How to Propagate Succulents (Regrowing Succulents from Leaves)

A quick and easy guide on how to propagate succulents that helps those with the blackest of thumbs regrow succulents.

We started growing succulents this year and we’ve found that this is a hobby that keeps growing and growing – literally! We also learned how to propagate succulents with this new hobby. Propagating means to regrow and luckily, it’s super easy to do with hearty succulent leaves!

We recently purchased a few succulent plants to build a terrarium for our home. (If you’re looking to build one of your own, check out this Beach Inspired Terrarium or even this Winter Wonderland Air Plant Terrarium.)

A few leaves had fallen off in a couple of the containers.  One of the leaves had already started to sprout a tiny, little succulent plant. So I took proper care to make sure the new plant continued to grow into a healthy, adult succulent and found out how easy it was to regrow succulents.

If you are wanting to learn how to propagate succulents yourself, keep reading!

How to Propagate Succulents

Supplies for Propagating Succulents

• Healthy succulent leaves
• Paper towel
• Potting soil
• Small container
• Water

How to Propagate Succulents

1. Remove healthy looking leaves from the bottom of your succulent plant by gently wiggling them off of the stem.  Be patient and take your time to ensure the entire leaf is removed. It’s okay to take a bit of the stem with it to ensure it’s the full leaf.
2. On a paper towel, set out your succulent leaves to dry.  The end of the leaves must be dried and almost scabbed over to ensure that they heal properly.  This could take a few days or up to a week.
3. Fill a container that will drain well with potting soil and place your dried leaves on top of the soil.
4. Within a few weeks, you will begin to see a tiny new plant sprout from the end of the parent leaf.  Roots will start to grow shortly after.

Propagated Succulent Maintenance

1. Once you begin to see roots sprouting, you can transfer the leaves to a bigger pot so they’ll have more room to grow if necessary.
2. Water your leaves and monitor the soil for dryness. Water again only when soil dries out. Be careful not to over-water. Misting may be a better option.
3. The roots should find their way into the soil on their own, but they may not. Be sure to keep soil on top of them (without damaging the roots) to ensure that they do not dry out.
4. The parent leaf will eventually wither away on its own.  You can gently remove it, but I would recommend letting the leaf fall off on its own.
5. Once the parent leaf is gone, maintain like a normal succulent and watch it turn into a healthy adult succulent.

Tips on How to Propagate Succulents

If this if your first time propagating succulents, keep these tips in mind to help your succulents grow.

Any leaves that you use for propagating succulents need to be healthy. If there’s any sign of damage or rot, they won’t regrow. All you’ll be left with is a dried up, dead leaf.

Not all of the leaves will make it when you’re trying to propagate succulents. Depending on how many plants you wish to grow, you might want to remove a bunch of them at a time to try to regrow. I started with five leaves and only three of them sprouted new plants.

The soil your new succulent will grow in shouldn’t be saturated.  Treat it as you would an adult succulent plant, but be gentle as the leaves are fragile.

If possible, let the parent leaf fall off naturally when regrowing succulents. As your new succulent plants grow, the parent leaf will start to wither away. It’s better to let the parent leaf fall off on its own to avoid root damage.  These plants can pretty much take care of themselves. If you must remove it, do it very gently.

You should see results within a few weeks. Within 2-3, maybe even 4 weeks, you should be able to see the results from your propagated succulents. The adult-size could be anywhere from a few months to a year or more.

You might be wondering how to speed up succulent propagation, but I recommend having a lot of patience. Not every leaf will grow at the same speed. And as mentioned above, some won’t make it at all. I recommend purchasing liquid succulent food and succulent soil to help improve your odds.

Keep the propagated succulents in a bright spot in your home. This goes for most succulents anyway, but they need a lot of sunlight. A windowsill is a great place to keep these little plants all year long.

Want to regrow even more fun things? Learn how to regrow fresh produce!

If you found this tutorial on how to propagate succulents helpful, please share it on Pinterest!