How & When To Water Succulent Leaves For Propagation
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- Many people have different ways of planting and watering succulent leaves they’re propagating. And more than one way can work well.
In this video i'll explain how and when i water leafbabies for the nursery and explain why i do things this way.
For those of you looking for a quick answer- personally, I don’t water my leafbabies until at least a few leaves and, ideally roots, have emerged from the original leaf. But first let me show you how I store them and wait for new growth.
Now, I know a lot of advice out there suggests watering or spraying the leaves and even covering with plastic from the get go but, in my experience, this can rot them or attract some other type of fungus. If you’re trying to propagate a water sensitive Echeveria, for instance, there’s a good chance the leaves will die before any growth happens. Covering and watering leaves to propagate is done with other plants that would otherwise dry out and die, but because most succulents have evolved to store water, this is not necessary and may be even harmful.
Good amount of light can help too as the leafbabies will be used to the sun from the start. Leafbabies raised in a darker spot may grow leggy and burn once moved out into the sun. They can also be more prone to fungal disease. I find that leaves exposed to decent light will start growing new plants faster and they tend to be more resilient too.
In the growing season, the babies should start emerging in about 2 weeks, depending on the type of succulent. Some take a bit longer and may be slower to grow. I find that pretty much all succulents that have the ability to propagate from leaf will do so in Spring.
Some succulents leaves will first grow roots, then new leaves while with others, it can be the other way round. If you’re lucky they’ll both emerge simultaneously. If you’re unlucky you’ll only get roots or nothing at all.
When the leaves grow first I wait a bit for the roots, though, if they take too long and the parent leaf starts dying or the leaf baby is big enough I plant in potting mix and start watering to help coax the roots out.
Similarly, when roots grow first I wait a little for at least a sign of leaves before i plant and start watering. The reason I wait is so I don’t waste time, space and energy on a bunch of leaves that are only going to grow roots. Once you have a thick rootball but no other growth, it is unlikely the leaf propagation is going to be successful.
So once I have either a good little mini me growing out of the leaf or roots with leaves emerging, I pop the leaf in succulent potting mix and start watering pretty much immediately.
And then I just follow the usual watering routine and water well once the potting mix has dried up. To get good, deep roots going I don’t leave them dry for too long and give them a decent soak when watering.
I’m very much against spraying leaves or, succulents in general unless you are dealing with Rhipsalis or other epiphytes that are not prone to fungal diseases and have evolved in humid environments. Spraying will only wet the top layer and can lead to hydrophobic potting mix and fungal disease if you spray the leaves often. The constant wet surface can help harmful fungus develop and damage or even kill small leafbabies.
Watering can be done with a hose, watering can or you can put the pots in containers or dishes filled with water and wait until the potting mix has soaked it up. This is a good watering technique for water sensitive Echeveria or other succulents that tend to be susceptible to rot, black spot, powdery mildew or rust.
Although, many succulent leaf babies will tolerate it, I would also not recommend keeping the potting mix soggy or too dry. You may be risking death for a variety of reasons. Very soggy mix can be an invite for rot. If it’s, on the other hand, very dry the tiny leafbabies can simply dry out and die, especially when the weather is warm as well.
Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:52 How & when to water leafbabies
#leafpropagation #succulents #succulentpropagation #leafbabies 
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Managed to survive summer just fine with your advice, now it's time for 6 months of potential snow...
Thank you for everything. This is quite literally where I'm at currently, learning how to propagate efficiently. Except I want to do it with hens and chicks.
Be well.
So glad all went well, it sounded like your summer was pretty brutal. Hope autumn & winter are going to play nice- i've read most hen & chicks should be fine with the snow. I've seen Sempervivum planted everywhere when i went to Estonia & Lithuania a couple of years back- the botanical gardens told me it's one of the few succulents that survives under the thick blanket of snow. Let us know how you go though- it will be interesting to hear how they cope. Best of luck!🙂
Another very informative video/vlog! Thank you so much❤
Thank you, so glad it was helpful 💚💚💚
I agree with you! My experience has been like yours. Putting the leaves aside allowing them to grow pups first and then planting once the pups grow roots. This has worked the best for me. Thanks for another great informative video! I wish I had known this information from the beginning. It was a struggle at first not knowing what I was doing. Growing succulents with Liz here on RUclips helped me so much with this. I love your videos they are so helpful. ❤
That's great 🙌 So glad this has worked for you as well 🙂 I tried pretty much all of the techniques and this one seems to work for almost all succulents. The only exception i found was chain of hearts- their leaves need to be inserted into the potting mix otherwise the root doesn't form.. :)
What a timely informative video. I have several small trays of leaf babies that I need to pot up and this video provides a great deal of guidance. Thank you.
Yay, so glad i could help ☺ Best of luck with the leafbabies- hope they'll all come up and grow well💚
Thank you for this video!! I always did the spray method and more died than survived. It will be fall for me soon, so I guess I need to wait until the spring to start this method. I hope I have more success
Oh, i've been there as well, killing maaany leaves- i tried it all 😅 Yeah, definitely best to wait till spring comes around. You'll have to let me know how you go next year! 😀🤞💚
@SucculentGrowingTips Yes, I will. Until then, I will keep watching to learn from your great video shares. Thanks!
Thank you for making this video despite your busy schedules.🙏⌚
Kat, I would like to ask you since the topic is leaf propagation is whether these propogated leaves get impacted in any way by changing its locations, tray or even the leaves itself.
I hope you have a great time and happy gardening. ☺️🌺
It depends.. If the conditions change drastically- moving leaves from full shade to full sun or vice versa, it can impact them (same temperature-wise). It also depends on the type of succulent- the hardy ones will usually tolerate being moved around but the 'tricky' succulents may not like it if the conditions change too much. I may do a video on this soon.. :)
Interesting video. I'm a lover of succulents and cactus and I started a collection of both.I lost a few of them because I have them outdoor, anyways I think my potting soil isn't correct. I would like you to help me with a potting medium. Thank you for sharing ❤
Hi, the best potting medium is premium succulent potting mix. It should have the right pH & nutrients for succulents. Hope this helps 🙂💚
Thanks for the info 😊I tried doing this, but they never did anything 😊2 months I left them to do their thing 😊ended up in the trash 😊
Oh noooo :( Some can be a bit difficult to get going. Which types did you try?
@@SucculentGrowingTips succulents lol no idea what type some are, mostly different types of Jade plants I believe lol