How To Propagate a Kalanchoe Marmorata

The time has come to do something with my Kalanchoe Marmorata.  I cannot leave it hanging on to dear life by a couple of bamboo sticks.  Tying it to bamboo sticks seemed like a quick solution at first, but looking at it now it looks miserable.  It looks like the sticks are not only holding it upright, but also holding it back from spreading out even further.

Kalanchoe supported by bamboo sticks

Following some advice from Diana from Elephant's Eye, I cut off the stem right where the roots started coming out.  I should have done this a couple of months ago, but it is only now I found the courage to just snip it off.  No matter how many times I trimmed and pruned other plants, the first time with a new plant is always a bit nerve wrecking for me.  

Side view of the cutting - you can see the roots coming out

Front View of the cutting - clean cut

The reason I said I should have cut it months back is that now the plant has spread to two stems right where the roots came out.  This resulted in a very short stem where I cut it off.  In order to make some room for  the stem to be inserted in soil I had to cut off some newly grown leaves.  When I was finished, I had a stem of about three inches long.  This is much less than the original cutting had when I first got it, but since the roots are already out I have a head start so to speak.  

I got a new pot, similar in size to that of the original plant.  There might be a little too much soil for these tiny roots, but since the stems are quite long already I couldn't fit the plant in a smaller container to wait for it to take roots properly.  

Newly cut stem in container

So there it is.  My new cutting from the Kalanchoe Marmorata.  I now have two plants, provided that this one lives, and the other one does not go into shock, and dies on me.  I will not discard the original wooded stem because I have some new unexpected growth there too.

New Growth at the base of the original plant

New Kalanchoe plant in its original spot

I didn't water the plant thoroughly since the roots are still very small, and I didn't want to risk getting root rot, as the soil will take ages to dry.  I only watered it to about two inches down (roughly).  I placed the new plant in its original spot, so I don't disturb its usual dose of daily afternoon sunlight and shade.   I'll give it a couple of weeks test, hopefully it will make a full recovery, and I'll see more growth soon.

Update:

Just five days later I can see now that the leaves are beginning to speckle.  The leaves are becoming more wrinkled to the touch, its as if the plant has grown older overnight.

Kalanchoe Five Days Later