How to Create New Succulents from Clippings

My succulent container gardens that I made back in May for Mother’s Day have been, of course, growing. So in order to keep them looking great, I had to trim a few of the taller succulents. I decided it would be great to re-grow these clippings into new plants that I could pot for other areas of my home and office at work that needed a little bit of greenery. As I’m pulling some of my arrangements inside to avoid the cooler fall evenings we’ve been having – the cooler weather can easily kill off your succulents – I also thought it’d be a great time to get creative and fill in some of my empty pottery pots – like the one pictured above – that I made many years back in my intro to pottery class in college.

I took clippings from several of my succulent container gardens. The particular clippings I used were from the succulent plant shown in this photograph on the upper left. They just happened to grow faster and much taller than the others and were quite tall after four months in the sun on my porch.

The “correct” way to root your succulents is to clip them from the plant, then set them aside in a cool, dark location for a week or so then plant them right into the soil. This is definitely how it needs to be done with those low lying succulents that you really can’t clip a stem off of. Basically you have to take a leaf from the plant and root it. As these were taller and I always have trouble rooting the leaves, I just plopped a selection of these clippings in shallow water in a ceramic container and used them as a table centerpiece.

In the meantime, the clippings grew roots.

At which point I gathered several of these clippings together along with a container to put them in and some dirt.

And then all that was left was to plant them in their new home and water. What I love most about succulents is that they are so easy to grow and do especially well when you forget to water them. Plus most varieties can still thrive in low light areas. Just don’t forget to bring them inside the house in the winter! While some varieties will come back if they are killed off by the cold, others won’t. So keeping these planted in containers is best suited for their survival.

Do you grow succulents in your home? What ways have you had success with when starting new succulents?