Cuttings in water vs soil for rooting succulents, which side do you fall on?

I tried water rooting my echeveria leaves last month and they rotted, but my neighbor swears by it and has a whole tray of healthy roots, so is it just luck or am I doing something wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyl391d ago

The callusing time thing is interesting but I gotta ask about that cinnamon trick - do you dust it on wet or dry? I tried it once and it just clumped up and made a mess. Also have you ever tried rooting hormone powder instead? I'm wondering if it works the same way or if the antifungal property is what really matters. Your 10 day timeline is wild fast, my fastest water props took like 3 weeks even with good callusing.

reese_hayes711d ago

Oh man that's frustrating! I bet the difference is about callusing time. Most people just pop the leaves in water right away but I've noticed if you let that cut end dry out for a solid 3-4 days first, the water roots do way better. I actually tried both methods side by side with some graptopetalum leaves last year and the water ones that had a good callus grew roots faster than the soil ones but the soil ones were more stable when I finally potted them up. Also your water might be too cold or too warm, I keep mine at room temp and change it every 4 days max. Water rooting is basically a race against rot and you gotta win by having the roots pop out before bacteria settles in.

viola_lopez301d ago

Yeah you hit on something real with the race against rot part. I've been doing water propagation for years and that callusing step is way more important than people think. I actually started dipping the cut end in cinnamon powder while it's drying. Sounds weird but it's a natural fungicide and I swear my rot rate dropped like crazy. Also I noticed you mentioned water temp and that's huge. I keep a thermometer in my prop jar now because if it's below 68 degrees most succulents just sit there doing nothing for weeks. Another thing is I use rainwater when I can get it. Tap water has too much chlorine and other stuff that slows roots down. I collect it in a bucket outside my back door and let it sit for a day before using. That plus the cinnamon trick got my echeveria props rooting in like 10 days flat.