Does the jar even have a drain hole? Gee, how odd that some shops sell the plants that way. "Guaranteed for 6 months"? What do they mean!? That it will probably die afterwards? Ha ha.. silly shops..

Is the plant root-bound? Do you see a mess of roots through whatever compost it's in?

I am not an expert at all but I am pretty sure you need to get that baby out of there and potted in a proper pot with drain holes.. I also am pretty sure you will be advised to get a proper gritty mix instead of using something so moisture-retentive..

As to HOW to remove it.. I would try to gently hold the plant at the base (under the lowest row of leaves) and gently wiggle to see if it has any give.. I would also stick a small popsicle stick in (like the Starbucks coffee stirrers) and see if I can pry it looser.. Have you tried that? (EDIT - please try not to break any roots or the stem haha.. if leaves fall, don't worry about it.. you can try to propagate them, I heard)..

I am pretty sure sooner or later that someone can chime in and help. Like I said, I'm no expert but I just wanted to post something so your thread is not lonely. Good luck!

Zsofia

Welcome to this forum and growing succulents :)

You are correct in wanting plant out of the jar. It has no drainage hole. If potted in moss, that is all wrong for succulent. Interesting that it is guaranteed for 6mo...

In the long run, even if some bottom leaves get broken, it is less damage than could be leaving plant as is. Try to just shake it out - if the potting medium is as loose as it seems to you, it may all come out. Maybe use something thin like knife (or a bamboo skewer/chopstick) to loosen up the soil around the edges little.

In worst case scenario, just break the jar - put lots of newspaper or some old rags over it and try to hit the lower part, wearing some gloves. Breaking it in just few pieces should be enough.

If possible, get a well draining mix together ahead of time, and a container with drainage holes. It doesn't need very big pot.

If you could get some grit and perlite or pumice or scoria and/or turface, few of these will make very good mix. I use self-made mix of grit+perlite+turface. If you can't get something similar, at least get a bag of perlite and mix it with potting 'compost' (are you in UK?) in 50/50 ratio. It would be better than mossy stuff it is in now.

Yes, the coating on the leaves will rub off if handled and doesn't come back (it is there to protect the plant in the wild). Some handling is unavoidable, maybe try to touch lowest leaves that will be first ones to naturally die as plant grows.

The name seems to be correct. The plant will retain the nice purplish coloring, even gets little darker, if receiving enough sunlight. Make sure it is acclimatized to outdoors light in order not to get sunburn.

What you need:

1. thin strip of cotton fabric ----maybe about 2 to 3 inches wide and just long enough to to wrap around the bottle with a knot. Or cotton yarn.

2. denatured alcohol or vodka. Rhum smells best, but that's not really the point.

3. lighter

4. tap hammer

5. kitchen baking gloves or similar protective gear.

Twist the cloth a bit and dip in denatured alcohol. Wrap around the bottle firmly, about halfway. Check if the cloth is wet enough with denatured alcohol then light it. It will burn blue. When the alcohol is just about to burn out, tap the bottom of the glass. It will clink and fall off.

Now that you've read that, watch this before trying it. You should probably do the bowl of ice water bit, too.

Or just leave it in there, enjoy for maybe three months. The next three months of this so-called guarantee will be spent descending from one level of plant misery to the next until this echevaria is most definitely dead.

Pagan

P.S. rina: you type faster lol

Pagan, lol... but you offered 'fancier' way of cutting glass jar than me with the hammer :)

Roll the glass in the paper of yesterday and smash it with a hammer.Your plant will not be damaged.

harry

Well, Rina. Now I realize how fancy it sounds. But it really isn't! And it's a useful skill. And she won't have shards of glass to deal with after. And I like the clink. There's really nothing else lol

is it disproportionate that I want to shave the heads of the people who sell these things?

Pagan, lol...

I have read about that method (for making light fixtures out of bottles and similar) but never tried - does it really work that well?

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

I wanted to avoid methods involving fire if possible, because (even though it looks awesome!) I tend to be quite clumsy, and that could have ended very nastily. I tried to gently shake the plant out by turning it upside down, but the moss was holding it very firmly. So firmly that I couldn't even penetrate it with a stick to try to loosen it up a bit. I ended up putting the jar in a big envelope and smashing it with a hammer.

The plant is now happily sitting in a proper pot with drainage, in a mix of perlite and compost. (I do live in the UK, unfortunately the shipping fees for all those fancy succulent soils from the US are horrifying.) I'm keeping it indoors under a sloped window, but it's out of direct sun in the hottest hours so hopefully it won't get sunburnt.

Thanks for the help again, hopefully the plant will be fine now and I won't need to post again in a long time :)

P.S. I can understand wanting to shave the heads of the people who thought it would be a good idea to sell them in these jars (even though it was a very nice jar, and it's a pity I couldn't remove the plant without breaking it). There were at least three more in the shop, this was the smallest. I feel very tempted to buy the rest of them and "free them" all, but my room is tiny, and I read that the 'Perle von Nürnberg' can grow quite big.

I don't know who first came up with the brilliant idea of putting a succulent in a glass jar, but here in Canada I saw the very same thing. Only here there is an 'ornamental' piece of rope tied around the rim of the jar. Maybe a subconcious idea that the poor plants needs to be rescued?

I blame Pinterest.

The rope probably symbolizes slow suffocation and inevitable death. I don't hate these bottled succulents it as much as I hate succulents and cacti in terrariums, though.

Rina: yes! And pretty soon you'll be asking people for their nice, coloured wine bottles.

Zsofia, most bagged potting soil sold here is crap for succulents anyway.

Pagan

Zsofia

I ask about living in UK because you said 'compost'...we call it potting soil.You can make the 'fancy succulent soil' yourself (I never bought a gram of it). You could buy different ingredients and mix them together. But since you do not have too many succulents, it probably doesn't make sense. Adding lots of perlite (as you say you did) will help.

This echeveria could be in full sun, I just mentioned to move it into it slowly to avoid sunburn.

Rina, as another UK resident I agree there can be a lot of confusion with the two languages. Bagged mixes here are either as you say potting soil, or very often compost. The stuff I make at the bottom of the garden from waste garden/ kitchen products is also compost! My outdoor plants in the garden grow naturally in the surrounding soil, not dirt. Dirt is waste stuff like what we sweep up from the drive! My house is surrounded on all four sides by my gardens, not by my yard. My yard is the paved area or patio! All very confusing eh?

Best of all its so hot here at the moment I'm gardening in my flip flops., ie toe post sandals...which on my visits to Oz I learnt rather quickly that they are called thongs over there....now thongs here in the UK are something very, very different!

Gill UK

Gill, yes, same language but some different meanings...I learned about some (gardening related) here. I dislike :) when ppl say dirt - but I guess that's what is often commonly used. I prefer soil. And yes about the 'thongs', lol. Would be interesting if we gardened in thongs...

Imagine the confusion for somebody whose mother tongue is not english... =D

FYI in England Graham Potter is a bonsai master, and his site, kaizenbonsai, sells soil mixes meant for bonsai but are very good generally for succulents. Since many in the bonsai world are interested in fast growth, they like a fast wet-dry cycle to speed up root development. Thus a soil that drains fast enough to require watering of trees multiple times a day in hot weather is more the rule these days. Anyway, check out the mixes he sells and the descriptions of them.

ez

I garden in thongs lol

I think my English is pretty damn good. But I keep getting tripped by idioms and expressions like knock on, knock up, knock out, knock down--each of which have different consequences! I kept laughing sporadically for about a week when I first heard the expression "one ant short of a picnic" from my mother in law. I kept thinking about the ant asking for directions to the picnic.

I'm not a native speaker so I say things like "I am conversant in both British and American."

For instance, we definitely have a garbage bin, not a trash can. I definitely plant things in the soil, not in the dirt which is the stuff you get on your face after rummaging through the attic. On the other hand, I take the elevator, not the lift to my apartment, not my flat. Nevertheless--and this should make sense---I go to the comfort room for bladder evac, not to the water closet or the bathroom, both of which sound like they have nothing to do with my bladder.

Pagan

P.S. If there was a threadjacking line there somewhere, I think I just crossed and spat on it lol. Apologies to the OP!

Yes I too must apologise! Sorry Zsofia :-)

Gill

Gill and Pagan: Thanks for the laughs.

Rina: I also despise it when people say dirt. Soil is the right word for me

No worries, I enjoy reading conversations like this too, I've just been a little busy this past few days.

The plant is still alive and I don't currently have any questions about it, I just don't know if I need to somehow close this conversation or mark the question as answered or anything.

I admit I'm a Pinterest person myself... They do have a lot of ideas about decorating with succulents. Thanks for the warning, Pagan, I never realised that the succulent terrarium was a bad idea. Is that just because terrariums don't usually have drainage holes? I read on some pages that you can use containers without a drainage hole too, as long as you have activated charcoal and stones at the bottom. I don't quite want to risk that yet though, I'm just happy if I can keep this one alive with the Difficulty Level set on Easy.

Terrariums also keep in a lot of moisture (it is very humid). They also do not have the drainage holes. Rocks on the bottom won't help.

yes, they should be considered short term - decorative only. For long term of any succulent, container with drainage hole and free draining potting medium is best. And lots of light.

Charcoal will only mask the smell of rotting roots & soil - which will eventually happen. Rocks on the bottom won't help - excess water still has no place to go (sits there, and it could start smelling - that's why they recommend charcoal...)