You just bought some beautiful succulent cuttings from your local nursery or even better online with free shipping. The cuttings you bought are very beautiful and you are so excited to watch the root, grow, and thrive like you imagine!
Unfortunately weeks have gone by and your succulent cuttings haven’t rooted, not even the slightest bit! The succulent cuttings now look dried up, wrinkled, or dying, and now you are wondering why your cuttings won’t root.
Don’t be down on yourself because this is very common and this happens a lot. Many succulent growers, especially beginners, struggle with rooting succulent cuttings. It can get very discouraging especially when you just bought these cuttings and they aren’t rooting.
There are many reasons why your succulent cuttings won’t root. It could be due to overwatering, underwatering, not enough sunlight, lack of nutrients, not using proper soil, and not potting them correctly.
Don’t worry! By the end of this article, you will know exactly why your succulent cuttings aren’t rooting, and you will know exactly what to do to root your succulents!
Before we Begin...
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Let’s begin
NOT POTTING THEM CORRECTLY
One of the main reasons why your succulent cuttings aren’t rooting is because you didn’t pot or set them up correctly. When you just received fresh succulent cuttings it’s very important to NOT recut them.
When you receive cuttings you must let them dry out and form a scab, if you recut them then there’s no chance a scab will appear. If you let them dry out then a callus/scab will form at the end of the succulent cutting that was cut.
Make sure a callus form then pot them in fast/well draining succulent soil, then water immediately. Put them in a shady area for two weeks, and then move them to full sun. Water your cuttings every 3 days or when the soil completely dries out.
The most important part is to make sure the end of the succulent where it was cut dries out and forms a callus. That’s the most important part because if there’s no callus then there will be no roots. Make sure that callus forms and then pot and water the cuttings immediately!
LACK OF NUTRIENTS
Another reason why your succulent cuttings may not be rooting is because they aren’t getting nutrients. If you don’t give your succulent cuttings nutrients then they won’t root all because they are lacking the nutrients to do so.
Now how do you give your succulent cuttings nutrients? Well if you use fertilizer, one of the fertilizers for succulents would be seaweed. Seaweed?? Like the stuff that grows in the ocean and washes up on the beach? Yes.
Seaweed has 60 trace minerals and nutrients, giving your cuttings a great opportunity to root at an extremely fast rate. Seaweed is amazing for succulents, especially cuttings because cuttings are like babies. They aren’t grown up yet and they need the nutrients to root and grow up!
Now where can you buy seaweed fertilizers?? Good news for you we sell fast/well draining succulent soil with seaweed in it! Our succulent soil is amazing and you will see a picture below that involves our amazing seaweed soil.
We use this soil for every single succulent that we grow, it truly helps it grow faster and larger. We definitely use it for cuttings too! Our cuttings root super quickly and grow super large all because of the nutrients in the seaweed and soil it's getting!
UNDERWATERING
Another reason why your succulent cuttings aren’t rooting would be due to underwatering. Succulent cuttings need water, and a big mistake succulent growers do is they don’t give their succulent cuttings enough water.
If they don’t get enough water then the cuttings can’t root at all. Water gives the cuttings a huge opportunity to root, they definitely need it and crave it!
Make sure you give your succulent cuttings water around 3 days a week and water them when the soil feels or looks very dry. Make sure to keep track of the exact last time you watered your cuttings so you don’t overwater them!
OVERWATERING
Yes, your cuttings need enough water, but you must make sure that you don’t overwater your succulent cuttings. Overwatering does no good and does lead to mold and bacteria growing in the soil which is awful.
Overwatering will lead to wet soil that just sits there for several days. This isn’t good because succulent cuttings won’t root in soil that’s been soaked and wet for several days. It needs a little dry period every once in a while to take a break from water.
That’s why we recommend watering 3 days a week and not every single day. 3 days a week or water again when the soil feels or looks very dry. If you water your cuttings correctly then they will have no trouble rooting at all.
LACK OF SUNLIGHT
Lack of sunlight could be another reason why your succulent cuttings won’t root. I know we mentioned growing in shade for a while. Yes, make sure to grow them in a shady area for 2 weeks and then make sure to give them sunlight.
If they don’t receive sunlight then they won’t root! That’s obvious! Of course plants, succulents, succulent cuttings need sunlight to produce roots and grow! Make sure to give them sunlight for about 6 hours per day and then give them some partial shade to take a break from the sunlight.
Make sure they don’t get too much sun. Too much sun will cause a sunburn and make them dry and dehydrated. Make sure this doesn’t happen because this could also be another reason why your succulent cuttings won’t root.
That’s it!
That’s all we have for you! Those are some common reasons and tips on why your succulents won’t root and how to make sure your succulents root! It does take some time and patience so don’t get discouraged.
Succulent cuttings not rooting happens a lot to succulent growers, so don’t worry! It’s very common for succulent cuttings not rooting. If you just follow our steps and take action your cuttings will root for sure!
It takes some time, patience, and some love to get your cuttings to root! We hope we helped you out and gave you some nice tips and tricks. Now go root your beautiful cuttings so they can grow to be very beautiful and colorful!
Thank you!
Thank you for visiting our website and reading our article. We hope we brought value, and great information to you today. Our goal is to help fellow succulent lovers like you! Any questions or if you’d like more tips email us or comment below!
If you are interested in buying live succulents, soil, cuttings, etc. We have them available here on our website. Go to our homepage, or click the links in our articles for more information.
We thank you so much for your time.
Thank You!
Ramsey Succulents
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