If you have any succulents in your house or balcony, the idea of buying more has surely crossed your mind. Indeed, succulent plants have the advantage of being very easy to grow and, in return, they give us their perennial beauty: the change of seasons does not change their appearance and they can really live for many years without giving us any kind of problem. Actually, if you want more of them, there is no need to buy them. You can simply multiply them. To do so, use the glass method, a simple and very effective trick for reproducing some of your favorite succulents. Let’s find out together what it is.
Procedure
First of all, before we start, it is always best to make a point. There is no precise rule as to what the best time is to propagate your succulents, however, the most favorable periods are when temperatures are moderately warm, not below 5 °F, preferably above 64 °F. Here are the different, simple steps you need to follow.
Detach the sprig or leaflet
The first thing to do is to detach a sprig or leaflet with the entire stem from your succulent plant. To do this, use scissors or garden shears and try to make a slightly oblique cut. Once you’ve detached it, you can pass the cut part in some rooting powder, which you can find at the nursery, or cinnamon powder, which will prevent possible infections due to its antibacterial properties. Find out here what other ways you can use cinnamon powder in the garden.
Set it to root
This is where the glass comes in. You have two options. You can fill it with a mixture of peat and sand and bury the sprig or leaflet in it. Alternatively, you can simply fill it with water and place the sprig or leaflet in it, making sure that only their underside is below the water level. Then, place the glass in a place where the temperatures are average and in indirect sunlight. Now begin the waiting phase: wait a few days or weeks and you will see small roots sprouting. When this happens, it means it is time to plant the sprig in a small pot. In time, it will become a real new seedling, which you will have to take care of normally.
What plants to use it for
The glass method can be used to multiply succulent plants whose foliage consists of twigs and stems. These include the jade tree and the African violet. For more specific advice, just on the jade tree, read this article. It is not very suitable, then, for succulents such as mother-in-law’s tongue or aloe vera, which directly have leaves sticking out of the soil. On the other hand, you can use it for propagating even non-fatty plants, such as geraniums or petunias. Read here to find out some specific propagation tips for geraniums.
What about other succulents?
As we have just seen, this method is not particularly suitable for those succulents, such as mother-in-law’s tongue, whose leaves sprout directly out of the soil. In fact, sometimes even by placing a mother-in-law’s tongue leaf in the glass, as in the case of other succulents, you may see roots sprouting. However, sucker division may be the appropriate method. When the plant is mature, in fact, it usually produces small side seedlings, called daughter plants. Click here to learn all the secrets of mother-in-law’s tongue. These are linked to the main plant by underground roots that you can divide, taking a little care, and then replant the daughter seedlings in another pot.
