Fancy Navajo Garden: How to Propagate Succulents

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about propagating succulents. If you watch my Instagram stories, I often share my succulent propagation journey. It is a very a slow one, but the results are quite magical. So today I will be sharing how I propagate my succulents when they become overgrown.

First of all, what is succulent propagation?

It’s when you take a leaf clipping of a plant and it starts to make new roots. You can then take that new root to grow a new plant. It’s complete magic! Once you start you won’t want to stop.

You may consider succulent propagation if you noticed your succulents are looking a little overgrown or top heavy. This may be due to lack of sunlight. The succulent is reaching for the light, so it starts to grow toward the light. This results in the succulents growing long and the leaves start to separate. I think they actually look cool like this, but after a while they get too top heavy and break.

The good thing is that you can fix them and start to grow you own succulent garden. I do have to mention…

It’s a very SLOW process.

So, you’ll need some patience and tender loving care. It took a full year for my succulents to get quarter sized. But watching them grow is so fascinating. I feel like a fancy botanist with my leaf clippings and once they are ready to root in soil is the most rewarding part!

Basic Succulent Care Tips

Succulents do not like a lot of sunlight and prefer indirect sunlight. I keep my succulents in the shade on a shelf in my backyard. They only receive direct sunlight around sunset for 1-2 hours.
Water sparingly. I live in central Arizona where it’s hot year round especially in the summer. So I water my succulents every week. If you live in a cooler climate you may need to water less. I’ve had friends tell me they only water their succulents once a month. A good rule of thumb is if the soil is dry, it’s time to water.
Succulents require well drained soil. So make sure your pots have drainage holes so excess water can escape when you water them.
Biggest tip… The more you leave them alone, the more they will flourish. Nature is awesome!

The tools you’ll need:

Overgrown succulent
2-3 cups cactus soil or enough to fill a small basin
A plate or open container wide enough to hold soil and succulent leave clippings
Scissors
Mister

Directions:

Fill an open container with cactus soil. About one inch of soil is needed.
Carefully start to pull the leaves off the base of the succulent. Make sure it’s a clean cut and try to make sure you get the whole leaf intact
Place succulent leaves on soil. I like arranging them in a fun pattern.
For the crown of the succulent you can snip it off the main vine, leaving 2 inches at the end and place on soil. You can leave the vine as is and new succulent buds will start growing.
Let succulents sit out on in a shaded area (I have mine on a shelf on my patio) and let them start to callous for 1-3 days before misting with water.
Once a callous has formed, mist the leave clippings every day to every other day depending on where you live. I mist my leaf clippings every day since its warmer where I live. But if its cooler in your area then every 3 days should suffice. For the succulent crown you can immediately repot this in new soil and will be just like new.
After a couple of weeks, you’ll start to see the roots start to grow out of the leave clippings. I usually wait for the entire leaf to shrivel up before planting in the soil. But once the root is about half an inch long you can start to plant them in soil.
Soon the succulent will start growing tiny rose buds and you can start to water them weekly.
Voila! You have your own succulent garden and you can repeat this process when necessary.