How to Propagate a Euphorbia Trigona (African Milk Tree)

A few months ago I needed to repot and thin out my Euphorbia Trigona. I intended to propagate the cuttings that I had trimmed at the time. While I stuck them in soil a while ago, I just recently checked for roots and we have some, so now it's time to document the process for you. Follow along to learn how to propagate a Euphorbia Trigona.

About Euphorbia Trigona

Really quickly, a little background on Euphorbia Trigona. They also go by African Milk Tree. The sap, or "milk," is caustic. You do not want to let it touch your skin. I have been burned because I'm too careless, and let me tell you it wasn't fun. My skin was red and it was irritated for several days. Enough of the warnings though, Euphorbia Triginas are one of my favorite plants. They grow rather quickly and are incredibly low maintenance as long as you have adequate light for them. It's no wonder why people want to know how to propagate Euphorbia Trigonas.

Euphorbia Trigona Cuttings

To start, you need some Euphorbia Trigona cuttings. You may get some from a friend. You might purchase some. Or, you might have one that needs a haircut. Mine needed a trim, and I also wanted to get a pot going in my greenhouse.

As you can see you might require some protective tools to gather your cuttings yourself! If you're looking at what I have just note I abandoned the x-acto knife for a bigger kitchen knife. I ended up taking five cuttings in total. If you are taking fresh Euphorbia Trigona cuttings, then you need to let them callous over for at least a week. This means let them sit out in the air preferably with the cut end not touching anything. Do not worry about your cutting drying out. It will take waaaaay longer than you think for these cuttings to completely dry out.

How to Propagate Euphorbia Trigona

Before you start to propagate your Euphorbia Trigona, you'll want to have your supplies ready. You definitely need a soil mix suitable for succulents and a pot to put your cutting into. I recommend terracotta for most succulents. It's extremely porous and will let your soil dry out, which Euphorbia Trigonas like.

I personally like using some good leather garden gloves to pot up my Euphorbia Trigona cuttings. You're going to be handling them quite a bit, so it's worth it. I also like to use rooting hormone. It's supposed to stimulate root formation.

Soil Mix for Euphorbia Trigona

You want a really well-draining soil mix for your Euphorbia Trigona Cuttings. For propagation, I go with extra drainage. I use regular potting soil and mix in perlite for the added drainage. The ratio for propagating a cutting should be one to one. You do not want much moisture hanging around your cuttings, that is how they rot.

Pot Up your Euphorbia Trigona Cuttings

Wet the end of your Euphorbia Trigona cutting and lightly dust it with rooting hormone. The ends should be calloused over, not a fresh cutting. Next, fill in your new pot with the soil mix you made. You may want to lightly wet the soil with a spray bottle if it is very dry. Then just stick your cuttings in. Try to plant it no more than an inch below the soil. Planting too deep may make your cutting more susceptible to rot. If you have a particularly tall cutting, then you might need to use something to keep it proper up like chopsticks, or keep it close to something it can lean on.

How to Care for a Euphorbia Trigona Propagation

Ideally, you keep the soil lightly moist. That usually means you need to spray the soil with a spray bottle every day. This will get your Euphorbia Trigona propagated most quickly. Euphorbia Trigonas can be propagated in sunlight and in some cases that might help with heat. In my experience, they also require some heat to propagate well, nothing more than your normal indoor temperatures though.

How Long Does it Take to Propagate a Euphorbia Trigona

It depends on so many factors as you can see above. You may get some good roots going as soon as two weeks, or it could take much longer. The good news is Euphorbia Trigona cuttings can survive a long time without roots, like many months.

As you can see above I have only rooted one of my Euphorbia Trigona cuttings from this batch. None of the other cuttings look any worse for the wear and it's been two months. My problem this time around was trying to root in my greenhouse. I put the cuttings in there right as the weather has started to cool down and that just doesn't work for propagation.

There you have it. That's all you need to propagate Euphorbia Trigonas. If you have your own tips or questions leave them in the comments.