This method of propagation will make new plants to sell or share with friends and families.
Many cacti and succulents can be propagated from cuttings but by no all means all of them. You may want to make another plant for yourself or go into mass production, so you need to be aware of what is possible. Sometimes a plant gets damaged or rots, in which case you may be forced to create a cutting in order to save the plant. Succulents may need pruning to keep them within a manageable size, but this is less of a requirement with cacti.
Think about what you are trying to achieve before chopping up your plants. Just because each Echeveria leaf will root doesn’t mean you should pull them all off to make lots of new plants. When a cactus produces ‘pups’ you may wish to leave the plant to grow into a clump rather than remove and propagate them. Creating your best possible plant should be more of a priority than trying to share your new-found hobby with your friends and family.
The general principle is the same for both cacti and succulents: always use a clean, sharp knife; allow the cutting to callus over before planting into damp compost; keep the cutting out of direct sunlight until they show signs of growth; and be patient, particularly with cacti.
CACTI
Segmented cacti – mostly in the Opuntia group – will often discard their segments when dry in the winter when you brush against them or try to repot them. (Repotting is best left until the plant is in active growth.) Many of the smaller opuntias propagate in the wild in this way and are dispersed on the coats of passing animals. In the greenhouse, shedding of segments is not so welcome and you might wonder if you’ll ever succeed in growing a large specimen. You many not even want to make new plants and you could just discard them, but it’s worth trying to root them.
Christmas/Easter cacti (Schlumbergera, Zygocactus) have segmented stems from which cuttings can be taken; these root easily.
Columnar cacti can be lopped off near the top, particularly if getting too tall for their environment. A new column should start to grow from the top of the original plant. Meanwhile, you can allow the cutting to dry off and place it in some fresh, gritty compost (or near Seramis or cat litter) and gently water it so that the compost remains damp. You may need to prop it up with some canes. The soft, flexible wire you can get in garden centres is a good way of attaching them to the cane(s), as show in the right photograph above.
In fact, you can chop up a columnar cactus into several short segments. While only the top one will grow into a normal cactus, the other ones will root and product a new column from the top. If you go this, make sure you plant the segments the right way up!
Many globular cacti clump by producing pups, often around the base or at low level, and if you don’t want to grow one large clump you can gently remove them but allow them to get to a reasonable size first. In many species, such as Rebutia, they are attached by only the thinnest stem but on other species the offshoots cannot easily be removed. If the former, cut the stem with a sharp blade without damaging the rest of the plant. These kinds of cuttings will root easily; if left on the parent plant they may even produce their own roots.
You can also lop the top off a globular cactus and it will start to grow pups around the cut area, giving you an ongoing source of babies. You may not be able to root the top section though. An alternative to this, which I have never tried, is to drill into the very centre of the plant from above. This destroys the growing point and will cause the plant to start to produce offsets.
You can apparently propagate some mammillarias from tubercle cuttings; that is, those species that have prominent tubercles. This works better if the tubercles are grafted.
SUCCULENTS
The techniques vary according to how the various types grow. If a succulent produces a pup then, as with cacti, you can simply remove it and root it. While many succulents can be grown from leaf cuttings, but with those species that are deciduous you generally cannot although stem cuttings are nearly always possible.
Simple division
Some mesembs will divide as they grow and you can usually split them into separate plant if you decide not to allow them to clump. A few grow on stems and you should be able to take cuttings and root those.
Many stapeliads spread by producing new stems which develop their own roots. You should be able to break these off and root them, although stapeliad cuttings are not so easy.
Leaf cuttings
Echeverias and similar looking genera in the Crassulaceae (eg, Graptopetalum, Pachyphytum, Sedum) root easily and produce tiny plants which will form sellable specimens in a year or two. Other members of the family such as Adromischus also root easily (their leaves fall of easily too), but with other genera the leaves are less fleshy and do not root as well. This includes Aeonium and Kalanchoe, but these will propagate from stem cutting.
The important point is that you must not cut the leaf off but break it off as you need to preserve the tissue that produces the roots.
Offshoot cuttings
Offshoots root easily and they are produced by many succulents. An Echeveria may end up with several heads, usually by producing pups from around the bottom of the original stem. You can produce a stunning plant by leaving them where they are but eventually you may need to tidy the plant up.
A few species of Kalanchoe produce plantlets from their leaves. These are viewed by serious growers as an annoyance as they take root all over the place but these species are beautiful when they flower.
Stem cuttings
Chopping up the stem of some plants will result in new heads appearing from the growing points on the stems. This includes most echeverias, crassulas and kalanchoes. The mother plant, even if left devoid of all vegetation, will start to grow offshoots at the tip.
Some aloes have long stems with heads on the tips. these can be pruned and new plants produced. The same applies to the crawling mesembs.
Portulacaria afra is a common stemmed succulent which can be propagated from stem cuttings, as can the superficially similar-looking (but totally unrelated) Crassula ovata or money plant but the latter can also be propagated from leaves which the former species cannot.
A technique use in propagating cuttings of garden plants is to place several cuttings around the outside of the pot which helps support them. Once you are sure that the cuttings have rooted, pot them up individually.
The trailing caudiciform species of Ceropegia, such as C. woodii, produce small caudices on their trailing stems which can be cut off and planted. The same is true of Cissus tuberosa, the stems of which swell into small caudices.
Euphorbias can sometimes be propagated from stem cuttings but the latex leaks out and it can be an irritant so watch it!
Sansevierias can apparently also be propagated from leaf cuttings but, again, I have not tried this as they seem to spread pretty well on their own via shoots from the roots.
GRAFTING
I have never tried grafting and it’s a specialist technique more suited to cacti that do not thrive very well on their roots in the UK. Grafting plants that are perfectly happy on their own roots seems unnecessary and you end up with rather vigorous growth.
Of course, variegated cacti must be grafted in order to survive. The ghastly brightly colour gymnocalyciums seen in garden centres are evidence of this. Sorry if you like them!
Growing from seed
Propagation from cuttings
Where to buy seeds