Are you enjoying life from seedling yet?!
You might be wondering about this rather sudden opening—actually, two years ago I wrote a column all about growing Agave from seed. That article has turned out to be surprisingly popular among PUKUBOOK’s columns, so this time, I thought I’d shine the spotlight on Echeveria, offer a bit of a refresher, and hopefully introduce this whole exciting world to anyone who’s never heard of “growing from seed” before.
Within the gardening world, propagating from seeds is called “misho” (実生) in Japanese. The closest term in English is “seedling” *. Sometimes you’ll even spot “実生” written on nursery labels next to young plants—it means “grown from seed, not from cuttings or leaf propagation.”
* Technically, “seedling” means a young plant that’s sprouted from a seed. The Japanese word “misho” has the same meaning at its core. You’ll also find good search results with terms like “germination” (the scientific word for sprouting) or “seeding” (the gardening term for sowing).
Echeveria are much easier to get your hands on compared to Agave. But what’s so fun or beneficial about growing them from seed?
Seed packets often contain 100 seeds or more. That means, from scratch, you could be raising over a hundred seedlings in a single season! Compared to leaf-propagation, this scale is tough to match.
Even species and rare types that are hardly ever seen in Japan—like cante or other premium cultivars—can be yours with about the same effort. While you might not need a bunch if you just want the rare one, you might as well try raising extra and selling or sharing some via Mercari!
For some varieties, seedlings from seed are more likely than leaf-profits to display individual differences. It’s fun to watch each plant develop its own unique traits.
If you want an advanced challenge, you can even make your own Echeveria seeds. Cross-pollinating different varieties will give you a true one-of-a-kind creation—who knows, you may discover an amazing new Echeveria no one has ever seen before!
In my Agave article, I wrote that seeds are “especially easy and highly recommended,” which means Echeveria are slightly trickier. It’s not so much that Echeveria are “hard,” but they do need a bit more attentive care—those of us on the lazier side should know that skipping steps raises your risk of failure.
Seed size is the number one factor here: they are *seriously tiny*. At first glance, they look just like dust, a single breath could blow them away, and even when sown, it’s impossible to see where they landed.
The key points for success:
1. Use especially fine soil
2. After sowing, don’t water from above (use a bottom-watering method)
3. Don’t let them dry out until they’re big enough
4. Avoid chemical treatments if possible
The ideal germination temperature is 20°C–25°C, just like for Agave. So, March–April or September–October is your best sowing window. (Why write this in August? Because it takes about a month for seeds ordered from overseas to arrive—order now and you’ll hit the perfect season!)
Unlike Agave, you don’t pre-soak the seeds (they’re too tiny and easy to lose). And the sealed glass-jar method isn’t recommended here—the seeds vanish, and the “sealed phase” Echeveria need is much shorter than Agave. are the perfect size and function!) For this method, we’ll use a plastic pot with bottom watering—simple and effective.
Tiny seedlings are super delicate, so harsh environments are a no-go. A bright spot away from direct sunlight and with good airflow is just right—even indoors is fine. As they grow large enough to transplant, gradually give them more sun, then finally, bright direct light as they mature—ease them through these stages as they develop.
If all this sounds complicated, here’s a tip: use an indoor LED light setup. You don’t need specialty equipment—even a baby-leaf LED panel works for a few pots at a time, and when the plants outgrow the space, just move them outside.
The most important thing: choose a fine-grained soil so seeds don’t fall too deep and struggle to sprout. Basically, anything works if it’s fine enough. There are two main options I recommend:
1. A three-layer structure: drainage stone at the bottom, potting mix, plus a fine akadama or kanuma soil top layer
2. Commercial “seed-starting/leaf-propagation” soil
After prepping your soil, line up your pots in a big tray, and pour on plenty of boiling water, covering them with plastic wrap to steam until cooled. You may see books recommending seed sterilization with chemicals, but there’s a high risk of damaging your seedlings with chemicals *, so personally I say skip that step.
* Seriously, I’ve seen seedlings go mushy overnight when treated.
Once cooled, you’re ready to sow. You can change the tray water or leave it as is.
Be extra careful opening the seed packet—they’ll blow away easily. Seeds are usually wrapped in paper—gently unfold, fold it in half diagonally, and tap lightly so seeds fall as evenly as possible onto the soil. It’s hopeless trying to see where they landed; you’ll find out after sprouting!
Keep water levels just below the top of your soil (about 80%) until you see good germination, then reduce to half or even 20%. Keep bottom watering until the seedlings are big enough—don’t let them dry out!
For mold risk and to avoid stuffiness, place seedlings in a breezy spot, and you can even add a fan or air circulator for peace of mind. If mold appears, gently remove just that part. Avoid chemical fungicides—all it takes is one mistake and your young plants melt away.
They don’t need direct sun at this stage—any reasonably bright room will do.
When you see true leaves and the baby is about 1–2cm, you can transplant to a new pot, but waiting longer is also fine—the bigger they are, the less chance of accident during transplant. Smaller seedlings that sprouted late might stay small if left next to large neighbors, so it’s good to “send off” the bigger ones early so the younger ones get their space to grow.
Once big enough to transplant, you can stop bottom watering—but keeping it up often results in stronger growth.
With a little luck, you can reach “mature” size in about six months. Reaching the size you see in shops usually takes 1–2 years.
This advice is based on a grand sample size of one (just my place!), so I’m not sure if these are “common,” but here are goofs I’ve personally made.
Yes, this really happens (lol). For example: you carefully bring the seed paper over to the pot, and by some fluke, it bounces, sending seeds flying. There wasn’t even a sneeze! But don’t give up—sometimes seedlings randomly pop up nearby later. The problem is you won’t know which species you’re looking at, until it grows bigger…
Sure, keep an eye out for mold—but, in my experience, I’ve never really been bothered by mold when germinating Echeveria (maybe because their seeds are so tiny, there’s little risk of mold already being present?). What’s really scary isn’t mold, but the anti-fungal chemicals: I once melted every single seedling by applying fungicide meant to fight mold.
Brand new seedlings, naturally, are more delicate than any mature plant. Just one day of drying out or a few hours’ direct sun can kill or scorch them. For the first few months, check and care for them daily, especially if you’ll be away for a few days (confession: that’s exactly when I tend to lose mine).
Here are some trusted, often-used sources for succulent seeds:
seed stock
A trustworthy Japanese shop specializing in succulent seeds—safe, quick, and you can order even after the season starts. Don't miss their LABORATORY with germination reports and sowing methods.
Kohres ケーレス
The famous German seed specialist. They offer huge variety, and manage everything by scientific name, even local variants—highly respected among enthusiasts. Many of the shop-grown seedlings in Japan likely started with seeds from here. Downsides: bulk orders, and their PayPal system can be tricky…
Confession time: I used to avoid growing too many plants from seed (so much for “Are you enjoying it?” at the top, right?), so the types germinating for this feature were pretty limited! But my situation has changed recently, and next season I'm looking forward to raising lots more from seed myself.
The techniques I’ve outlined here apply just as well to fine-seeded species like Sedum and Dudleya, and there are still plenty of varieties you’ll never find in Japan, so I hope to hunt down some rare seeds and give it a go!
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