Which Succulents Are Illegal To Propagate

With a plant patent, you have just purchased the right to utilize that plant. It is not permitted for you to spread it in any form.

You can’t actually take cuttings, trim your patented plant, or propagate it asexually, believe it or not.

However, boosting sexual reproduction, or pollination, would actually increase your earnings.

You see, when plants A and B sexually reproduce, they don’t create more of either plant. It produces plant C.

That is significant in the horticultural industry as well! You have consumed every single gala apple that has ever come from the “same” tree. The original gala tree supplied the branches that were used to graft gala apples onto other apple plants. Because it was pollinated by a blossom that wasn’t a gala apple, if you ever planted a seed from a gala apple it would grow into something similar but distinct from a gala.

All of that may seem convoluted, but the simple version is that pollination results in a completely new plant (which you could patent if you so desired!).

What succulents cannot be multiplied?

Make sure the plant type is suitable for this method of propagation before attempting to propagate a leaf cutting. Leaf cuttings won’t always result in the growth of succulents.

Your leaf propagation may be failing because the plant is the incorrect species or kind, for example.

Succulents that won’t grow from their leaves include:

  • most hens and chicks or Sempervivums
  • most eoniums
  • Agaves
  • Haworthias
  • Plants that grow succulents from their leaves, but it takes too long: Elephant bush, Portulacaria afra, comes in a number of forms and variants.
  • Succulent plants that may grow new leaves, however I’ve never personally witnessed this: Senecio Radicans (String of Bananas), Senecio Peregrinus, and Senecio Rowleyanus (String of Dolphins).

Choosing succulents with thicker leaves is a great, if oversimplified, technique for choosing succulent plants that spread by leaf cuttings. For leaf propagation, these species are typically the best. It is typically best to cultivate succulent plants with thinner leaves using their stem cuttings.

The Weather Or Season May Impact Leaf Rooting

Varied kinds of succulents have different growing seasons and periods of dormancy, much like all other plants. When propagating, keep in mind that the seasons may have a big impact on how quickly they root and thrive. Pay attention to when the plant grows the fastest and when it grows more slowly.

Get leaf cuttings during the plant’s active growing season, which is typically in the spring and early summer months for most succulents but not all, for quicker or better results.

Can you grow succulents of all kinds?

In the spring and summer, when leaves and stems are ready for active growth, it is simplest to propagate succulent leaves and cuttings. Most common succulents can be multiplied successfully from individual leaves or stem fragments.

  • For succulents with fleshy leaves, like jade plants or echeveria and sempervivum rosettes, leaf propagation works well. The leaf must remain intact for the root to take. To loosen the leaf, gently bounce it back and forth while holding it between your forefinger and thumb. After that, carefully separate the leaf from the parent plant, keeping the base in tact.
  • Succulents with distinct stems, including stacked crassulas and spreading or erect sedums, respond well to stem cuttings. Cutting succulents is analogous to propagating soft-stemmed plants. To cut stem tips, use a sharp knife, or take an entire stem to make many starts. Each cutting should be 2 to 3 inches long and have multiple leaves. Only the top two leaves should be kept.

Why does my succulent state that reproduction is forbidden?

It’s simple to believe that a plant you purchase is yours to multiply. Taking cuttings from plants you’ve bought and growing them into new plants is frequently acceptable.

Which succulent is the most difficult to grow?

These are typically the most beautiful succulents available on the market. Despite the fact that we do have several, we don’t have any nice ones, nor would we want to.

Although Compton Carousels and Silver Prince are two of the most exquisite succulents, they are also some of the most challenging to maintain.

A beginner succulent grower combined with a price tag of $20 to $60 for a 2-inch or 4-inch succulent is a recipe for catastrophe. You would be better off literally burning your money.

Customers should be aware that not all hybrid succulents require complicated maintenance. However, some people are VERY sensitive to heat, light, and water.

We discover that not all hybrid succulents are low-maintenance, carefree plants as a result of cross-breeding.

But before purchasing one of these pricey beauties, be sure you understand what you’re getting into. The Compton Carousel appears to thrive in greenhouses. Possess you a greenhouse?

Before adding them into your home or garden collection, it’s crucial to know what temperatures they require, how much sun, how little sun, whether it needs to be filtered, indirect, or in glaring shade, among other things.

What succulent is the most straightforward to grow?

Having a collection of succulents might be most gratifying when you propagate them. You can increase the number of a popular plant in your yard through propagation, swap plants with friends, and even preserve a dying plant. Here are our top ten picks for beginner-friendly succulents.

Sedum rubrotinctum (Pork and Beans or Jelly Beans)

Bright crimson in direct sunlight; green in shadow. This resilient Sedum quickly fills in container gardens and rock gardens. Remove the leaves and place yourself on a damp, well-draining surface.

Echeveria ‘Lola’

one of the most productive Echeveria leaf plants. Both newcomers and seasoned collectors adore the flawlessly round rosette and the pearly pink leaves. They germinate swiftly and successfully spread through leaves in large numbers.

Sedum nussbaumerianum

difficult in dry, warm areas with little water. Easy to grow from leaf or tip cuttings. Before planting in soil, wait for a scab to develop (this takes about a week). This species’ colors and leaf shapes vary widely.

Sempervivum arachnoideum (Cobweb Houseleek)

Fast-growing and yields more offsets than you could possibly use! Plant cuttings directly in damp soil after cutting propagation, and you’ll observe roots forming in approximately a week.

Graptopetalum paraguayense (Ghost Plant)

A stunning hanging rosette succulent that may change color depending on the environment to orange, bronze, pink, and purple. It is quite simple to spread by leaves; you might even notice one growing on its own.

Echeveria colorata

Initially slow, but well worth the wait. Echeveria colorata starts out by producing lovely leaf sprouts with scarlet tips. Before removing the mother leaf from the new plant, wait until it has totally died.

Echeveria lilacina (Ghost Echeveria)

We frequently see the succulent Echeveria lilacina multiplying by itself. By planting leaves gently in soil with their roots down and leaf up, you can prevent the fast curling that occurs with leaves.

Work deserves pay

It takes a lot of effort to select a particular variety and understand how to grow and propagate it, as was previously mentioned. It typically takes years of research to accurately identify and define a specific, rare variety.

The plant’s patent lets the breeder ensure financial security. It serves as a means of “paying back the time, work, and skill. Patents make sure that those who are enthusiastic about developing new plants can genuinely support themselves.

People interested in the topic wouldn’t be able to devote their entire time to it without patents. In order to make a living and provide for their families, they would have to choose another line of work.

Greedy people could profit from their discovery without giving anything back. This is an insult to the time and work that went into developing and choosing the special variety.

Patents can help develop new plants

Professionals in plant breeding and horticulture can profit from creating distinctive plants thanks to patents. They are motivated to create new plants and have the time and money to do so. Indeed, such motivated individuals are exactly where they need to be to develop new species and revenue streams:

  • they pursue their passions
  • They continue to improve at it.
  • and they may support themselves with it.

A maximum period of the patent’s validity is chosen in order to demonstrate that the inventor’s work will advance the general welfare. Anyone may begin propagating the plant and making money from it after that time period has passed.

How can you earn with a plant patent?

You, the patent owner, get to pick who gets to spread the precise variation you created.

  • You can establish a horticulture farm where the plant will be grown, advertised, and sold. You and your group are the only ones permitted to sell that particular plant.
  • You may also authorize others to perform all or a portion of the task in exchange for remuneration. This takes the form of royalties or licensing.

In order to produce, promote, or sell the patented plant, you must pay someone else or some other organization a license fee. They give you a lump sum payment, and it is up to them to make money with it. It could be a shared license, an exclusive license (just them), or anything in between (exclusive for certain time or geographical location).

Royalties are an alternative. Your patented plant will be produced and sold by partners, but they will pay you a commission, or a percentage of the sales.

There is no set rule as to what might occur; everything is continuously being discussed! Typically, a combination of all three is used (self-promotion, licensing, royalties).

Example:

  • The patent holder for the newly created ZZ raven is the Dutch family-owned business Van Winden Erica S.A.
  • They collaborated with Costa Farms, the sole horticultural authorized to cultivate the plant in the US for financial gain.
  • The partners that have secured the right to cultivate the plant in other nations are also permitted to advertise and sell the plant in the US, thus the license for selling isn’t just limited to them.
  • This implies that you can order your Zamioculcas Raven from abroad and have it delivered to your home in the US. However, you cannot sell it or spread it!

Advantages of buying a patented plant

The biggest benefit of buying a patented plant is typically that you won’t be dissatisfied.

A patent suggests the assurance that you will receive what you paid for.

In fact, different settings and growing circumstances were used to test and cultivate plants with patents.

They have been shown to be more vigorous flower/fruit bearers or less susceptible to disease than their parent equivalents, depending on what is advertised.

You’ll be at the top of fashion, as with many other areas where beauty is involved. Buzz is generated by marketing hype, and acquiring fresh, in-demand plants makes one feel more a part of the neighborhood.

  • Last but not least, a patented plant puts the nursery and horticultural store’s reputation in jeopardy. You may occasionally return the plant if there are issues for assistance, a replacement, or a refund.

Which plants can’t be spread?

Asexual propagation is ineffective for some plants, including papaya, marigold, chilli, capsicum, tomato, and others. It is the only way to produce plant genetic variety. Only through this process can new decorative and vegetable crop varieties and cultivars be created.

Taking plant cuttings from a store is it prohibited?

People are coming forward to say they have engaged in “proplifting” and the debate over whether it constitutes a crime is raging online.

The process of taking fallen cuttings or leaves from plants in a store and propagating and growing them at home is referred to by the name.

An image of a sign that was posted to Twitter initially started the lively debate. Although it’s unclear where the sign came from, Cara Sandiego uploaded it on social media on Saturday.

“Proplifting” is defined as picking up dropped succulent leaves (or any other plant leaf) off garden centers’ floors or pinching off leaves and bringing them home to multiply.

New York-based Sandiego captioned the photo, “YOU WOULDN’T DOWNLOAD A PLANT,” which is likely a reference to downloading content from the internet without permission.

People hotly disputed whether the post represents a crime once it was shared, which resulted in the post receiving over 160,000 likes. The post can be seen here.

It negates the purpose of their selling plants, Woopwoop observed. If you can just pick up sprouts and leaves to grow your own for free, why buy them? Why would they sell plants in that case?

“I [100%] grab clippings off every lovely plant I f****** pass, AND YOU KNOW WHAT? Your plants adore that garbage. They are able to fly by spreading their pollen-covered wings. Your money means nothing to flowers. You don’t trust me? Consult the bees. The Cropnapper sincerely, #StealPlants

I don’t see why people are so against this message, WitheringAurora reasoned. Not your property, is it? You don’t go to a store and rip clothing apart, do you? Or cut the arms off of toys and bring them with you?

Pinching leaves is wrong since you harm a plant that someone is going to buy, but if they have already fallen, they are free to be taken, according to Link01.

Meren Iscariot responded, however, saying, “It never ceases to amaze me how shamelessly people sell our inheritance, nature herself, back to us under tight conditions. What’s next, using rainwater to irrigate your garden is considered to be evading water taxes?

And Ben Norris reflected, “The act of stealing plant pieces from the garden center IS robbery. Even growing your own plants can violate a patent.

The phrase and the practice appear to have gained popularity recently; a Reddit community suitably named proplifting is dedicated to those who share their loot.

One man’s trash is another man’s propagation is a subreddit that was created in 2017 and has more than 180,000 subscribers. They’re on to us, read Sandiego’s tweet, which was shared on the website on Tuesday.

According to the captions on the video, they recorded the footage of themselves in what is thought to be California and titled it, “How I walk out of Home Depot with free plants.” They pick up a tradescantia that they describe as having a “broken stem” in the video.

Propagation is a common activity among those with green thumbs and has been done for ages.

An online instruction from Home Depot explains how to propagate succulents the right way. They explained both wet and dry propagation and shared three techniques: offsets, cuttings, and leaf pulling.

The retailer advised, “You may either discard the trimmings into the compost or use them to make more plants.”

However, as Norris notes, some plants are protected by patents, making it illegal for anybody else to cultivate them, including by proplifting.

Anyone who has “invented or discovered and asexually reproduced a different and novel variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state,” according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, is covered by the patent.

Nobody is allowed to “asexually reproduce the plant, and to use, offer for sale, or sell the plant so reproduced, or any of its parts,” according to the patent. These techniques include dividing plants, grafting, budding, and root cuttings.

Even though the method of propagation is not prohibited unless it comes from patented plants, taking unpaid cuttings or dropped leaves from a store could get you into trouble.