What to do if succulent plants grow too tall to become trees (How to control the growth of succulent plants and make them into old piles with multiple heads)

What is the solution for growing succulent seedlings?

【1】Increasing light and controlling water are the top priorities

If you find that succulents have a tendency to grow too tall, fade, or spread out during daily maintenance, you should increase light and control watering to prevent their condition from further deteriorating. This is also to solve the problem from the source and fundamentally.

Because of the early excessive growth, fading and spreading, as long as the branches have not been obviously elongated, they can actually recover after a period of control and care.

【2】Proper treatment can make leggy growth irreversible

If the succulent plant has already grown seriously, you may consider controlling the cliff pile or removing the bottom leaves to make it a "pseudo old pile" based on the characteristics of the variety and the needs of reproduction. We can also cut the head to make it sprout side buds, or even use leaf cuttings to reproduce and regenerate.

Remedies for Lean Growth of Succulent Plants

【1】Build cliff piles

For some leggy seedlings that are easy to grow branches and have good branch toughness, you can wait until their branches are in a semi-lignified state, remove some of the bottom-layer leaves, and use horticultural wire, gravity traction, inverted pots, etc. to make them grow in the direction of cliff piles.

Varieties like Purple Music, Jelly Maiden Heart, Dance with Grace, Crispy Duck, Allen, Thin Makeup, Pansy, etc., are more ornamental after being grown into cliff piles than ordinary old piles.

【2】Cut the head and produce side shoots

For some varieties with severe excessive branch growth, the apical dominance can be broken by beheading, which can encourage the growth of side buds.

After most Crassulaceae succulents are beheaded, the buds on the branches will soon sprout again. Moreover, the upper leaf discs of the beheaded plants can be dried and then used for cuttings, and the scattered leaves can also be used for leaf cuttings.

【3】Pulling leaves turns into "old piles"

Most leggy succulents will have branches that grow rapidly and leaves that are scattered.

At this time, you only need to remove some of the scattered leaves at the bottom of the branches, and then slowly make the branches lignify by controlling water and increasing light, and it can be transformed into a "small old stump".

However, this kind of old stump that has grown too long is not as graceful as the natural old stump that has been left to grow over time. There will be some scars and uneven thickness on the branches.

【4】Pick leaves and plant them

For most varieties whose leaves can be completely peeled off, leaf cuttings can be attempted as long as they have intact growth points, so leggy succulents can also be propagated by peeling off their leaves and using leaf cuttings.

Through leaf cuttings propagation, not only can you produce leaf cutting seedlings in batches, but you can also produce double-headed, variegated and variegated seedlings with a certain probability. It just takes a relatively long time and requires a certain amount of patience.