aztcqn

Yes, very different here, but others in similar climate grows them well...

My succulents are indoors whole winter long, under supplemental lights - yes, I am sure not enough light but that's all I can supply. It goes outside as soon as weather permits.

I watered 'as needed' - 1x/week or less, also checking moisture with a wooden skewer. That pot is glazed just top half, and has drainage. Potting mix contains little soil, turface, perlite and grit. I didn't fertilize at all. Temps were just around 50F during winter.

I was adviced before to water more, I did in warmer months (last summer & fall). It looked similar; but I didn't take it out to see the roots.

When outdoors, it usually sits under taller plants so it gets dappled sun. On occasion leaves start darkening - I put it into little more shaded spot.

I am thinking of cleaning the roots, trimming off dead ones and shrivelled leaves. Perhaps will separate the individual stems, and pot them up. I can try terracotta pot. It will go outside after that. Every stem has some short 'bumps'-roots just below leaves, so maybe they will grow (I have circled the visible ones):

These kind of haws are not working for me at all...(few attenuatas I have grow like crazy!)

Thnx, Rina

My sense is the take up of water by the plant and watering intervals is not quite synchronized. They do want to grow judging from the baby rootlets on the plants.
Well, for me it's just easier to care for when in porous pots. I used to have rampant rot on all my orchids AND cactus even in a dry climate. I guess you could see by checking beyond surface of the mix.

If I grow in glazed it's imperative that watering is adjusted to the drying time which is almost twice as long that in clay. The other problem is the top dries out while the center remains moist too long in mix with more organic in it than in-organics, which is in my case. I tend to think this is much more important with epiphytes and xeriphytes in pots, but, practice the idea for plants that grow natively in dryer climates as well...

It may be worth a try to see if clay works with your culture program.

Keep us posted.

Rina, I'm sorry to hear that your Haws are a hot mess. I never gave mine any direct sunlight ever since I started this post, and the leaves are still plump and full. I don't know what my next step should be, slowly water to wake it up? But the warmer weather is now here, and I believe the plant wants to go to sleep and shut down now.

I see one pup on the inside just shriveled into some brown crisp now.

Azt/Andy - Any thoughts?

I think some are just more finicky than others, and will react poorly to even the slightest error in watering. My understanding is that these guys want more water in winter, less in summer, and that's how I've been growing. More importantly, though, they want light. A whole lot of light. The one I took out of the windowsill to keep on my desk, 4 feet away, became etiolated pretty quickly. It's back in the sun!

I'm in NYC, and mine are still green and plump, but I'm already not watering as often as I usually do through the winter, which is every 5-7 days. Only one (I have maybe 9 or so, from the same mother plant, it looks like a H. retusa of some kind) is showing signs of going dormant. By the end of August, most will be dark and collapsed-looking. By October, fat and green again.

I posted photos in an older thread here.

Thanks for sharing your Haws Dannie.

Honestly, I just can't figure out what my Haws really wants. It's just sitting on my coffee table, we just filtered light into the living room, but it's very brief. Do you think I should test it limits and give it some water? It's been exactly 3 weeks now..

It looks pretty happy ... does it feel soft at all? I really don't know what to tell you! My instinct would be to water a little. But since it looks like it's doing fine ... maybe no! This is not the most helpful post. :/

I started really growing haws late last year since I found out they're the most suited for my North-west windowstill gardening. It has always been getting the shade treatment naturally, but with bright indirect light. Also sometimes I would move them under grow lights to try it out. Some people grow Haws outdoor and "stress" them to get some colours, for me I prefer the greener look of most of the Haworthia, even a bit of sun from my windowsill turns a few of my Haws slightly red/brown, so I think they are really best suited in shade.

Dannie - the leaves are plump and full. In fact the last time I watered, it's so full that a leaf cracked. But I just noticed the mother plant killed a pup in the center, completely toasted. That's why I'm worried about watering it now.

David - I prefer my haw looking green with it's foilage too. Never thought of putting it under my grow lights. What's your take on the watering? Go or no go, my instincts are telling me it has stopped growing due to the heat.

It seems like they're still not fully awaken from dormancy yet, once a week watering sounds about right if you have gritty mix or something similar. They should plump up after few waterings if they're really awake. I found a method to plump them up from a different forum, cut half of a water bottle (opening has to be large enough to cover the whole plant of course) and use the top half to cover the plant, making a small greenhouse-like effect and mist your haws every other day. I mist the plants and on the wall of the bottles to intensify the moisture. This has worked for many others and mine has been looking fine these days too (I don't use this method for all of them, mostly for ones that are windowed). Another thing I do if I don't use the greenhouse method is just to mist them every other day on the leaves and top inch of the soil or even just around the plants, again to keep the moisture around without wetting the roots too much.

David - Your Haworthia are so nice and green! That truncata is also going to bloom soon too. =)

Bernard - My suggestion is perhaps opposite, to some extent. Have you tried bottom watering? I have found that it gives roots a longer chance to absorb water with gritty mix (mine is fairly lean).

For my plants that are really dehydrated or having trouble keeping up, I think it also gives the turface and bark more time to absorb water too (for subsequent days).

Bernard, one thing I am sure of is that you will end up with probably twice the number of haworthia you have now, since they are almost perfect for our climate in the Northeast. So, on your next batch of six thousand different kinds, pay attention to the kind of roots they have. Some haworthias have fat, fleshy roots. You can grow these with no problem in gritty mix (I grow mine in pure pumice). Others have the same fleshy roots but with more fine, hair-like subsidiaries. These will need a small amount of fine particulates in the substrate (I also use pumice for these, except unsifted). This makes it easier for me to water them at the same time (i.e once a week in spring and autumn; then maybe once ever two to three weeks in the shade in high summer, once a month in winter).

I had a H. dielsiana that kept throwing a tantrum. The b*tch wanted a lot of water but did not want to be wet for more than 8 seconds. Grr. It finally settled down after I planted it in an orchid pot (the kind with holes on the side) that allowed the substrate to dry out even faster than terracota pots.

If any of your haworthias stop taking water even after you water them, this usually means their roots are troubled. Let them dry out for a week then resume watering with a spray bottle this time, spray-watering (jet, not mist) the soil towards the center and only once a week. Another technique that you can do to that particular plant is to water only around the edges of the pot. Don't be tempted to water more often than once a week. If that was my plant, I'd water even less until I see it improve. If that is H. mutica or retusa, moreover, it will have fallen into a coma in our summer whereas other species will only be half-asleep.

Do not be afraid to unpot a haworthia. Most of the time, the problematic ones need cleaning anyway, to remove the dead fungus food of a root mass underneath.

Cheers.

Pagan

Pagan - I wish my Haws can multiply as quickly as you mentioned it. Haws just don't seem to love me, perhaps I have a really heavy watering hand. I believe you are spot on in regards to the condition of the plant. I believe the roots are taking its time to settle in, how long does your Haw take to show signs of recovery? My retusa was definitely in a coma during the summer, as I had never watered it for 4 months straight - and the leaves remained plump and full. Until now, this is the first time I've seen the plant shriveling so drastically. The roots of my haws are definitely fleshy, and as you can see, some white tiny baby root growth pointing out. I'll take your advise and water it with the jet spray towards the center. Is 1 - 2 jets sufficient?

Your retusa probably woke up expecting water. This is normal. I water them once then wait a couple of weeks to see what they will do. If nothing bad happens, I water again at the end of those two weeks. From then on I water weekly until winter. For the problematic ones, typically, it will take about a month of careful watering in spring or autumn for haworthias to plump up, indicating that even if they lost their roots, new ones have come out. I babysit them for a couple of months more until I see new growth, then I resume my normal watering schedule. In my substrate and my climate, I water once a week in spring and autumn, but only those in active growth.

Maybe about 6 or 8 jets around the base is your ceiling. Less is better than more. It will get that space moist while the rest of the pot stays relatively dry.

Pagan

Awesome advise Pagan! I'll watch it closely, and send updates again.

I think you could have watered this haworthia through the summer. I re-read some of the earlier posts and perhaps you might have been misled to stop watering the because of a splitting leaf. I think that issue occurred because you were watering daily/every 2 days. Something a bit longer, like 1-2 weeks would probably work better.

I think your haworthia will bounce back since there are signs of root growth. Just keep the watering to once a week.

I definitely watered all my haws through the summer, but depending on how they look I give more/less watering. The Canadian summer didn't put most of them into dormancy so only a few of them received the dormancy treatment. My H. transiens is still recovering from the major root loss, however....

I was scratching my head on the timing for my retusas, cymbiformis and cuspidatas. I've been watering once every one or two weeks, avoiding the centers. They've stayed plump during this frikkin' heatwave here in S. Cali. The retusa had 2 leaves turn brown while plump. Looked like rot. I err on the side of too little in case they are dormant-ish.

A few have loosened from the substrate and some are firmly planted.
How are the Southern Cali growers doing with their window haws in this weather?

Question for Pagan/Howard/Cardio/David
Here's an update on my Haw. As you guys know, this plant has been my bane, and its culture is almost counter intuitive for me, as I grow mostly crassula or echeverias. So help! Right now, it looks like a piece of crispy grass.

I know they color up with more light, but I only just moved in a week ago in my new apt, and I left it on a south east facing window.
I also see some new green growth on one of the plants. I've took Pagan's advice and only watered it every few days, giving it a little bit by bit under the stems. - sometimes weekly when I'm sure the mix is dry..

Should I continue? I wish to achieve its plump appearance as how I had first bought it..

Water that poor thing!!!

Currently, I'm growing mine in plastic pots and pumice in a SE-facing window in MA, without supplemental lights. Previously, I have grown them in a gritty mix of turface and granite grit (1:1), and turface, granite grit, and bark (1:1:1). They have also previously been in glazed terracotta pots and placed on a West-facing windowsill (1 yr) and an East-facing windowsill (1 yr). In any combination of pots, potting medium, and window direction, I have always watered them about once a week, year round - full drench under the kitchen faucet. On occasion it stretches to 1.5 or 2 weeks if I'm away. Most of the time I also add in Foliage Pro (probably 80% of the time, where the 20% is when I'm just too lazy). I should mention this is how I used to grow my jades.

I'm not sure if sharing my growing habits will help, but that is what has worked for me. Perhaps you just have a really finicky specimen and should start with a different one? Or maybe it suffered from some cold damage if you had just moved to a new apt?

Cardio -- some culture notes definitely helps.

Mine grow without any supplemental lights and sits by the windowsills doing its thing. I've stopped watering it by completely drenching the soil since the last post where you and Pagan advised on giving it spritz or sips in higher frequency near the root, to encourage more root growth.

Should I increase the frequency or amounts of water this time?

I believe this guy is just a regular Haw retusa, it's probably trying really hard to establish itself since there were few roots during repotting. I would really hate to let this one go, as clearly it's still holding on.

I don't think it suffered any cold damage, all my plants were moved in groups via the car, and they didn't really sit in any freezing temps.

Any tips on next steps?

Breton, would you suggest deep soaking the pot?

I just went through the thread and wanted to clarify that I never recommended watering with via spritz or sips. From the photos it just looks like it really needs to be watered.

Ok noted!

Alright, this guy will get some dipping tonight. I propagated an offset from it, and apparently it grows very thinly too, but root growths seems vigorous. Will snap pics when I get home.

Yes, I would give it a good soaking ASAP. Small sips of water are generally not recommended, when you need to water a plant, give it a good drenching. Unless of course you are trying to wake up a fussy Cono or something...

the brownish colour of your plant is also indicative of stress..

Also agree on the deep soaking. Had a lot of trouble (for months) with my H. retusa until I started doing that.

Mine is in no special mix and looks like this. Don't put much thought into it. Again, Bernard, seems to me you make things harder than they have to be. Just my opinion, and I hope your plant comes back for you.

Christopher

Hi Bernard!

Your haworthia issue was all the way back in September when they were just emerging from summer dormancy. It's not unusual for them to lose their roots during the hot summer months and grow new ones as it gets cooler. This is when light, frequent and directed spritzing is recommended (check my earlier post). That was basically a re-rooting technique, not regular haworthia care which, in contrast, will be regular watering every one to two weeks during the growth period if grown in pumice. If you are using peat, I have nothing to say since I don't grow anything in peat.

Usually after a month, as I said earlier, they would have grown back some roots and then you should have been able to resume normal watering, i.e. once every 2 weeks in early autumn then once a week and probably less during the deep winter months). This year, winter is a bit mild so I am still watering mine weekly. Usually this time of year, mine would get a drench maybe forthnightly or every three weeks if it is really cold. The only time I stop watering completely is from July to early September.

If this was mine, I'd dig it out again and check the roots, then drench it once and leave it alone for a week. See what it does. Please do not soak; after drenching it, there will be moisture enough in your medium for it to absorb in the next few days. Letting it sit in water is not going to make it absorb it faster, especially if it lost the roots it tried to grow or didn't grow them at all.

Pagan

Hi Pagan, I stuck to your advise as per your previous post on spritzing to encourage root growth. I've begun to give more water each time as time goes by and when the weather gets cooler. I always water until I see it draining from the pot, but never completely drenched the mix or allow it to soak up too much water. As you can see the pot is rather big for the plant, but it's nice, deep and long for it to establish into.

Now that I know this is a technique to encourage root growth instead of regular culture, I completely drenched the soil last night and let it sit in a mini tub for about 5 minutes before I allow it to drain.

Off it goes in front of the mini fan, I believe the windowsill can get very stale air if the window is left closed. Can't possibly open them cause it's too cold out now.

There is no peat in my mix, it's a modified non-organic mix equal parts perlite, grit, growstones (similar to pumice) and turface with about 5-10% of vermiculite.

I didn't dig it up this time though, I'm positive the plant is still growing more of its roots out, as there are active growth coming out from the tip.

Chris - Apparently I was more afraid of rot than underwatering all this while. Nothing too complicated, was just following up on Pagan's advice since the last time we posted. Thanks for sharing your plant, and I'm sure with more moisture coming its way, the plant should come back alive and kicking.

Kevin - Is your mix for this sort of Haw also 50-60% grit and the rest turface and bark?

Breton / Cardio - Thanks for all the tips and watching over this guy, will update again soon!

The plant looks to be begging for a long drink of water. Hold off on yanking it out of the pot again, and just give it some regular, full pour waterings. I've got a bunch of these guys (all from the same parent plant), and they're one of the easiest succulents for me to grow. Don't overthink it!

I'll go against previous offered guidance and say that, in the conditions we grow our haws in (NYC windows, maybe with assistance of lights), you should never go more than two weeks without watering. At least, I never have, and I've never lost one.

My H. retusas don't always go dormant, but if it does change color and shrivel up a bit, I still water deeply. If it doesn't really react to that watering, I'll skip a week, then water deeply again. It's never reacted negatively to being watered, it just doesn't do anything at all when dormant. Plumping and turning back to green tends to happen nearly overnight, usually in September.

As a windowsill grower in our zone, I think that one of the biggest needs of this plant is light. Mine get several hours of full sunlight, and bright light the rest of the day. If it's a retusa, the photo of your plant from September looks as if it's severely etiolated.

Nutshell: more water, more light, stop pulling it out of the pot.

Bernard - Yes, I would say it is. In my Succulents Before and After thread, this particular Haworthia is in the second group of photos. That pot has no top dressing and the soil mix is as it appears.

Pagan - I like to hear different techniques to try and even though our advice was different, it's always good to know other ways. At least if I end up having some failures, I can try an alternate method that will hopefully get me there. =)

Dannie -- good to hear from you again. To back track my reasoning, I didn't water during the summer because the plant clearly was dormant.. The leaves remained plump and full without water for months. It is only during September when I posted again, it started showing signs of etiolation and thirst, that's when it was repotted because it's the beginning of its growth period, and I wanted to know if any roots were suffered during dormancy. Apparently baby roots had poked out, and that's when I took Pagan's advise to spritz it to encourage more root growth.

I must admit, I did neglect this one quite abit.

I'm not overthinking now. Just water, under lights and see if it bounces back.

Nice Kevin, I would have thought Haw goes into a less gritter mix because of their tap roots, perhaps you water them more often, that's why they are growing so great.

I guess with indoor plants, I'm not sure a plant is ever 100% dormant. Length of day may cause some changes, but I couldn't imagine not watering any of my indoor plants for months without it taking a fairly severe toll.

I've given away most of my extras, but I have two smaller plants plus the parent in the window. I changed their exposure last fall, and they did not change color or go dormant at all this summer. One of the little guys is super crowded, so I'll pinching them off and rooting more pups in the next week or so. I find the whole plant suffers if I don't make some more room every now and again.

Little guy #1

Little guy #2

Parent plant

Kev--Oh I just like digging up the little buggers when they are
problematic because I have no patience for guesswork. It has always
paid off because, although there are general principles for how to not
kill haworthias, there is a finer texture in their care that I bet
you've also noticed. There are outliers that just won't stop with the
tantrums. I prefer to put up with a hectic first year and totally geek
out on process if it means the next ten years will be simple but successful.
So don't worry, Bernard, it will get easier once you've figured this one out. If you think haworthias hate you, get a pot of gardenias. Or those frilly things, I'll get back to you when I remember what they're called. But you don't know plant hate until you've killed several gardenias lol

And, (totally out of topic!!) I have to point this
out, I can not help it. You know how the brain sometimes reads words but
registers something different? This is very common when the brain does a
quick scan of a text and encounters an unfamiliar word or name. For
instance, we all know "schwarzenegger" when we see it in print but my
brain just says "washenegger" or "Calabi-Yau" and my brain translates
that into "squash" (long story).

I see "bernardyjh" and my brain reads "benadryl" lol

Yours in streams,

Pagan

Dannie -- I went to check on it this morning.. It's not perking up ^-~

But! The new growth from the center looked more prominent now. Perhaps a few more fully flushed watering session might wake it back up. Perhaps I might take Pagan's advise again to dig it up to see the conditions of those roots.

You have a very nice cluster of Haws there!

I don't know, my apartment was incredibly warm during the summer. No AC, to a point I needed to keep a fan on so the plants won't wilt in the trapped and stale humid heat. The funny thing is the plant remained plump for the whole summer months, only started showing signs of thirst when the cool air started blowing in Sep.

Pagan -- Can't you see? My full name is Diphenhydramine Benadryl! Haha, so honored to have a drug named after me. Anyways jokes aside.. I will take your advise in pulling this fussy bugger out if nothing improves over the next week.

Bernard

I have fallen in love with these little buggers, my plants are all under lights now, I have the Haws on the outside edge and they seem to be happy, I had them in the middle of the lights, and they definitely showed stress within a couple days, I have one that is barely recovering. It's the last one. It was really affected by the lights being too strong.

I also have these Haworthia, I love the shapes,

Loretta, Thanks for sharing your Haws. They are exceptionally beautiful!

Here's an update on my once crispy Haworthia.. it's funny that the newer leaves grow out instead of the older drier leaves plumping up.. I brought it away from the window and tucked in a corner with some shadowed light. I really enjoy the green it produces.

I initially watered about every 2-3 days, then now 4-5. I noticed this guy generally likes a bit more water, but I'm still afraid of overwatering it. I guess it will take a while until it establishes its roots in such a big pot.

Here's a small pup that fall off when I first repotted the mother plant, it's doing seemingly better than the mother plant itself..

Bernard

It is looking better - I have similar experience with haws, seems that they like little more water that I was giving them.
Rina

Gosh you all have some fabulous Haws!!!! Makes me regret the few I gave away yrs. ago. I'd collected some columnar ones like the Reinwartdtii types. Perhaps I need to move out my Kalanchoes & move in more Haws, hum...

I wonder Bernard, could this be the same plant? Yours is certainly looking better. I struggled for a while w/ it briefly, but then it settled down. Has even started clumping pups, does yours do this? This grows in a west window gets watered when I think of it, maybe every 10 days to 2 wks, depending.

Just for good measure, a pup of H limiifolia which is just starting to show its spiral. This is one of my longtime favorites plants, an adult one can be really beautiful, I regard it as living sculpture.

I had a haworthia that I had kept outside in full sun (South-Facing balcony). It turned completely brown. I brought it inside to shield it from the rain for two days, and boom, it turned right back to green. Experimented by putting it back outside for a few days, it turned brown again, brought it back in, and boom, lush green three days later. Mine obviously prefers bright shade :)

britney

Where did you get the ID from?

Britney, that's not a Haworthia. Looks like Aloe Mini Belle.

Thanks guys, I try to ID most of my plants through internet searches... It comes as no surprise to me that I made a mistake. Thanks for the information!

Np Britney, they often come with wrong name tags...

Help please! Naughty cat mutilated my beautiful cymbiformis last night. Yesterday I had noticed the little guy was almost filling the pot and was growing well and healthy looking. Planned on watering today.

just got having had hardly any sleep and am pre coffee so please excuse.

Anyway, saw something on floor ( wear glasses and they weren't on yet) as heading for coffee machine.

CYMBIFORMIS HAS BEEN MUTILATED! The soil was bone dry and don't know if should water or wait. don't have experience with this particular plant but it is one of my favorites.

I had moved it to a bottom shelf for shade as get direct sun in winter do to the building I live in. But cat can reach.

I am zone 10, South Florida.

Any ideas on help to heal most welcome. Afraid it will be severely scarred .

Thanks, Lisa

Photos Lisa

"the soil is bone dry"- water it lightly. Roots can get too dry causing root loss also. As for the damage, hopefully it will recover, but it will take time. Leaves that are punctured may die off (may not but those wounds look kind of deep). Baby it with out "killing it with kindness".

Oops, just realized this post is from awhile ago- how is the plant now?