How To Propagate Succulents The Easy Way
Propagating succulents is a cost-effective way to endlessly multiply your plant collection. Imagine the possibilities if you could buy one plant and turn it into hundreds! While that sounds amazing, its actually quite difficult to achieve. The internet is full of plant gurus boasting about how easy it is to propagate succulents. There are many methods for propagating succulents and trust me when I say I’ve tried them all. Leaf cuttings, stem cuttings, propagating in soil, and even dry propagating. Guess what? None of them worked.
The Best Way To Propagate Succulents Is In Water
If you’ve tried to propagate succulents with no success its time to try propagating your succulents in water. Yes, water. Propagating succulents in water is the easiest, fastest and most successful method I’ve tried. I’ve had success EVERY time I propagate in water and religiously use this method when rooting my plants. Water propagation is an unpopular choice because people believe too much water causes root rot. Succulents will rot in wet soil because fungus and bacteria start to grow. Water, however, does not hold fungus or pathogens and the roots are completely safe to grow.
Ready to successfully propagate your succulent? Keep reading for my step by step guide on how to propagate succulents in water.
The Best Time To Propagate Succulents
The best thing about propagating succulents is that you can do it any time of year! You don’t need to wait for a specific season as they will grow all year long indoors. I live in a cold climate and our winters get little sunlight. Succulents can be difficult to grow, even indoors, when the plant does not get adequate sunlight. A common problem when succulents don’t have enough sunlight is reaching or stretching. The Succulent grows upwards in search of that good old vitamin D. This happens to my succulents ALL THE TIME, but it’s also the best time to propagate in water.
Cutting The Top Off
As you can see with my succulent the stem is stretched out and exposed. This is not ideal or natural for a healthy succulent and the only way to save it is to chop the top off. If left alone the succulent will eventually die as its not meant to grow this way. But have no fear! Once you cut the top off and propagate it in water you can re-plant it and it will be good as new. All you need is a pair of scissors to cut off the top of the succulent. Make sure you leave about 1″ of the stem attached. This will make rooting the plant easier. Leave the bare stem planted as it is, we will return to this later.
Place The Cutting In Water
The next step is placing your cut succulent in water. Its easiest to use a bottle with a narrow opening because it will support the head of the succulent. If you don’t have a bottle with a narrow opening simply use any jar, cup, or container available to you. Fill it with water and cover the top with saran wrap. Poke a hole wide enough for the stem of your succulent to fit through. The saran, or plastic wrap, will support the head of the succulent while the stem is submerged in water.
Wait For Roots To Grow
And now we wait, but not too long! Propagating a succulent in water is by far the fastest method out there. This photo was taken just two weeks after I placed the cutting in water. Two weeks! Can you believe that? Rooting in soil with leaf cuttings can take 6-8 weeks, and mine is ready to plant in just two.
Time To Plant
After your succulent has a few roots growing its time to plant! Make sure your new succulent has proper drainage and you are using the correct soil. I find that a cactus soil works perfectly, but you can also buy a succulent specific blend.
Repeat the Succulent Propagation Process
Remember the bare stem that I told you to leave alone in the beginning? Well over the course of two weeks it should now have several tiny sprouts shooting off it. This my friends is THE MOST SATISFYING FEELING. By cutting the top of the succulent off, the plant is pushed into survival mode. It needs to quickly produce more leaves to survive. By saving a stretched succulent you’ve encouraged more growth than ever before. As these small sprouts grow over the next few weeks/months the process can begin all over again, but this time multiplied. My plant produced around 10 new growths. I can propagate each of them in water and repeat the process endlessly.
I really hope you’ll find as much success with water propagation as I have. Remember how I propagated my fiddle leaf fig tree? Well now I have 8 fig trees that all came from one original plant – all propagated in water. I love this plant hobby of mine and I can’t wait to start giving away my propagated plants to friends and family! Talk about an inexpensive Christmas gift idea!
