Can You Trim Fleshy Succulents?

Kinds of Succulents

• Succulent plants store water in stems, leaves, roots or an enlarged caudex, which is the area where the stem and the roots meet. Sometimes there are succulent bulbils or tubers as well. There are thousands of kinds of succulent plants. The cactus family has the largest number of succulent species, over 2,500. There are a great many succulents other than cacti in over 40 other plant families. If you are growing them properly, eventually some of your succulents are going to need trimming to keep them to size or to shape them, preventing crowded growth or to make them more bushy.

Shrubby Succulents

• Many fleshy succulents have a growth form that looks like a shrub or small tree. Jade plant (Crassula ovata, formerly Crassula argentea), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11, is an example. The pinwheel plant (Aeonium haworthii) from the Canary Islands is another, hardy to USDA zones 9 through 11. To open up the shape of shrubby succulents, remove a stem cleanly back to the branch or trunk it grows from, using bonsai scissors or pruning shears. Clean tools with rubbing alcohol between cuts to prevent possible spread of plant diseases. For fuller growth, cut stem tips back to a leaf node to encourage branching. If you wish to root the cuttings, put the cuttings in a shady place for several days to weeks, depending on the diameter of the cut stem, This allows the wound to scab over, forming a corky layer. Put the healed cutting in cactus and succulent potting mix to root. Prune the plants while they are growing actively.

Stem Succulents

• Other succulents, such as columnar cacti and euphorbias (Euphorbia spp.), have thick erect stems. These plants can need trimming to keep them an appropriate size for container growing or to cut away branches of landscaping plants that grow too close to pathways or other plants. For these thicker, harder stems a serrated sharp knife or a pruning saw is appropriate. Clean the tool with rubbing alcohol before and after use for cacti. For euphorbias, wear waterproof gloves, protective clothing and eyewear as protection from the often toxic milky sap released when you cut the stem.

Caudiciform Succulents

• There is a growing use of slow-growing, shrubby, tree-like or caudiciform succulents, such as desert rose (Adenium obesum), hardy to USDA zones 10 and 11, as bonsai subjects. Using traditional techniques of branch pruning, wiring and restricted root room produces bonsai plants with great character and drama. Usually root pruning is not practiced on succulent bonsai, because damaged roots promote rot. Succulents need much less moisture than broad-leaved trees or conifers, which are common traditional bonsai subjects. After pruning cuts are made in fleshy succulent stems, the wounds need to heal for as long as several weeks before exposing them to soil or moisture.