I have no idea when or how my obsession for succulents started. I just remember talking about it with my sister and her getting me a few for my birthday. Being known for my black thumb when it comes to plants, I was pleasantly surprised that my succulents made it through the summer. Sadly, only one plant made it through the winter. A few months ago I learned of this thing called “propagating” and became OBSESSED even more. After weeks and weeks of trying and being unsuccessful with propagating succulents, I wanted to share the three things that I learned from my failed attempt.
My Failed Attempt At Propagating Succulents
What the heck is propagating anyway?
The simple way to put it is “multiplying” or as I like to say “making babies.” When done correctly, you can get multiple plants out of just one succulent. Kind of cool right!? But today I’m sharing what went wrong, what I learned and what I would differently.
Today’s post isn’t a “how to” kind of post. It’s more of a “don’t do what I did” along with some tips on what to do differently.
Patience is a virtue
Propagating takes time. A LOT of time. In fact, I started back in early April, and I have yet to see ONE baby succulent. I’m not good at waiting. If that sounds like you, then propagating isn’t for you. The only reason why I haven’t given up yet is that I can be hard headed (sometimes) and I MY BABY SUCCULENTS!!!
Just because you saw it on YouTube…
When I first heard about propagating I took to YouTube to learn how to do it. The downside is that a lot of times, the whole process took months but then edited into a 5-10 minute video. Giving me the false illusion that propagating only takes 5-10 minutes (or maybe that’s just me?).
Do your research before starting.
I didn’t do any research before embarking on this propagation journey. I watched ONE YouTube video and declared myself a pro. Also, I skipped parts of the video and had NO idea what I was doing.
[Tweet “Curious about propagating succulents? Learn the Do’s and Don’ts to get it right #blackthumbchronicles #tips”]
What To Do Differently?
This is my first time propagating succulents, and I feel out of my element. But life is about learning new things. Although my attempt at propagating was a total fail (so far), I learned a lot in the process. I’m confident that the second time around will be successful. Here are a few things I plan on doing differently.
- Use cactus potting soil. I was using regular soil for my succulents which caused them to mold and died. When you are propagating, it’s important to use the right soil.
- Avoid direct sunlight. I had my clippings under the window which was getting direct sunlight pretty much all day. After a few weeks, they started to dry up and didn’t propagate at all.
- Do not propagate near the electric baseboard as I did. I started propagating around early spring, and if you guys remember, we had snow in April! The electric baseboards are set to turn on automatically when the temperature reached 17-18 Degrees. In just a few days the succulents dried up.
- Water daily. Yup! Another thing I learned from my recent research, is that you need to water your succulents clippings daily.
I started propagating a new batch, and I will do an updated post for you guys soon. Feel free to ask me questions, and I will do my best to answer them all.
Are you obsessed with succulents like I am?
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I’ve never tried planting succulents, but this post reminds me of when I first tried keeping orchid living long. Orchids require a specific type of pot with holes so to drain water and not drown or rot the roots. Through trial and error, you can learn a lot. I love keeping indoor as well as outdoor plants surrounding me. I love that nature-feel. 🙂
Like you, I am pretty hopeless when it comes to growing plants. My garden seems to grow weeds quite well though…in short it grows everything other than what I intend to grow. Most frustrating. Hence I found this post really interesting and I would be interested to stay tuned to find out how your second batch goes. Best of luck!
These are so pretty. Watering daily is the one that i would have a problem with
I have never been able to propagate any plants. I have tried many times but have always failed. The funny part is that I am pretty good at gardening in general, just not propagating!
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OMG this article is totally me, I always fail at making plants grow, putting them together. You name it I kill it when it comes to gardening. Patience is totally a virtue and it totally paid off. These succulents are absolutely stunning though.
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Oh girly! I am so sorry your babies didn’t make it (like seriously, I’m sad!). However, I am so glad you are giving it another go!!
Simply lay your leaves out on soil and in no time, they should put out some roots! Once you see roots, then you’ll want to start giving it water slowly (no roots = no water) Roots are like straws so if the plants don’t have them, they don’t have a way to drink up the water. 😉 I have found tho it may be a good idea if you’re in a dry area to lightly dampen the soil out in front of the tip of the leaf. This may encourage the leaf to send out little roots in search of water. You just don’t want it sitting in total dampness where they have a chance to rot.
I noticed you have photos of sempervivums in your post, those propagate by offshoots and not leaves. 🙂
If you want, shoot me an email and we can get together and I can send you a bunch of leaves for your next go round. Let me know!!!
Much love!
Erin
PS – YouTube and Pinterest BOTH! They both aren’t the best when it comes to truthful and useful info!
Hi Erin,
Thank you so much for the tips! I saw your succulent pictures on Instagram a while back. I’m pretty sure that is when I started to get obsessed with the idea of propagating lol
Thanks for the tips! I will be sure to email you soon.
Hands up I have always bought succulents already planted and growing I have never tried planting or propagating them myself. Perhaps one day I will give it a whirl.
I recently acquired a cactus, and sadly it did not survive even a month in my care. I need to work on my green thumb!
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I think patience is really important when trying to grow and care for plants in general. I’ve always enjoyed succulents and how easy they are to care for.
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I’ve definitely had some plant failures of my own in the past but the good news is I learned something! Will be curious to see how your next batch of succulents turns out!
I had a good batch of succulents, and one day, I put them out to get some nice sunshine. The neighbor’s cat pounced on them and dug into the tiny pots. I lost all my succulents. It was death by cat! So sad. I will get some next weekend and I will make sure that if I ever put them outside for some sun, It has to be in a cat-proof place.
Too bad am not so good at planting. But maybe I should try to be one. Who knows I have a green-palm for plants.
I like succulents too. They’s so cute. I haven’t tried propagating but I’ll keep in mind this tips the next time I decided to propagate. Thanks!
I can’t even keep a plant alive. My mom, on the other hand, propagates plants on a regular basis. I really need to take the time to master this.
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I haven’t even heard of it until today. I got a housewarming plant and it’s still alive. I consider that a miracle, past plant failures considered 😉
Now i know what i must not do to plant a succulents. Thanks! Tomorrow we have a succulent workshop.
Succulents are like the only plants I can keep alive, so knowing how to propagate them would be really useful. Sometimes we learn best by making mistakes. But in this case I’m learning from your attempt. Can’t wait to see your next batch of babies.
I can recall how we struggled with this at first our selves, my mother who was born with a green thumb helped us and taught a few tips. Always know that it takes time and nothing lovely comes easy
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My mom told me about this, and you are right it can be very difficult! I have never tried to do it before because I always figured I would get it wrong! Maybe I will give this a try sometime after all. Thanks for sharing!