How I Take Cuttings Of My Aeonium Arboreum

Joy Us garden
by Joy Us garden
Taking cuttings of this succulent is so easy!
I got my Aeonium arboreum (the variety is “atropurpureum”) at a lecture about succulents at the San Francisco Botanical Garden about 20 years ago. The curator of the desert garden at the UC Davis arboretum was speaking and brought plants to sell. This was of the very 1st succulents I ever bought and I carried it with me when I moved to Santa Barbara. I now have 3 of them in pots and a few in the garden so I want to share with you how I take cuttings of this small tree-like succulent.


This plant, like other aeoniums, tends towards a somewhat tall and leggy growth habit. The individual stems will eventually branch at different points giving them even more interest. If they branch towards the top of the stems, the weight of the heads can cause them to bend over. And that’s exactly what happened to mine that was planted right outside my dining room window 8 years ago.
See how I take cuttings of it in this video:
Here’s 1 of the stems that I cut off with the branches shooting off of it. The whole thing was completely down on the ground this past winter.


I wasn’t planning on doing a video on this particular aeonium but because it fell over, I decided why not. If you have this succulent just be prepared because it may happen to your plant too.
Here you can see I cut the aeonium into “bite size” pieces. Because the heads are fairly large, I wanted to cut the stems down which eliminates their chance of toppling over.


This is 1 plant that you don’t need to take the cuttings from the soft wood or the tender new growth. I could have let that tall stem heal over for a few weeks and planted it just like that. However, the Aeonium arboreum grows relatively fast. I wouldn’t want to plant that tall stem because the same thing could happen all over again within a short period of time.
By the way, this is what the stems look like when they’ve healed over. These cuttings were taken over 3 months ago.


A few things to consider when taking of Aeonium arboreums:


1- Make sure yourpruners are clean & sharp as you want to make nice, clean cuts.


2- Take your cuttings at an angle. It reduces the chance of infection & makes for a sharper point when sticking them into the mix.


3- The stems & branching stems can curve so you can either work with that or make the cut above the curve.


4- Even though the stem has been cut down, the head may still be heavy in proportion. You make need to stake the cutting.
3 of the heads looking nice & healthy. If you’re curious as to how I would plant these, then click right here.


My original intention with these Aeonium arboreum cuttings was to replant them back with the mother plant. I decided there were already enough stems in that particular planting so I gave most of them to my friend who lives in Oakland when she was visiting. And the couple of cuttings that remain … well, in just a few weeks they’ll be making the journey with me to my new home. Cuttings on the move!


Happy gardening,


Nell
Joy Us garden
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  2 questions
  • Danielle Danielle on May 09, 2016
    What is the trailing plant in the bottom right corner of the first photo? It's really interesting!
  • DORLIS DORLIS on May 09, 2016
    Will this work for all Aeoniums? what is the plant in the background, fed flowered or leaved?
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 6 comments
  • Valerie Valerie on May 07, 2016
    Thanks for a very informative post - I am glad that you are sharing the cuttings, they are lovely plants and will give your friend joy for years to come.
    • See 2 previous
    • Joy Us garden Joy Us garden on May 10, 2016
      @DORLIS Yes, even my UPS man is saying her has enough now! Nell
  • Pauliegirl1 Pauliegirl1 on May 09, 2016
    If I remember from my days of "hoarding" plants....you can grow just about ANY succulent from a single LEAF!! Just put them in the soil...BOOM!! And I am pretty sure the stems will grow again too!! I just always did it by one leaf...have fun!!
    • Joy Us garden Joy Us garden on May 10, 2016
      @Pauliegirl1 Yes, most succulents are very easy to propagate by leaf too. sometimes they fall off the plant & root by themselves in the garden. I call them the plants which keep on giving! Nell
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