Propagating Greenovia/Aeonium from leaf cuttings

[Shane]

Anyone have experience propagating Greenovia or Aeonium? (or just Aeonium if you prefer that taxonomy) Apparently it's possible:
https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/com ... om_leaves/
I have a Greenovia I want to propagate and it doesn't make offsets. My plan is to swab the leaf with alcohol and put it in a pot of moist, sterile soil in a plastic bag (like we would for starting seeds). Does this sound reasonable? Any tips/pointers/ideas?

[The_Nikon_Guy]

Hi Shane, yes, you can propagate Aeoniums from leaf or step cuttings - I have personally done so. Here is a nice article that focusses specifically on Aeonium propagation: https://succulentplantcare.com/aeoniums ... ion-pests/
You basically have 3 methods - seeds, leaf and stem cuttings.
I could add a fourth method - chop off the growing head and you will find side stems growing - basically lots of branhcing. You can then cut off each branch and root them for generating plently of plants.

[Shane]

Thanks for the link. There's a lot of information about Aeoniums there. I've grown Aeoniums from stem cuttings too, in fact all the Aeoniums I have I grew from stem cuttings. I can't use this method on my Greenovia diplocycla however. It doesn't offset and really has no stem to speak of

G. diplocycla

Greenovia.jpg (44.88 KiB) Viewed 2610 times

The person who wrote the article actually says they have no experience rooting form leaf cuttings, but more or less suggested the normal method for Crassulaceae leaf propagation (let it dry then put it in damp soil). I've done this many times on plants with thicker leaves, like Pachyphytum, but I'm skeptical it'll work for Aeonium's thin leaves. I think they'd quickly dry up to nothing

[Shane]

I collected some Aeonium leaves and decided to give it a try. The first thing I learned is Aeonium leaves are a bit difficult to remove in one piece. I don't have the names in front of me, but it was all common species (the black one, an aggressive green glossy one, A. 'Sunburst')

I made two pots of leaf cuttings. I used vermiculite as the potting medium (for no particular reason, I had some I wanted to use for something; I think it'll be a good medium for rooting though). I put one pot out in the open and another in a ziplock bag (after sterilizing everything). I used rooting hormone on the outside the bag one (forgot to do it on the other one)

fingers crossed.jpg (31.53 KiB) Viewed 2610 times

Another thing I learned is not to use 2" pots for this. They're too small and the leaves get jumbled

[The_Nikon_Guy]

Its a good thing you decided to put them into ziplock bags - that way moisture is conserved especially given how thin these leaves are.
All the best mate

[Shane]

An update so far:
Four of the seven leaves have died so far. None have rooted. Both the green glossy leaves died (one in humidity, the other in air with damp soil). Neither dried out, they both turned that translucent color succulent leaves do when they're dying. The Aeonium sunburst leaf died, but it was never really that healthy. One of the black Aeonium leaves outside humidity dried up

[Shane]

I'm not quite sure what the secret is. People who posted about doing it successfully on the internet all left theirs in the open. They were all potentially in high humidity areas. If none of mine take, I'll try doing high humidity but not as high as the bag and maybe not vermiculite I think it stays too wet

[Shane]

Another update:

All the leaves in the open have died. The last one managed to dry out on one end and mold on the other. Think vermiculite might not have been the best choice...

Two of the three leaves in humidity have died. The last remaining leaf is pretty much unchanged from since it went in there. It shows no sign of rooting but also no signs of sickness

[bbarv]

I think your best bet would be 1-3mm pumice, dump.
Disclaimer: manage to root 1 leaf of Aeonium haworthii, never got plantlets though.

[Shane]

Good point. Pumice is probably better since it isn't a sponge like vermiculite. Getting roots is definitely a good result; you're almost there at that point. That's pretty encouraging. I got some GA3 to use on seeds, I might try it on the Aeonium leaves too