Propagate succulents this way: 1 pot becomes 10, every pot plump and fleshy

In summer, growers carefully tend their plants every day, afraid something might go wrong with their succulents, yet even so they could not help them escape summer's torment. Some succulents, unable to bear the heat, gave up and departed, leaving behind a pile of shriveled dead leaves, which broke the growers' hearts.

Now that autumn has finally arrived after much waiting, growers are bucking up and trying to remedy the situation through succulent cuttings. Today I'm sharing with growers a method of water-propagating in a "plastic bottle" and then potting up. Follow the steps of this method for your cuttings, and the succulents you grow can go from 1 pot to 10, each one plump and fleshy.

Step 1: The "leaf selection" method of succulent leaf propagation

There is an art to choosing succulent leaves. You cannot use thin leaves; you must use thick ones. This is because thick leaves contain relatively more water and absorb relatively more nutrients, so during the propagation process we do not need to add any nutrients for them. Thin leaves, however, store little water, and once the weather turns hot they easily shrivel up.

Step 2: The "leaf cutting" method of succulent leaf propagation

For some succulents that grow tightly pressed together, if you simply pull a leaf off by hand, it may well snap halfway through, wasting the leaf for nothing. It is best to cut it off with a blade, because a blade is small and thin and can weave back and forth through the gaps between the succulent's leaves without easily damaging the other leaves.

The blade cannot be used directly; it must be sterilized first. You can drip 3-4 drops of medical alcohol onto the blade, wipe it with a clean towel, then leave it in a ventilated spot to dry. Once it is dry, you can proceed with cutting. Choose the leaves at the very bottom, because during cutting you need one hand to bend the leaf slightly and the other hand to cut with the blade.

Step 3: The "water propagation" method of succulent leaf propagation

First, find a large, clean mineral water bottle with no water stains, then use scissors to poke several small holes around the bottle. The scissors should also be soaked in alcohol to sterilize them; no need to dry them, just use them directly.

Then insert the prepared succulent leaves into the holes of the plastic bottle, pushing them in about halfway. Finally, fill the plastic bottle with water, generally to a level that touches about one third of the leaf. After about half a month, the leaves will produce new roots and leaves, and at that point they can be transplanted into potting soil.

Step 4: The "soil selection" method of succulent leaf propagation

You can buy nutrient soil or mix your own. To mix your own, just prepare 1 part each of perlite, river sand and coco coir. Soak a trowel in alcohol, let it dry, then mix and stir. After stirring evenly, pile it up in a sunny spot and bake it in the sun for 3 days and it is ready. Before use, it is best to spray it with carbendazim diluted 800 times with water, to avoid carrying bacteria.

Step 5: The "fertilizer use" method of succulent leaf propagation

This step is crucial and must never be overlooked. The succulents have just been potted and have not adjusted to the pot that quickly, so for now they cannot be fertilized. After 1 week, growers can use a nutrient solution made specifically for succulents, diluting 1 drop with 800 times water and spraying it, using it once every 10 days, which can promote continuous rooting and sprouting in the succulents.

That is the method of propagating succulents. Use it well, and one pot becoming ten, each one plump and fleshy, is no dream.