Monday, February 12, 2018

For The Stingy Succulent-lover

 My oldest daughter, Jasmine, has fallen in love with succulents and the wonder of propegation. She has spent hours reading up on the tricks and methods of propegation for different types of succulents. I love to watch her experimenting and carefully babying her little plant babies. Today she is sharing her knowledge with us in a guest post!
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I love springtime;
I love green plants.
I am crazy over succulents
and I'm Miss Conservationist
who delights in
saving her precious pennies.
This is how I grow
my succulent
collection with little cost
and great fun.


The leafless stem above
is the remains
of a leggy succulent.
Propagation
works best when 
your plant has
become
leggy and unhealthy,
with leaves
spread far apart
as the plant
tries to get
the maximum amount
of light it can.
At this point,
You have two options.

#1. Allow your
plant to continue
growing in this manner
until all the leaves
wither and the succulent
dies. 

#2. Start propogating!
To do this, start by
removing the
leaves from the stem
of the succulent, leaving only
a small rosette at the top.
When removing
the leaves from the succulent,
start with the bottom leaves
and work your way up to the top.
Wiggle each leaf gently
until you
feel a little snap.


Be sure to get a clean
pull, leaving 
no part of the leaf
attached to the stem.


The leaf nearest you
shows a clean pull. 
The one further
 away is broken on the edge
and will
not grow a new plant.

Last, cut off 
the rosette at the top with a pair of
sharp scissors.
Lay the leaves and rosette
on a saucer or a shallow tray.


Keep the saucer with the leaves
on a windowsill
that gets lots of indirect sunlight 
until they callous over.


Notice the difference between
the two leaves above.
The one closest to you has
calloused over
and has a bit of a protective
"scab" on it.
This scab will keep the
leaf from
absorbing too
much water, thus
preventing it from
rotting.


This leaf is an example
of rotting.
It has turned a
yellowish brown
and is limp and 
waterlogged.
It will die soon. 
So no watering until
the leaves
have scabbed over, you hear?

At this point,
lay your leaves on top of a
container of dry soil. 
As you can see in the picture 
below, the tips of the leaves will
really not be touching the soil at all.
  

And now, remember
that rosette
you snipped off the stem?
When it forms a "scab", 
simply place the stem into the ground
and it will grow roots and 
continue to grow.
Water it as you would
water a full grown
succulent.

Now back to those leaves.
At this point, we
begin the W and W process -
watering and waiting.
This phase can be kinda tricky
because succulents don't 
need much moisture.
Water the leaves very rarely
before baby plants begin
to grow. I water mine
once a week  with a spray bottle.


When you see tiny roots and baby
plants beginning to grow,
give them a good soaking
whenever the soil is
TOTALLY
dry.

The key here is to not over-water.
Overwatering is one of the
most common
reasons that succulents die.
 If you give them too much
water and they start to rot, 
there's basically nothing
you can do for them.
However, if your plant
isn't getting enough water, 
you can easily take
care of that!
ALWAYS err on the side of
underwatering.


After many hours and days
and weeks
and possibly even
months of waiting, 
your baby plants will be
ready for planting.
The ones in the picture
above aren't quite ready yet. 
I like to wait
until the original mother
leaf that was pulled off the stem
withers and dies.
Then simply remove the mother
leaf from your baby succulent,
( being careful
not to remove the roots)


 Place
your succulent
in well draining
succulent/cactus soil,
and continue
to water once a week,
or whenever
The soil is TOTALLY Dry.


It takes anywhere from
6 months
to one year for succulents
to reach a
"normal" size.
Make sure your babies
get lots of sunlight,
a good soaking
only when the soil is
dry, and lots
of patience.


This particular
succulent has been growing
for about 3 1/2
months,
and it's still
itty bitty.
So don't worry if it
seems like
your plants just
aren't growing, it takes awhile.


Here's an example of a
"normal size"
succulent.

Note that, although
this method of
propagation works for
most succulents,
it doesn't
for others. I've tried
propagating
blue chalk sticks
using this method with
a zero success rate.


These plants require
a cutting for 
propagation, so the point is,
 don't be afraid to experiment.
Maybe you'll find that you need
to use a different
watering method or
less sunlight than I do. 
Figure out what
works for you.
Have fun.
And whatever you do,
DO NOT OVERWATER!

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Have you tried propegating succulents? We'd love to hear your tips!

2 comments:

  1. Intriguing! My daughter also propagates succulents. They are such cute little babies!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I lived in a house with a porch, I learned to enjoy having succulents outside during the warm season, especially those that were shaped like a rose. I don't remember what they're called but I especially liked the succulent that blooms with yellow rosettes. There are various succulents whose leaves form a "rose". But I never was ambitious enough to try to propegate them.

    By parking the succulents in containers on the porch I didn't have to worry about them getting water-logged from rain. It seemed they did OK if I watered them every week (or two??). And I could use those earthen pots that dried out too fast for "normal" plants when the weather was hot and windy. But since I moved I don't have a porch.

    I had an aloe vera plant in the house for a while before I realized it was a succulent. That gave me a better idea how to take care of it.

    LRM

    ReplyDelete

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