succulents

23/04/2023

Today I repotted all my succulents and potted all the baby plants that had propagated. It was long overdue. I hadn't touched my plants in... at least several months...

Not pictured are the two Sansevieria (snake plants) that unfortunately didn't survive that neglect water-wise, and the Lithops (rock plant) that didn't survive the lack of sun. It's a shame. I started with one Sansivieria that grew so well I divided it into two last year. But I don't think I could have done anything about the Lithops. Its life was spent being very leggy.

Lucky for me and them, the rest of my plants barely have needs!

These are the bigger succulents. The purple one ("Perle von Nürnberg") and the straight-leaf blue ones ("Tolimanensis", I think) are nearly six years old. They started as two 2-inch plants and were my first houseplants. The Tolimanensis propagates very well.

Maybe I should have rotated some pots so the plants didn't all list the same way. Since I neglected them for so long, they were all leaning towards the sun. I'll turn them on the windowsill so they'll straighten out with time.

Echeveria elegans x gibbiflora "Perle von Nürnberg"
This one is very charming. It started out as a neat little rosette, but it's always wanted more sun so it tends to get leggy. I removed a lot of stem. I hope it will root well.

Other than the legginess, its colouring suggests it's doing alright. If it gets too little light it becomes more green. The lower leaves aren't as bright but the upper ones are nice and purple.

Whenever I've knocked a leaf off I've tried to propagate it. It's never worked with this one. Maybe sometime I'll try properly...

Echeveria haagai "Tolimanensis" (?)
This one propagates very well. I started with one and now I have more than 40. Any lost leaf will grow roots. And it roots very well compared to the others.

I'm not certain it's a Tolimanensis. I don't think it was labelled when I bought it. But that's is my best guess. It's always been tall and never a rosette.

The plant pot came from a garage sale. It's labelled "W. Germany" underneath.

Cotyledon undulata or Silver Crown
The white coating on all of my succulents is called farina. It prevents the leaves becoming sunburnt and makes them water-resistant. Water-resistance is good because water left on the leaves can cause them to rot. It's why you should water the succulent's soil and not the leaves. The farina is easily rubbed off, but it will grow back.

The edges of the leaves are meant to be wrinkly, but the flats of the leaves are not. That's from dehydration. Hopefully it will improve now.

I've never tried to propagate this Silver Crown from a leaf, but it got big enough that I divided it into four. The fourth stem was very badly formed (so dehydrated...) so I decided not to keep it. I was running out of pots.

These are the baby succulents I ended up keeping. They're all Tolimanensis, because they're the only ones that would survive being left for months. Some of them still look leggy enough to divide... I don't have the pots for that right now, but I'm giving all these tubs to other people! So it will be up to them.

Now that I'm making an effort I think I'll water the succulents every month and see how it goes. The little ones (while I have them) might need more. In winter, you can leave them for months at a time. Luckily.

I also planted 20 French marigold "Orange Boy" seeds. I've never tried to grow anything from seed before. It said on their packet they need full sun... but then so do most succulents. And mine do alright. If they struggle, maybe I'll consider getting a grow light. My Perle von Nürnberg would probably appreciate it too.