Best practices for propagating and caring for succulents with a focus on a popular houseplant, burro's tail sedum.
Step One: Deciding where to cut
Before you start cutting, take a moment to study the structure of your burro’s tail/donkey sedum. Does it have a stem that has some leaf loss? Can you see the stem exposed between those plump little leaves? This type of leaf separation happens for two reasons, either the sedum isn’t getting enough light and is stretching towards the sun, or the plant has been bumped and the leaves have fallen off.
Sedum Morganianum are among the most delicate and fragile of leaves, which is why I’m here to walk you through a few simple steps and (hopefully) keep your plant intact and thriving moving forward.!
Step Two: Cutting the Stem
Once you find the stem(s) you’ll be cutting, pretend you’re about to cradle the arm of a newborn baby. Gently come up from underneath the stem like you’re about to pick up the paw of a kitten and lightly cup your hand and wrist around the stem. Holding its weight while also wrapping your fingers around the leaves, you can lift it up and make your cut between the leaves right at the exposed stem letting the cutting gently fall into your cradled hand. Be sure to have a small plate or bowl nearby to catch fallen leaves (more on that in a minute).
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While you have a gentle hold on this new cutting, slowly twist and then pull the bottom leaves off the stem, removing enough so you have a few inches of exposed stem, and place leaves into the bowl, plate, or any soft surface like tissue to catch the baby leaves. The idea is to treat them as gently as possible.
Step Three: Replanting the Cutting
As with all succulent cuttings, it is important to let the end of the stem callous (or heal over) so it hardens off before planting. Five days is plenty of time for this step but you can check and see if it has calloused after 3 days and wait for up to 10 days.
With a chopstick or pencil, poke a hole into cactus/succulent soil about an inch or so deep. Gently place cuttings into the hole, and bury the bare part of the stem, pressing down on the soil around the stem to create a nice, firm foothold where it will begin growing roots. Water well and leave in a very bright but indirect location. Burro’s tail love a few hours of direct sunlight each day once established (preferably morning or late afternoon) but will tolerate super bright, indirect light too.
As for the broken leaves, they also need to heal over a few days. Then, sprinkle them on top of the soil surrounding the new cuttings. They will begin the form their own little burro’s tail roots and after a few months, new leaves will begin to form and take shape which will fill out the pot.
Step Four: Keeping Your New Plant Thriving
Plenty of bright indirect and some direct light, good drainage, and then water well. Give them a good soil drench with Sacred Soil Tonic . Our tonic is infused with rich botanical ingredients and natural growth stimulants to get your new cuttings and broken leaves growing strong!
Hope that helps! We are here for you and honored inspire you to create a thriving houseplant collection. Check out our Youtube video covering this process on our YouTube channel and thank you for subscribing there too!
Sending out the love,
Karina and the Sacred Elements Team