I have a pachyphytum variant that is Afra Variegated and extremely rare. Its about 8 years old now and the head has gotten smaller as the bottom leaves have come off or I have taken off to try and propagate. It had a bad year where hubby put it in the sun and it burned. Now that the burned bottom leaves are all gone I'd love for it to be refreshed but I'm worried about beheading it. Should I leave some leaves on the stem? The leaves are so tightly bunched on the stem.

Can anyone offer some advice? It used to be twice as large up top. It's spring here in Australia, is this the right time to behead it? Should I wait a while until it grows more? Yikes.

Now is a great time.

See if you can cut a decent sized rosette off the top and still have a couple of leaves on the bottom. And use any leaves you remove in the process for propagation too.

Start by carefully removing one leaf if you can. Use a sideways wiggling motion so you get it intact all the way to the base, maybe spreading the leaves around it to provide some space.



Save this leaf for propagation. Now you have a window to the stem where you can get a sharp knife in and cut cleanly across. Get the plant on a table at eye level so you can see what you're doing when you make the cut.

Remove a leaf or two from the bottom of the cutting so you have a bit (like 1cm max) of naked stem. At a minimum remove as many leaves as necessary so the stem can shrink back a bit from the cut surface (as it will do when healing) and not leave them hanging. Remove them carefully (see above) so that they are intact all the way to the base. These leaves can be used for propagation.

Let the cutting sit for a week in bright shade and then pot it up on top of fast draining soil. Wait a week to water. To propagate from leaves, lay them on top of the soil (do not bury any part). Put the cutting and leaves in strong light (whatever works for the mother plant) and water when the soil is dry.

These cuttings were started at approx. 2 week intervals (with pairs of leaves detached at the same time) and photographed 2 weeks after potting up the most recent cutting, so as to reveal the changes you can expect over time.

Thank you so much!
I am going to give it a try once I'm all prepared. I will post updates as I go. This particular plant does not leaf propagate easily. I have tried at about 20 leaves. Only 5 have succeeded. Out of the 5, only 2 have survived. I've tried for years. It's very temperamental and I know if I lose it I'll never find another.

Leaf propagation is a hit or miss business. I always start with low expectations and then feel delighted when anything works.

Regarding the variegation in your plant (I'm assuming the dreamy rosette succulent in your avatar is one and the same) you will observe some interesting things from propagating variegation that is so variable in its penetration (some leaves all white, some all green, most mixed white and green).

Leaves that are all white will most likely fail for propagation because they lack the machinery to produce energy (chlorophyll). Maybe they might sprout a baby albino rosette but I doubt it would get much further than miniature size before the energy ran out.

Leaves that are all green will most likely have higher odds of success in propagation, just because all the parts are there in working order.

Leaves that are green and white should have some intermediate rate of success, but these are the ones that will be of most value to you in preserving the variegation that you like so much, and that makes your plant so unique. Unlike all-white or all-green leaves, which should sprout mostly all-white or all-green babies respectively, the mixed color leaves have a greater chance of sprouting mixed-color offspring. And those are the ones you want.

So when you look at the stem and consider which leaf to remove to make the "window" for an actual cut, see if you can find one that's green and white.

Finally, the branches that will sprout from the main stem after decapitation (a near certainty if your plant is doing well and you cut wisely) will tend to reflect the specific type of variegation present in the leaf that was growing right next to each nascent bud. A white leaf attached to the stem may sprout a new rosette that is all-white. A green leaf left attached to the stem may sprout one that is all-green. The buds associated with earlier leaves that are no longer on the stem will tend to reflect the colors originally present in those leaves.

These are more like guidelines than actual rules, but they will get you pointed in the right direction strategy-wise.

Done. Had to remove more leaves than I thought but these should propagate. I've had done good luck lately.

I removed the three to make the cut and others to free up the top stem for shrinkage afterwards. Fingers crossed. This stressed me out and yes it's the dreamy succulent in my profile.

Looking good!

Does the container with the leaves have holes at the bottom? Be sure the soil does not stay wet in there. I would use a regular pot, wider than deep, with holes at the bottom.

Also: are you sure you want to root the rosette off to the side in the original pot? That could work out fine, but I would tend to favor a new pot with fresh soil, with the new plant growing in the middle.

The tray the leaves are in was only temporary. I've now laid them onto a terracotta pot.

The rosette is also on its own pot now.

I took these photos right after I did the deed. My hands were still shaking!

I've put them into my propagation tent Hope I'm doing everything right! I've followed your advice to the letter. Thank you so much! I'll keep you updated.

Looking forward to a happy ending!

Here is the great result! This is the new plant "head" growing beautifully.



And the stem.

Well done! 👏

Any luck with the leaves?

The stem that sprouted the double head I cut off and it's now growing in its own pot.
The beheaded part is growing really well but it protested for a few months.
I did notice that they took a LONG TIME to grow roots
The leaves struggled The 2 that variegated well did not survive long.

Later on I lost a small new leaf off one of the double header and this one I'm excited over. The variegation in this one is different and amazing and so far its growing strongly.

That's awesome! I guess the answer to the question in the title of this thread is a resounding yes.

This was a fun read. Baja, your instructions are so clear and easy to understand and you, Sunlover were a perfect student. You did such a good job, and I am guessing your success rate was higher than most newbies have enjoyed .They all look great. Thank you for the pics and the follow thru. Nice post, both of you!

Sunlover said:Thank you so much!
I am going to give it a try once I'm all prepared. I will post updates as I go. This particular plant does not leaf propagate easily. I have tried at about 20 leaves. Only 5 have succeeded. Out of the 5, only 2 have survived. I've tried for years. It's very temperamental and I know if I lose it I'll never find another.

Something I may be imagining but yet works for me is: some plants do better with water propagating. Sounds weird but my one plant wouldn't do anything, then I used the technique where you put it above water through the cling wrap and boom: leafs got roots. 🤷

Hopefully you don't really think growing/rooting succulents in water is a good idea.

How many of these methods have you personally tried? Let us know how they worked for you.

What I have tried is using water gel beads to some succulents, and it seems to work, since the beads will absorb the water allowing air around root zone. It will still give some moisture to the roots as the beads dissipate in size but will not rot the roots. So I have to use containers with no drain holes which as a rule is a big no-no for succulents, but my media is not soil, and ambient humidity is so low, so I can get away with it It is just my own fun experiment here, just watching how they grow.

Testing it on Sedum rubrotinctum and Kleinia articulatus positioned by our west facing window near kitchen sink

Closer look of Sedum rubrotinctum - undestandably etiolated initially, but has stopped doing that and new leaves clumping nicely. I just add some clay rocks to help support the plant.


Closer look of Kleinia articulatus, seeing the new leaf growth indicates to me it has adapted nicely. Initially it was bare of leaves when I took the cuttings. Don't mind the tillandsia, just parking it there.


Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Queen' cutting, adapted really well: I really enjoy seeing the roots grow. This Hoya has succulent leaves, so it is really good to see it adapt nicely.


Typically, I often use the water gel beads on tropicals, like Pothos and Dracaena sanderiana.