we need to check the environment of the leaf propagation to see whether it is suitable for proper growth. It may be that the temperature and humidity are not enough if the root sprouts slowly, and we need to change the temperature. If the environment is arid, we need to spray around the blade and increase the air humidity.
As long as the leaf is not dry, there is hope for success. In addition, we must be patient do not pick up the leaves to check whether they are rooting. Once you take it up, you undo all of your efforts.
I hope this blog is helpful and good luck with the propagation!
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