The Burro’s Tail or more commonly called Donkey’s Tail is a succulent plant that is very easy to grow. If you live in a warmer climate you can grow them outside and in the ground. The rest of us though…we grow our’s primarily indoors as a houseplant. Although, I do move my pots outside onto a covered back porch during the summertime.
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You can easily make your own starter plants from the Burro’s Tail and there are several different ways to do it. I’m most successful with doing it from “cuttings” from my parent plant…so that’s the way I’ll be talking about today.
Before you get started…gather up a few starter pots, succulent and cactus potting mix (you can buy from Amazon or a garden center), paper towels and scissors. Wash your household or garden scissors to make sure they’re clean before you do the next step.
Clip off a 4 to 5″ piece of your Burro’s tail using clean scissors. Remove the leaves from 1 1/2″ to 2″ from the bottom portion. Lay the cuttings out flat onto a clean paper towel in a single layer. Place another paper towel over-the-top. The “cut end” needs to form a callus and “heal over” which will take several days up to 2 weeks to form. It will look like a scab and the area will be dry to the touch.
Once the callus has formed it’s time to plant your cuttings. I use a soil that I purchase from Amazon that is made specifically for succulent plants. Place it into a starter pot filling the pot 80″ full. In the center of the pot make a hole and place your cutting down inside it with the callus portion going into the dirt. You want to plant the portion that you removed the leaves from into the soil.
Lightly water the plant. You’ll need to water it a little bit every 10-14 days but don’t over-saturate it. Make sure you have good drainage at the bottom of the pot as you don’t need root rot. Place your plants near a window where they’ll get light but NOT direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can burn their leaves and kill them. They thrive in indirect sunlight.
After 2-4 months you’ll need to transplant the Burro’s Tail into a bigger pot. I like to plant them in terracotta pots which gives them great drainage and room to grow. These plants can get heavy and form long stems. Those leaves are filled with water! Every time I water them I like to spin the pot a 1/2 turn so that all sides of the pot get to spend time in the indirect sunlight. Also keeps the plant more balanced instead of it trying to grow only in one direction.
In the northeast the best time to do this is during the spring season…although I’ve successfully have done cuttings and planting in late summer too.
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