For me the greatest joy of growing plants is propagating and watching them grow before my very eyes.

As a huge Harry Potter fan nothing feels more like magic than watching a plant grow from a tiny seed into a full leaved plant or watching a single leaf produce a miniature version of itself.

Many succulents will grow from leaf cutting but not all, if you want to give leaf cuttings a go but aren’t sure which plant to choose send a message to jo@djaplants.co.uk and she will help you to select the easiest or most interesting from our available plants.

So how how easy is it then? Its so easy that many succulents do it as a way of cloning themselves in the wild should they sustain damage. However not all leaves that fall will have the ability to grow roots and become a miniature version of its parent. In order to have the best success you need to select a clean, healthy and plump leaf, this might mean that you need to pluck a leaf from your very happy plant. Don’t worry you wont case any harm if you are careful, many of these plants will shed leaves over time anyway as they grow so eventually you wont even be able to see where you plucked it from.

If you are artful you could create a stunning display using the leaves of multiple plants in a wide shallow bowl and enjoy the design as they start to grow.

To get started I recommend a shallow pot with no more than 5cm of gritty compost. I use half compost and half grit. Alternatively you could just place the single leaf alongside its parent plant.

Simply lie this leaf on the surface, you don’t want to stick it into the soil or try to bury it, but make sure that the part that was closest to the parent plant comes into contact with some of the surface of the substrate (fancy word for soil mix).

Place it in a cool bright corner and wait. You don’t need to keep the soil damp as this is more likely to cause the leaf to rot than root. You will also note that I suggested somewhere cool, about 15c is good. If it is too warm your leaf might dry out and shrivel up before it has the chance to send out roots. It is the same with light, you need to keep it in a bright spot but not full sun as this may also cause your leaf to shrivel.

Whilst I don’t recommend keeping the soil wet it can be beneficial to mist from time to time but I am talking fortnightly at most until you start to see roots develop, then you can water carefully. Aim to keep the soil moist but always on the dry side, as always with succulents, If in doubt don’t water.

Leaf cuttings can take a long time before they do anything, I would allow anywhere between 3 - 6 months before you start to see roots appear and the same again before you start to see a little miniature plant starting to emerge. the best method is to put them aside and forget about them or if you make a succulent art bowl enjoy it for its current beauty and one day you will see the signs of growth. Some leaves will develop quicker and it is variable depending on conditions but the main thing you need to know is it can be slow so be patient.

Here is my word of caution, I see many places offering succulent leaves for sale and whilst this can be a great way to build up a collection at a reasonable price it will take a long time and I have been stung in the past by receiving leaves that are not large enough or strong enough to make it through the process of evolution from leaf to plant. A better way is to find a collection buddy and purchase a whole plant that is strong and healthy to begin with and take cuttings and leaves to grow from that.

One of my favourites to grow from leaf is Graptopetalum paraguayensis as shown pictured above and is available to purchase from our shop should you want to have a go for yourself.