I usually just bury the end of the leaf and lean it up against the side of the container, if it is a large leaf. I usually don't stick them straight down as you have. You could pull on them gently and see if they pull out easily meaning they aren't rooted.

responded to this yesterday, guess I only previewed the message. anyway, they are rooted. should I get them closer to the surface or just leave them and be patient. no promising the patience.

I would lift them up and lay them flat on the top, covering the roots and base with mix...just my opinion.

at this point I wouldn't mess with them. any roots will be broken if you move it...my opinion ;-)

I appreciate your opinion and an excuse to do what I wanted to ;)

bah, too late laura. thank you though. at this rate I am going to go buy a jade tree or five tomorrow anyway.

I've accidentally tipped over trays of leaves like that and they are pretty tough. If they aren't already rotting, moving them around doesn't seem to bother. Just laying on the surface, much less likely to rot vs. stuck vertically like that. Also, like you said, it's boring, you can't see anything happening.

The roots and the new baby leaves grow out of the same spot ... if you bury it, how can the baby leaves sprout? You're giving it a lot of extra work, trying to get leaves to the surface before they're smothered. I just set the leaf on the soil, and wait until there's roots and baby leaves, then gently move a little soil onto the roots.

Here's a couple of little gollums, maybe two months along.

Thanks Danielle for clearing that up. I was wondering how new baby growth could form if you stick the end of it in the soil. They say to do it after it has roots but I assume it the end of the leaf is close to the soil then it will just root that way.

The baby new growth will just push itself up through the soil, it's not a problem.

I do as Biker Doc does, just set my leaves standing up around the outer edges of the pot (so they can lean against the edge of the pot), w/ just the stem end stuck a bit down into the mix. It works just fine.

I was cleaning up one of my potted plants and I found that one of the cuttings have rooted. It was just laying flat on top of the soil and it produced roots. It was like an accidental success since I have forgotten about that cutting - it is also my first successful rooting >Anyway, should I leave the cutting there or bury it in soil or put some soil on the roots??
Do I start watering it? If yes, how often??

Thanks!