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Splitting Succulents and Zanzibar Gem Plants

Over the weekend we had bursts of sunny weather so I jumped outside and decided to attend to my succulent garden and split some of them up so they can grow freely. I also have a couple of Zanzibar Gem plants with new growth and instead of putting them in a bigger pot I decided to split a couple to make a new one.

Come and see my luscious greenery!

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splitting zanzibar gem

I grabbed a new pot from Kmart for $9, a bag of potting mix and 2 of my existing Zanzibar Gem plants.

splitting zanzibar gem

You’ll have to empty the plant out the pot entirely. You’ll see they have clumps/bulbs on the bottom so they easily separate into sections.

splitting zanzibar gem

I took 1 piece from each existing pot and put them in a new one. Remember these plants are the BEST low maintenance plants. At the end of the post I have links to blog posts I’ve written about how easy these plants are to look after so keep scrolling!

splitting zanzibar gem

Ta-dah. 2 pots became 3 pots! I also have another one which is quite big but it’s in a bigger space so it can stay.

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Next, I went outside. I have this dead useless space down the side of my house. I bought NOTHING. Everything in this area has been from cuttings from friends. You can see below it’s a mix up of anything and everything I could get my hands on. I am in the process of tidying it up haha! I just randomly planted stuff and it takes care of itself.

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growing succulents

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splitting succulents

Then I took a peek under some of those massive succulents (some are about 40cm wide!) and there are stacks of babies. I grabbed a few and replanted them around so they can get bigger and bigger. The key is to gently remove them with some of the little roots intact which come with them. If you break them off without a root system you won’t have much luck just plonking them back in some dirt to keep growing. If you want to propagate succulents from a leaf then just google that because there are so many fabulous blog posts written about this topic. But because I have so many existing succulents I can just grab all the babies and easily replant.

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I’ve spread a heap of the succulents throughout the garden bed, but I also had a stack of pots I decided to fill up. This side of my house gets a couple of hours morning sun, but it’s protected by the house and a huge fence so it doesn’t get the frost.

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I have some big pots on my back verandah with succulents and more babies (or pups as they are technically called I think!). They are everywhere at my house!

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I pulled out any dried up leaves. It’s like some of the bigger ones tend to shed a layer underneath when the babies are growing.

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These are my favourite pots (I painted them). I need a few more I think! So easy to create your own succulent garden!

Here’s a post I wrote on Indoor Plants For Dark Corners (note the Zanzibar Gem and why I love them so much) and a post on Indoor Plants For Beginners (heaps of tips!).

Have you got a spare space at your house where you could grow your own?

5 comments

  • Sarah Matulewicz

    As long as the baby plants are kept dry and in semi shade, you wont have an issue with babies not having roots – they won’t take long to grow, trust me!

    • Katrina (author)

      Oh awesome! Thanks for that tip!

  • Nicole

    I didn’t know you can split up Zanibar plants like that! I’ve got a couple at home and some spare pots so I’ll be doing this on the weekend. 🙂

  • Tanya

    How are the Zanzibar Gems going?

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