How to Propagate Aeonium (aka Tree Houseleeks)

Author:

Rachel is a passionate plantsperson, YouTuber and author living in Ireland. She grows a wide range of hardy subtropical and tropical plants.

Aeoniums may look exotic, but they're very easy to propagate.
Rachel Darlington

Taking and Propagating Tree Houseleeks

Aeoniums, also known as tree houseleeks, are handsome succulent plants in shades of either green, dark red or near black. In the temperate zone, they're best used as pot plants where they quickly make attractive specimens. They can also be planted out for the summer.

Why Propagate Your Succulents?

Despite seeming so exotic, the good news is that aeoniums are easy to propagate from existing plants. You might wish to propagate your aeonium for a number of different reasons.

You might wish to have more plants for yourself or to share with your friends.
Perhaps some accidental damage has resulted in a piece breaking off your existing plant and you don't want to waste the plant material.
Or perhaps you have a mature plant that has become leggy over time and you want to start again with a more compact plant.

How to Propagate Aeoniums From Cuttings

The ideal time to propagate aeoniums is in spring, but I've found propagation just as successful at any time of year.

Select your cutting material. You'll need a complete rosette on a stem of about four inches or 10 centimeters. For the quickest results, choose a large rosette—propagation can be done with smaller ones, but they'll take a long time to grow to a decent size.
With a sharp, clean secateurs, snip your chosen stem close to the trunk of the plant.
Reduce the cutting material stem in size to about 4 inches and discard the redundant stem portion.
Leave your cuttings to callus over for about three days.
When your stems are nicely calloused, make up a well-drained potting mix. I'm using 50% ordinary potting mix and 50% horticultural sand.
Fill a pot with your mix and plunge your cutting into it to about half the depth of the stem.
Water your cutting once and place it in a warm, well-lit area out of direct sun (a windowsill is ideal). Temperatures of 64–68˚F (18–20˚C) are optimal.
Water your cuttings sparingly until they've rooted, taking care not to spill water directly onto the leaves. Aim to keep the potting mix just moist at all times.

It will take three to four months for your cutting to produce a good root system, at which time it can be potted on.

Happy growing!

Harvesting & Sowing Aeonium Seed

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This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.