Hi Mike, Hope to be of some help here. It may be crowded out of it's pot by the offses, I suggest you take off some of those, so the mother plant will have a chance to recover. Perhaps starting her over taking off the lower leaves and sink her down. We grow ours in morning sun and the row faces East - North in direction, the are grown on a raised flat under the bench. If you have only one plant keep changing it direction monthly. It is normal for it to reach for the sun. Etiolation also comes from too much nitrogen and water. In nature this species grows in very harsh conditions. Does any of this apply to your plant, what kind of soil, pot clay or plastic? What size pot please? Are you in a low light zone? Give the group more information please. Picture wouuld be wonderful, thanks, Norma

Hi Mike,

I can't tell from your zone or Member Page where you live & your climate.

It's unlikely to be etiolation as generally speaking Gasterias are not high light plants like other succulents tend to be. In nature they can be found under the shade of other, larger plants (as true of Haworthias too).

I grow a number of them indoors in NYC & etiolation is not a problem for them w/ me. I'm inclined to think it's something else in the culture/care that's a problem.

Should you choose to re-root it as Norma suggests, I wouldn't pull off the bottom leaves, I'd just set it down into mix or pumice to re-root & DO NOT water it in (or it'll rot & die).

Thank you both for your comments. Now that you mention it Norma, it seems likely that the mother plant has been crowded out by the offsets. There are quite a few in the pot, though I did re-pot the entire clump about a month ago or so. It's in an 8" clay pot, in a coarse mix of gravel, dirt, a little sand, and vermiculite. I don't think I am over watering it or giving it too much nitrogen, since I water it infrequently and have rarely, if ever, fertilized it. In the winter I was growing this plant in east-facing sunlight, but indoors, since I live in Minnesota. I have been growing it in a south-facing window since Spring - it's in the West corner of the window, so it receives morning E-SE light, but not the brunt of mid-day and afternoon sun.

If I divide the clump, remove it, and attempt to re-root the mother plant, will the leaves of the mother plant assume their former, more compact shape? If not, I will divide the clump but not attempt to re-root the mother plant.

Thanks again for your advice.

Mike

Mike: Where are you in Minnesota: I'm growing things here in St. Cloud.

I have six forms (species, varieties or hybrids) of Gasterias here. I actually acquired all of them when I lived in Phoenix from 2003-5 (my wife was not happy about the number of plants that had to come with us!).

Gasterias definitely can get etiolated. But mine actually got etiolated when I was still in Phoenix, and they apparently got too much shade. Here, I keep most of my small cacti and succulents on some plastic shelves in the sun in the backyard, where light can filter through the shelves. Most of the cacti live on the top shelf, and Gasterias, shade Haworthias and dwarf Sansevierias on the second shelf. My Gasterias have gradually become less etiolated here in Minnesota, growing 1-2 short, fat leaves a year and gradually losing the longer, skinnier ones left over from the desert. My theory is that I have somehow arrived at appropriate light levels, and that the short growing season prevents leaves from growing long.

I divided two crowded pot this spring, and noticed that the offsets were etiolated. Perhaps the mother plant would eventually be, if it continued to be crowded. My recommendation would be to remove the pups and see if more space would help, and consider taking the plant outdoors in filtered light.

Hi,

I'm in Minneapolis. Thank you for the suggestions - so, do you think that if I remove the pups and give it some time, the leaves of the mother plant might return to a more normal shape and size?

Mike

Yes, I think so, but I would expect it to take several years. The trick seems to be to give appropriate light when the plant is growing. It doesn't seem to matter as much when the plants are dormant, or at least this is true for most of the ones in cultivation.