I purchased my first succulents around a year ago. I loved the way they looked but had no clue on how to take care of them. Initially, i thought they were just like other plants and i eventually killed them with over watering; they all rotted and it was too late before i found out that that was my problem (apart from not removing the soil they came in).

I stumbled upon this website a few days ago and started browsing through the threads. Armed with new information, I decided to try succulents again! They are just so lovely and seeing them makes me happy. They were so cheap too! I live in the Philippines, i was able to buy the tiny succulents at around 2 dollars for 3 pcs. The bigger ones were around 1 dollar each.

Anyway, i still have some questions regarding the following:

1. The identity of my plants (i think the person selling them just made up names because when i googled the names he gave me, i didn't come up with anything useful). Scientific names as well as common names are welcome.

2. Some of the succulents came in very compact and wet soil, and after reading a lot from this forum, i now know that that is a no no. I transferred them to the medium you see in the photo, and i was wondering if it was ok. It's a mixture of seedling starter, rice husks and stones being sold along the road. Al's gritty mix, cactus soil, pumice or turface isn't readily available here so i decided to experiment. I tested the draining ability of the soil first and it seems to not hold a lot of water so that should be good, right?

3. When i uprooted this certain succulent, i found that the roots were rotting so i chopped it off. I was wondering what a callused stem looks like? It's pretty warm and humid here so it shouldn't take too long to callus right? And i don't have any rooting hormone, is that ok? And do i just plant these buggers as soon as they've callused or do i wait for some roots to show up before i plant them?

All the help you could give would be very much appreciated :)