Buddha’s plant is a beautiful succulent that grows in columns, and most of the time, every column will produce a new branch. When mature, it blooms pinkish flowers, and they’ll make your home beautiful, especially if you have your plant in a decorated pot. This makes it a collectors plant for your home.
But if you want to propagate it, what should you do? It’s not difficult for you to propagate the Buddha’s Temple plant. You can grow them in your garden or indoors with fewer maintenance needs at home.
Besides, this succulent is easy to look after; you might find yourself watering it a few times when it’s young, but once it grows, occasionally!
How Do You Propagate Buddha’s Temple?
Leaf cuttings, seeds, and offsets are the most effective methods of growing a new Buddha’s Temple. However, if you cannot obtain offsets or purchase Buddha’s Temple plant from gardening stores, you may consider seed propagation.
Since Buddha’s Temple grows slowly, planting one from seed may take time before the seed germinates and grows into a grown plant. But the time shouldn’t deter you from planting one.
How to Propagate Budhha’s Temple from Seeds
Buddhas Temple is a slow grower from seeds; therefore, you must have some patience before you consider planting its seeds. In contrast, this is the easiest way to grow Buddha’s Temple.
How to plant Buddha’s Temple from seeds:
Purchase seeds from a gardening center or stores near you. Ensure the seeds are fresh. You can check out the date of packaging or collection date. The more fresh the seeds are, the high likelihood they’ll germinate.
Prepare a good potting mix that is draining well for your seeds and add it to a good pot with drainage holes or well-draining ground. You can add some succulent fertilizer with a half-strength to the soil to enhance healthy growth.
If planting in a pot, water the potting mix until water drains out from the pot. Deep your finger one inch into the ground to confirm whether the soil is moist when planted outdoors. If dry, pour more water.
Sow the seeds in the soil, barely covering them. Ensure to provide enough spacing for the seeds when planting.
Pro Tip: The best time to sow seeds is during spring or summer.
Once the seeds sprout, you should water only when the soil is dry. Place them in a location with shade and has adequate ventilation. Continue doing this until the baby Buddha’s Temple plants are firmly established.
Remember, seed sowing is only an option when you can’t get leaf cuttings or offsets.
Beginners who only have one plant are especially prone to this. When you get your second Buddha’s Temple, you can then start propagating new plants through offsets or leaf cuttings.
How to Propagate Budhha’s Temple Plant from Offsets
Adult Budhha’s Temple plants produce offsets at the base. However, before you can pluck them for planting, you need the following:
- Alcohol rub
- Knife or pruning shear
- Rooting hormone
Sterilize the knife or pruning shear to prevent bacterial or fungal infection to the mother plant and offset using the alcohol rub.
Locate a healthy offset and make a clean cut. Dust off any soil from it and let it dry or callous for two days at least. Prepare a well-draining soil and water it ready for planting the offset.
Apply rooting hormone to enhance faster rooting and initiate rapid growth in the calloused area. Proceed to plant the offset in the potting mix. Ensure to offer enough space of about four inches from each plant.
Water the soil occasionally whenever it gets dry. Once your Buddha’s Temple plant has grown, repot them to new large containers with drainage holes. In addition, place them where they can receive the morning and evening sun; shade them from the afternoon sun.
How to Propagate Budha’s Temple from Leaf Cuttings
To plant leaf cuttings, you also need:
- Rooting hormone
- Knife
- Alcohol rub
You can forgo the knife and pluck a leaf entirely from the mother plant. But if you wish to make a cutting, sterilize the knife using the alcohol rub first and make your cutting. Here is how to propagate from a leaf cutting:
Cut/pluck a healthy leaf from the mother plant. The first step is to discover a healthy mother plant and grasp a mature and hard leaf. After that, twist the leaf until it comes off entirely with little pressure applied.
If the leaf breaks in two, you’ll have to find a new one. It might be a little stressful to get a leaf-cutting initially, but don’t be afraid to cut one. Always be gentle when cutting leaves, and sooner or later, you’ll have enough leaf cuttings for further propagation.
The next critical stage after getting your leaves cuttings is to allow them to dry or callous for a day or two. Have the cuttings dry in a container with adequate ventilation and partial shade.
Don’t hurry to plant them immediately after cutting because this is where successful development begins. If you put the leaf cuttings straight into the soil without drying them, the cut area will be infected, and your plant will perish.
Prepare a well-draining succulent mix for your buddha’s plant leaf cuttings and apply rooting hormone to the leaves. However, this process is optional, but you can use it to attain rapid success in rooting.
Place the leaf cuttings on the soil, ensuring the calloused part is in soil, and the remaining part is exposed to indirect sunlight or under shade.
Before watering again, wait for the soil to dry.
As you are looking to plant a Buddha’s plant, you have to get it right for the type of soil, and well, you should water it to thrive.
Right Type of Soil for Buddha’s Plant
Because succulents thrive in well-draining soil, a solid drainage channel is essential for maintaining their health – and also this is necessary for the Buddha’ as well. You may use a cactus mix with coarse sand or perlite to improve drainage.
If you can’t find the cactus potting mix in your region, use regular soil and combine it with coarse sand or perlite. This ensures the soil doesn’t retain much moisture that may cause rooting rot.
It should be crumbly rather than forming into a ball when you squeeze the mixture. If it does form a ball, add more coarse sand or perlite until you reach the ideal combination. Lastly, water the soil and check for drainage.
How to Water Buddha’s Plant
Budha’s plants thrive in a moist atmosphere, so excellent drainage soil is essential.
When it comes to watering, note the climate in your region. Places with high humidity levels retain moisture in the soil for more extended periods; hence water it at least once in two weeks.
You’ll notice a difference when you move from an area with a lot of heat and humidity to one without, and here water it at least once a week.
During propagation, you should only mist the soil and not water it. You can use a spray bottle or bottom water the soil. Place your drainage pot in a dish full of water and let the pot seep water through the drainage holes. Let the soil soak for at least thirty minutes.
When you get these conditions right for your succulent, you will have less to do to maintain it to grow. You should watch out for the amount of light, temperatures, and humidity levels.
Now that you can plant your buddha’s plant at home, how do you know it is the right houseplant to decorate your home?
Buddha’s Plant Overview
- A Buddha’s Temple develops a stunning columnar rosette with densely packed overlapping leaves that curve upside at the end, creating a square shape. This reminds us of the curved rooflines of a Buddhist temple.
- Budha’s temple can grow up to 6 inches tall, making it the right container plant.
- Buddha’s Temple develops spherical red, white, or orange flowers that are eye-catching and later turn pink. The blooms appear on mature plants in early spring to late winter.
- Buddha’s Temple is an evergreen plant that can grow in subtropical and Mediterranean climates. If you reside in cooler regions, it’s best to bring it inside to protect it from frost.
- Crassula cv. Buddha temple is poisonous to dogs, cats, and perhaps other pets. If you have a pet, keep it away from the plant.
Final Take
You can’t get enough of this plant only by looking at its pictures. The skillful symmetry arrangement of its leaves is almost hypnotizing.
Buddha’s Temple perfectly fits in rockeries or dish gardens, making it ideal for your space, and the good thing; now you can easily propagate some for yourself.
If you are looking at fast growth, then leaf cutting propagation is your preferred method to grow new plants.
We hope you find these guides helpful. Go ahead and plant as many and share this remarkable plant with your family.
Last update on 2022-12-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
