I do but have had years of experience in even removing singles leaves of Aeonium tabulaeformis for the purpose of propagation. If you don't practice you will never learn. I have used a one sided razor, and I have an exacto knife, until I was asked to do it by hand. See if you are able to snap them off clean. it's okay to get some of the skin of the mothers stem. Norma

Thank you Norma! I will keep practicing and experiment with all the different methods!

No need to apologize for the 'newbie' question, we all have different methods. ;)

Honestly, fingers work well. But, if want a tool you can used something like tweezers. You don't have to remove all of the plant matter. Just destroy the growth tip; where the the tiny leaves are budding from.

Also, I like to keep and replant the offsets so you can wait until the stem is long enough to grasp and then bend it side to side gently and it should snap off clean. Norma is right about the skin getting ripped off - it heals over and you won't notice it after time.

Pruning shears are fine, but the other kind of garden scissors will mash the stem as opposed to cutting it. I believe those are the anvil style ones with one flat part and a blade that comes down - usually add frustration to the mix.

It's pretty easy keeping the rosette solitary as you've got the right idea, but you've already discovered the other challenge - the long stalk.

I do two things.

1. Take and repot in a deeper container, the buried stalk should grow roots and the plant will be stronger.

2. Lop off that head and set it to dry - once the end has healed over, just repot it. This one takes a bit of courage but it works. The stump will bud and become multiheaded.

Both of these methods only delay the inevitable, the stalk will grow long again as the bottom leaves dry. This is how the plant naturally grows, though it can look odd in containers that way.

I hope this helped some - happy gardening!! :)

-Joe

Thank you for the info, Joe. Can you elaborate more on the stump becoming multiheaded? Is this always the case or just depending on the type of echeveria? Will pinching the new top leaf growths help preventing the bottom leaves from dying out?

When I first started working with succulents, I was afraid to behead plants for fear that the stump and all the good roots would die off.

I have not heard of certain species or cultivars being more or less likely to sprout back.

I used to cut tops of succulents off leaving a tiny branch or clump of leaves to sustain the plant, 'just in case'.

Recently i was overcome with a fit of laziness when i was working with some Graptoveria alpine glow. I just took the tops and went on my way, quickly forgetting about the stumps. They are now on their way to producing more juicy growth.

If you take a look at the stem of the echeveria, you'll see it looks like it's ringed or segmented. Vegitative growth sprouts from here and you may even notice some tiny bumps or dot looking things. These are your new growth sites.

Even if it for some reason doesn't work, you'll have new offsets from your cuttings in time anyway.

I am positive that pinching the tips will not stop the bottom leaves from drying. This is a natural growth strategy and the contents from the leaves below end up feeding the new growth at the top.

However, I have not tried to seriously stop the bottom leaf drying. If you have success, do let us know!

Thanks.

Joe