When we first moved into our new permanent location in the beautiful mountains of D’Aguilar, a Donkey Tail succulent pot was left by the previous owners hanging on the back deck. Its tendrils were nearly touching the floor and I’d hit my head on it several times when I would sit to put my shoes on. With such length that would have taken years to grow to that size, had me wondering why they would leave such a beautiful specimen behind. Despite my questions, I was thankful for its existence.

Looking at it this morning, I realised how, even though it locks were so gloriously long, the plant was quite leggy, rather than full and luscious. And so, I pick up my snips and with a deep breath, shaved its locks back to just within the pot it was in.

Gasping I hear???

Yes, many would have this reaction, however, my experience as a plant propagator has taught me that sometimes in order to create something big and beautiful, you have to be prepared to hack something to pieces and start from scratch. Don’t worry, in the next few months, this Donkey Tail Succulent will once again reshoot and have beautiful shoulder-length locks. However, as for the tendrils I cut off, these will become dozens of new baby Donkey Tails. Let me tell you how.

Now I have my own secret succulent potting mix recipe… which unfortunately for you is my little secret, however, there are wonderful premade Succulent Potting Mixes available from local produce, garden centres, and hardware stores readily available. These work superbly. The basic principle with succulents is plenty of light, free-draining soil and pot, and a dry down period between watering (basically let the soil dry out before watering again). Succulents basically hate being soggy and having wet feet. They also don’t need a lot of nutrients, which is convenient for the home gardener who often forgets to fertilise. In summary, we are trying to mimic the dry, arid desert conditions of South America and Africa, from where most succulents originate.

So, with the fundamentals established, let’s move on to the fun part … or scary part, depending on how new you are to propagating.

Step One: Firstly, we want to determine which end is the tip, not the end that was attached to the mother plant. This tip end, as we cut off pieces needs to be the end that is kept upright and not buried beneath the soil.

Step Two: With our snips we are going to cut this tendril into inch-long sections, remembering to keep the tip end up.

Step Three: Fill your desired pot with succulent mix and then remove any leaves halfway from the bottom of your cutting. These leaves can be sprinkled on top of the soil to shoot.

*Many succulents are amazing in that they can create new plants from simply their leaves, whereas most plants cannot.

Step Four: Gently poke the bare end into the soil straight downwards, until the halfway point where the leaves begin.

Step Five: Continue doing this step with the remaining segments, leaving approximately 1cm distance between cuttings, until your pot is looking full.

Step Six: Give your pot (or pots in my case as I had so many cuttings) a good water until water runs out the bottom of the pot.

Step Seven: Place your pot/s in a spot with plenty of bright light for at least 6 hours per day and within a few weeks you will begin to see new growth forming.

During the growth season of Spring-Summer (where temperatures are higher than 14 Degrees Celsius), you might want to give your succulents some liquid fertiliser once a month to assist with plenty of new growth. Other than that, you have successfully grown and propagated your own Donkey Tail Succulents, so give yourself a pat on the back 🙂

Succulents are very easy to care for and don’t usually have a lot of problems, though some problems you may experience with succulents are usually related to light and watering.

Long Spindly Growth = Needs more light. Succulents like most plants, if they aren’t receiving the light requirements they need will be seen stretching towards a light source, thus the simple solution would be to trim back the leggy stems and move the pot to somewhere with more light. With your newfound propagating skills you can use this cut of stem cutting to create new plants described in this article.

Mushy or Translucent Leaves:  If your succulent’s leaves are looking mushy, rotting, or looking glassy, then most likely it is due to too much water. Ensure the pot is not sitting in any water and let the soil dry out completely before watering again more sparingly.

White Specks on Leaves: This can be one of the few pests that succulents are terrorised by … Spider mites. These tiny red mites are barely visible to the naked eye, however, evidence can be found in little white specks all over the leaves and fine spiderweb-like strands. If you get a magnifying glass you will be able to see a spider-like mite that is red in colour. These insects, which are the bane of most indoor plant owners, can be treated with a good spray of White Oil or Neem Oil. Both of these products can generally be found at your local garden, produce, or hardware store.

Hopefully, with all this in mind, you too will have long luscious Donkey Tail Succulent plants that one day you will look at and go, “Hmmm, I might give this little one a trim.”

Happy Snip Snipping!

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