How to Grow Your Own Succulents

Succulents have long since become a favourite part of our indoor gardens.Well, mine at least. They come in all forms, shapes, sizes and colours which never fails to amaze their admirers. A succulent is beautiful, vibrant, easy to look after... a perfect plant! Some of them even have brightly coloured flowers every once in a while. What makes succulents even more attractive in the eyes of modern inside-gardeners is their outstanding resilience and the ease with which one can cultivate them. Really, succulents are perfect for beginner plant lovers and can be a nice introduction to inside-gardening. And propagating such a plant is extremely easy. If you have kids, let growing succulents be their own little project. Follow these four steps to create your very own succulent garden from just one (or more, if you want) store-bought plant!

1. I would say that the first step is probably the most crucial. Find a succulent you like and gently pull a few leaves off of the stem. But be very careful! To avoid the leaf tearing, twist it left and right tenderly until it breaks off. It is very easy, give it a try! Be sure to be very gentle with the leaf. The cleaner the break is, the more likely it is for the new plant to form. Here’s a little illustration to help you out.

2. The second step requires a little bit of patience. Put your succulent leaves on a paper towel and let them dry out. Now, I do not mean “completely dry out”, just let the calluses form on the place where the leaves used to be attached to the stem. This will only take a couple of days, and the end results are worth it, trust me. Very important: DO NOT PUT THE LEAVES INTO SOIL at this stage or THEY WILL ROT. Once the calluses are formed they should be a light-beige colour. The callus is needed to protect the fleshy soft tissue of the leaf from bacterial penetration (which is extremely likely to happen if one puts the leaf into soil right away).

3. Once the calluses have formed, it is time to finally put your leaves into soil. Water them every two to three days. In a couple of weeks (two or three usually) roots will start to form. Be careful not to overwater them or the newly formed roots will most definitely rot.

In about one to two more weeks you will notice teeny-tiny leaves starting to emerge at the base of your initial leaf. That is when you know: you have just created a new succulent life. Nothing beats that feeling of gratification you get from growing your own plant! Keep going.

4. Give it about three or four more weeks and your new succulent will reach 1 cm (about 1/2”) in height. At this point it is ready to be replanted. Be careful with the roots when repotting it. Put the plant wherever your heart desires - you can even create your own succulent terrarium - and watch your creation grow. And you are done! Easy, right? Only takes a little bit of perseverance. The initial leaf will dry out and fall off by itself eventually, but you can also remove it carefully after repotting, if you prefer a ‘cleaner look’.

And that is it, we are done!

Enjoy your very own beautiful home-grown succulent garden :)

PS. Little tip. Pretty self-explanatory, but try to mix different succulents when creating a terrarium. That way you will have plenty of texture and a wide variety of colours.