Have you (or a small, four-legged, rent-free room-mate) ever knocked over a succulent and broken a leaf off of the plant? I know my rent-free roomie has knocked over a few plants in his days! When a leaf breaks off of a succulent, you can always propagate it and grow a new plant. It takes time and a lot of patience!
I have heard different methods of propagation from different sources, but continue reading to find out how I propagate my broken succulent leaves. You can even use this method on trailing succulents (for the more experienced plant parent!).
Place the leaf on a dry surface, preferably in sunlight. Let the spot where the break occurred dry out - this is where the 'baby' will sprout from! After it has dried out, you can mist the spot where it broke once a week or so. This process can take a few weeks, but it will start to shoot out some roots once it has dried properly. The roots can take a while to grow, be patient! They will get there.
These roots will eventually start to look like a mini version of the large plant growing out of the leaf. Which, in my opinion is super cool! You can take it and plant it in soil at this point, or wait until the 'mother leaf' dies. It will usually dry out and shrivel up, but sometimes it does stay quite healthy. The image to the left shows a healthy mother leaf with one tiny root sprouting out of it. I have misted the leaf and it is sitting on top of soil.
Once it is planted and on it's own, you can continue to water it every week or so, and watch it grow into a larger plant! Grow lights can definitely speed up this process, but I just let mine do their own thing.
If you have any questions, ask to see what I am growing when you are in my area next! I have some babies growing in a small greenhouse in my shop that I would love to show you.
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