How to Propagate 12 of Your Favorite Succulents

Do you ever love a plant so much you wish you could clone it? Well, the closest alternative is learning how to propagate! If you’re unfamiliar with propagation, it’s the process of creating a whole new plant by removing a small portion of an existing plant and replanting it. Succulents are some of the easiest plants to propagate, and there are several different methods you can try.

 

Propagate Succulents to Clone Your Favorite Plants 

Some methods are better suited to specific kinds of succulents. To help you along, we compiled a list of your 12 favorite succulents and the best ways to propagate them! 

 

Jade Plant

This good luck plant is one of the easiest succulents to propagate. We love giving away baby Jade Plants as gifts! You can use a single leaf or a small stem as your cutting—just be sure to let the cut end dry up and sprout some roots before you plant it. It will rot if you plant a freshly cut end into a potting mix. 

Place your cutting on a clean plate on a sunny windowsill, and within a week or two, it should begin showing signs of root growth. Try to plant them in potting soil before the leaves get too dehydrated or puckered—however, if they show some signs of dehydration, it’s not the end of the world. They should plump up again if you water them sufficiently after planting. 

OC Succulents-aloe propagation

Aloe

While you can use the cutting method with Aloe, it’s much easier if you learn how to propagate this succulent through division from its pups. Mature plants will start to sprout baby plants that can be removed and replanted. Look around the base of the plant and behind larger leaves to see if you can find any—the ones ready to be planted will have their own root systems.

Gently remove the pup, trying your best to untangle its roots from the mother plant’s roots without tearing them. You can brush on a bit of rooting hormone if the roots aren’t very big. Replant your baby aloe in a loose potting mix and water it thoroughly!

echeveria propagation OC SUCCULENTS

Echeveria and Graptoveria

You can propagate these popular rosette-shaped succulents through the leaf-cutting method described in the jade plant section; cut a leaf, wait for the cut end to become callous and root, then plant! However, these succulents tend to stretch out and get leggy during gray winter weather when kept as houseplants, so there’s a propagation method to deal with that. 

If your Echeveria or Graptoveria looks tall and awkward, you can cut off the top portion and use that whole rosette and your cutting so that you can start fresh with a properly proportioned plant. If you don’t like the look of the remaining base of your succulent, you can remove all the leaves and replant those too!   

OC Succulents-burros tail plant propagation

Burro’s Tail

This trailing succulent is easy to reproduce through stem cuttings—you don’t have to wait for it to root before planting! Just let it sit out for a few days so that the cut end dries, and then plant it in some potting medium and water generously. Applying rooting hormone to the cut end can speed up the process.   

-donkey tail propagation OC Succulents

You can also try propagating with leaf cuttings to produce many more plants than you can with stem cuttings, but it will take much longer. If the wait is worth the result, be sure to let your leaves root before planting them.

Hens n’ Chicks

Also known as Sempervivum, these succulents are known for their ability to multiply. That’s how they get their name! The mother plant, or the “hen,” spreads by sprouting a bunch of little baby “chicks” all around, which can be easily removed and replanted. 

The chicks emerge on stems called stolons, and if the chick is sticking out away from the mother plant, has visible roots, and has no leaves on the stolon, it’s mature enough to be picked. Remove the chick from the stolon, and it’s ready to plant. 

OC Succulents-string of buttons propagation

String of Buttons

Similar to the Jade Plant, this succulent is a type of Crassula. You can propagate it through stem cuttings, but it also produces offsets that can be removed and replanted. If your String of Buttons is getting really big, you can divide the root ball and replant the two halves separately, which creates two new “finished” plants—they’re great to share with friends! 

 

String of Pearls and String of Dolphins

These two types of Senecio have adorable succulent leaves that trail down from string-like stems. Unlike other succulents, the cuttings from String of Dolphins and String of Pearls don’t need to become callous before planting; instead, they’ll callous while they’re in the soil. Just make a cutting about 3 inches long, remove any leaves near the base of the stem, plant it, and water it generously. You’ll know that it’s rooting well when you see new growth at the top of the plant since plants simultaneously grow from both ends.

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