Leaf bowl

Whenever I have a loose succulent leaf, or a cutting (intentional or unintentional), it goes into the leaf bowl. It started out as a white plastic pot in the garage, but when I moved it inside to get more warmth I switched to an 8-inch Bonsai pot. In the last week or so it has stretched beyong the boundaries of the pot into seven littler pots. The Bonsai pot is really too nice to get stuck with this duty and I've been thinking of converting it into a smaller version of the 10-inch Montage. But this is what I had starting today, demonstrating various stages of success.

At the upper left is the Bonsai pot. The five narrow leaves at the top are Little Jewels that seem to be developing roots. The next leaf is one I took off Lola just a few days ago and is in better shape than this image conveys. Next is a jade leaf that has been in there for a long time and doesn't seem to be doing anything. Just below that is the spiked aloe sprig, same story. The bottom part of the bowl is miscellaneous leaves with not much going on. At center is the pup I found buried in the Haworthia Cooperii pot I received yesterday. The white-tipped shoots below that and on the left edge also are from that pot. I'm letting those dry out and will plant them in 2-inch pots in a few days. The variegated square fell off of a Crassula perforata variegata about 10 days ago and I hope it eventually sends out roots. Nothing yet.

To the right is a 4-inch pot with String of Bananas pieces I got from my nephew. I think there are some little roots developing and I'm trying to keep those nodes in contact with the soil.

At lower right is a small bowl with three more Little Jewel leaves and one other random one. All are developing roots so I gave them their own bowl.

In the rectangular plastic tray are, from left, a piece of the Crassula Capitella Campfire that wasn't rooted well in the main pot, an unknown leaf that is sprouting, the jade cutting that finally seems to be developing roots, a cutting from one of my nephew's larger plants that has a little plant developing on the end, and the small pup from the Haworthia Cooperii that I divided today.

The leaves do not need water. If they root and produce a little plant, they get their moisture and nutrition from the leaf until it is shriveled up. After I took this photo I did spritz the jade cutting, the Crassula plant, and the String of Bananas. The first two are plants, not leaves, and the last one doesn't have thick leaves to draw from. I think the little roots growing from each of them would like to find at least a little bit of moisture. My theory, it might be totally wrong.

As mentioned, I want to put the Bonsai pot into production with real plants, so I 3D printed two small trays to hold the 2-inch pots and transferred all the leaves to the rectangular tray, without soil. I get all my succulent information (or a lot of it) from Australian YouTubers, and Kat @SucculentGrowingTips says the soil is not necessary at this stage. She waits until both roots and tiny leaves develop before putting them in soil, and only one of mine meets that criteria now (upper right in the rectangular tray). If some of these plants keep developing, they might end up in the bonsai bowl for real, although if I rely just on what is shown here it might lean heavily toward Little Jewel propagations.