Hello,
We recently moved and brought some succulent cuttings with us. These succulents came from succulent plants that grew out of my wedding bouquet so I would really like to preserve them and for the plant to grow again. I cut the succulents almost 3 weeks ago, on August 3rd, and even though the cuttings have calloused, they didn’t form roots. I am very worried and scared about just planting them as is, so I would really appreciate your help. Despite being cut 3 weeks ago, the plants still seem firm and healthy (some leave started to dry out), I am attaching pictures of what they look like right now. Could you please advise me on how I should proceed? Thank you very very much!
Thanks for writing us. Succulents can be propagated from almost any part of the plant – stem, leaf, rosette. How you have begun is correct – let the cut surface callus over. Your stems have done that and are now ready to plant using soil or letting it root in water. Sometimes calluses start to form roots on their own, but if they haven’t, you can proceed with the planting. I have attached some links with methods for water and soil and using different plant parts. When you use water, you should place your cutting in a glass such that the calloused end hovers over the water, the thinking being that the end of the cutting will sense the moisture and start to develop roots growing toward the water. After the cuttings have developed roots in water, they can be potted up in a free draining soil mix, such as cactus mix.
If going directly to soil, again don’t bury the calloused end of the cutting in soil, but lay it on top and then mist the cutting and the top of the soil daily and eventually roots will appear and you can plant the cuttings.
The original plant cutting will eventually wither and die when it begins to produce leaves.
The first link I have is from a blog I follow of a very knowledgeable Master Gardener in San Diego. She tells you where to make cuttings on a stem/rosette to get different types of plants. This will be knowledge for the future for you as your cuttings are already made.
https://3000tomatoes.com/category/succulents-cactus/page/2/
The remaining 2 links, show rooting in soil and water with instructions and pictures. We’re normally asked to choose more academic websites than these, but this is a practical question and I think you will get the info you need here.
https://morningchores.com/propagating-succulents/