Hi cactus & succulent lovers,
I have a question about propagating echeveria.
I tried to pull out echeveria leaf and place it in dry place.
After 3 days, it starts to turn into yellowish leaf.
Is it the right phase to propagate echeveria?
Is it the right time to place it in the cactus mix?
Thank you.

yellowish? that dont sound right. it should stay more or less the same color green blue purple whatever and the cut end should curl around itself and not look moist. I dont think its the right time of year bout it should still root if its inside in good indirect light. they rot all the time probably need to try again. Do you have a photo?

Hi Mark,
Yes, I will upload the photo later.
I have tried it twice before.
Last time, I directly placed it on cactus mix, but it was rotten.
Thank you.

If you can afford to pick off several leaves and then let them callus (leave in dry place for wound to heal) maybe one or more may survive. When leaf (ves) have callus, I would just place on top of (not buried) dampened prepared soil and wait for roots to appear and see new growth. Like Mark said, this should be done indoors at this time year unless you are someplace warm (?) already. Good luck.

Agree with Bev and Mark. I think depending where you are located, when it is cold, cuttings from succulents outdoors does not seem to survive well, especially when weather has gone through a cycle of wet/cold/dry/cold. I have tried rescuing some leaves when they fall off during cold weather but they just die. So I just wait it out till spring and more consistent warm weather sets in. Now unless the plants are grown indoors, then the cuttings may have a better chance to survive, just get that cutting to callus, and just lay them on top of the soil, but continue to keep them warm and indoors.

I found some good instructions here:
http://masteringhorticulture.b...

Hi,
Thank you everyone for the info and Renée for the link.

It is the leaf I mentioned yesterday



And this is the mother plant.


What do you think about it?
It has been 4 days.
And I place it indoor.

I think four days is long enough. Anyone else?

Hi Renée,
Will it be rooting if I don't place it on soil?
I have not placed it on top of soil like Bev said.
Today, the leaf gets more transparent.

Lily, I looked closely at your single leaf and thought it looked like the leaf had been broken off away from the juncture of leaf and stem. I usually remove leaves right at the juncture where the surface area for callusing is smallest. I don't usually have luck with rooting from a callused area somewhere along the leaf body.
You might try just hanging onto a leaf toward the bottom and twisting slightly to separate leaf from the stem at the juncture. Then let callus for at least 24 hrs. Then lay leaf on top of dampened soil and let sit till it roots. Only then do I make a shallow hole and insert rooted section of leaf. The rest of leaf does not have to be buried. Also, if you can stand it, try and twist a few leaves off to callus. That way there's more of a chance that at least one leaf with root. I think the transparent look to the leaf does not bode well but can't be certain so just keep monitoring that leaf while you get other ones going if you have the mind to. Good luck.

I would proceed putting your cutting on top of a soil now. Sometimes succulent cuttings will either produce roots first or little babies at the cut portion. Again a lot will ride on how the other conditions around it is going. Keep it warm and in a shaded area till it gets its bearings.

Just showing here some leaf cuttings I found on some of my containers, just making their own self propagation on leaves that fell off.

Thank you Bev and Tarev,
I have placed it on top of soil.

And I have pulled another leaf too
I hope it will be a green leaf , not yellow leaf again.
I will let you know about it.
Thank everyone.

Hi all, one thing that I've found to be important is keeping the cutting warm, also I don't use moist soil to place to leaf on, I lightly spray with water every day for a week or so - sometimes if the soil is too moist the leaf rots. (all this good advice :thumbsup:) another thing, I keep my leaves under the same grow lights that I keep the parent plants and they seem to propagate very well. Good luck "cornflower" and send more photos when there is some growth, once it happens, its very exciting to see the babies look so much like the parent plant

Hi Greg,
Yes, I will send more photos later.

Now, the yellow leaf has turned into black leaf.
I think it is rotten.

I have taken another cutting and it is still green.
It has been 2 days.

Hi Cornflower, I don't think I said earlier, but I always keep some babies growing in a "nursery pot" and its really fun to see the babies, they look just like the parent plants!!
Echeveria 'Lola'

Nursery pot (most of these are a couple of months old)

Once the baby begins to grow the leaf may die off (as in the one photo) but this is nothing to worry about
Cheers

cornflower said:Hi Greg,
Yes, I will send more photos later.

Now, the yellow leaf has turned into black leaf.
I think it is rotten.

I have taken another cutting and it is still green.
It has been 2 days.

Aww, sorry to hear the first leaf turned black..but you have another one, so hopefully it will respond much better. And that is why I really prefer getting leaf cuttings when it is warmer weather, sometimes during cold season it is just too much stress for the succulents. Good luck once more!

Tarev, very good point, I usually get mine in late summer/early autumn, just as I'm bringing my plants back indoors - and I always take several leaves at a time - it takes the stress off of keeping just one alive

I find that they root faster/better/with less rotting if the mother plant is dry too - and, it's easier to pull the leaves off, they just fall off in your hand.