Potting on Succulents
Our gardening sponsor Chris shows how to expertly care for an array of succulents. Check out his guide for easily taking cuttings, potting on overgrown plants, and ensuring the best possible conditions.
Pruning & Cuttings
Aeonium ‘Schwarzkopf’ seems to be the plant of the moment in the show gardens at Chelsea Flower Show, but I have grown this stately summer border specimen for years, its dark foliage the perfect contrast to hot summer colours in beds, borders and containers.
Succulents are really easy and very rewarding to grow and apart from Vine Weevil larvae eating the root systems really don’t really suffer from any other pests or diseases. I have even taken cuttings from then and left them for a week before inserting them into compost and they will still root.
Contrary to what many gardeners think it is really easy to propagate and grow on, so easy in fact, you will only lose cuttings if you over water them, and in no time you will have more plants than space!
It’s needs are quite simple, frost free temperatures, good light otherwise the foliage will turn green and a free draining but moisture retentive growing media.
After many seasons, plants tend to become very branched and leggy, my specimen Aeonium is about five foot tall and it’s branches were beginning to droop and snap away from the main stem so I decided the time was right to prune some of the branches off and could not resist the opportunity to grow on a whole new batch for the border.
Preparing a new container or site
Preparing the cutting material is really easy, just cut off the side shoot end about 100 mm long and strip away the lower leaves over about half its length.
I then mix a good quality peat based multi-purpose compost with Elixir’s Horticultural Grit in a ratio of three parts compost to one part grit.
The grit keeps the compost free draining and open which allows oxygen into the compost which is essential for root formation. As these are big cuttings you need to use a container appropriate to the size of the cutting, I usually use either a 9 or 10 cm pot or a six cell module tray.
The containers are filled with the rooting media and gently firmed. You can use a dibber of finger to make a hole to receive the cutting and it is just simply pushed into the compost firmed to stop it rocking around and then watered.
After the initial watering you will only need to water again should the compost really dry out. During the summertime they don’t need bottom heat and unlike most cuttings they can be put in full sun in the greenhouse to root.
Rooting & Watering
Rooting usually takes around 3-4 weeks and they always root better and quicker if stressed by giving them little water. Once rooted they can be potted into a mix of three parts multi-purpose compost to one part Horticultural grit.
As a guide cuttings taken in very early March with some bottom heat will have a substantial root system when potted in mid-May and will grow to around 300mm in their first season.
I have found the quickest and easiest way to mix small batches of compost is to use a large plastic rectangular trough about 80- 90 litres capacity.
At one end of the trough I have around 20 litres of multi-purpose compost and use a 1 litre plant pot to move it to the other end for mixing with the grit – that way I can gauge how much compost I need to mix for the number of plants to pot.
Across the top of the trough I have a flat board that spans the width of the board and is around 300 mm deep.
This is the potting surface and any spare compost simply falls back into the rough.
I also grow a few Echeveria including the lovely purple leaved ‘Duchess of Nuremburg’ which are multiplied by leaf cuttings. Echeveria can be quite difficult to pot on as their low growing leaves make access to fill the pots with compost quite difficult. An easy solution is to use a pot the same size as what the plant was grown in and pot the pot before the plant!
I use the same 3:1 compost / horticultural grit mix for potting these on as they also need good drainage especially during the winter months. The compost mix needs to be packed between the two pot sizes before the smaller one is twisted out leaving a perfectly formed planting hole.
It is then just a matter of planting the plant and lightly firming it in and watering.
I’m based in Shropshire, and I’ve been a keen gardener since childhood. Throughout my career I have raised plants commercially, landscaped gardens, taught horticulture, built the odd show garden and managed public parks where I helped popularise the use of wildflowers. My passion has always remained with growing fruit and vegetables in my own garden and looking after my rare breed chickens.
I’m based in Shropshire, and I’ve been a keen gardener since childhood. Throughout my career I have raised plants commercially, landscaped gardens, taught horticulture, built the odd show garden and managed public parks where I helped popularise the use of wildflowers. My passion has always remained with growing fruit and vegetables in my own garden and looking after my rare breed chickens.
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