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Cacti & Succulents

Succulent ID and potting

7 years ago

My grandmother's friend recently received this plant as a wedding favor and gifted it to me as she knows I love succulent type plants. The wedding was at the beach, and the fishbowl is very cute (complete with shells), but I'm not sure if the plant will survive well. There is a layer of sand at the top, soil in the middle, and a layer what looks like small blue pebbles. Is my best bet for survival to just repot it in a traditional pot?

ID for this plant and any additional care tips are greatly appreciated! I'm still pretty new to this and eager to learn. Thank you!

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Comments (8)

Ingrida (São Paulo/Brazil)
7 years ago
Crassula ovata HOBBIT ( I think ) :)
socks
7 years ago
Beautiful little plant, pretty wedding favor....and speaking of favors, do this plant a favor and take it out of the glass container! It needs to be in a pot with a drainage hole and will not do well as it is.

Don't put it in an oversized pot and don't over water. As a succulent it stores moisture in it's leaves, so overwatering will kill it. If you want to get proper soil, purchase a cactus & succulent mix and blend it 50/50 with perlite which should be available at nurseries.
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Hey, Guy! I've used about all the methods you mentioned to propagate Kalanchoe cuttings. LOL I really didn't see a lot of difference. But I will say -- please don't use any sand. It tends to compress around the roots and hold too much water. Just not worth the risk. I assume you are in SF Bay area (and not Tampa Bay - yeah, I'm a little snot sometimes) so you won't have to worry about excess moisture blowing in during the summer months. So a potting mix of 50/50 perlite and soil will probably work well for you. I get a lot of rain, so I tend to use an inorganic gritty mix of perlite, turface and granite grit. I can't get pumice here, but you can in CA and it is great. Since these mixes are dry, when I put my cuttings into it I don't wait more than a few hours for the stem to callus. Sometimes I will dip the stem into powder rooting hormone right away and pot it up a little later. As long as I don't water right away I don't worry about rot. After a week I may water a little if the cutting is starting to look dry, but if there are no roots the plant can't take up the water. Some people mist when the plant is dry. When you see new growth, start watering as usual. Here's my original plant with a couple of (etiolated) cuttings started - And like yours, I ended up with woody stems - So I did the cuttings and saved what I could. And they still bloomed! And eventually they grow up - and will probably be woody again soon! LOL Don't ask me why my plants are droopy - like a hanging plant! They always do that and I can't figure out why. I have them outside in partial sun. They fried in full sun for me. But they keep growing and blooming, so I'm happy!
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rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
You are thinking right - not a good environment for succulent. No drainage, sand (even less drainage), deep into a recurved bowl that creates more humidity...good for short time (like giving out wedding favors) but not for long life of succulent.

Looks quite good, so repot soon to continue with nice new growth. Gritty mix in container with drainage holes, do not pot too low/deep inside the pot. Likes lots of light that it was probably in - has that kind of coloring. Crassula ovata Gollum or Skinny fingers...
mango_7
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you for the tips! That was definitely my concern with the bowl. I have potting mix and pots so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Do you have any advice for actually reporting succulents? Rinsing roots, etc?
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Potting mix? Gritty mix would be much better.

Yes, rinse all old soil off.
mango_7
Original Author
7 years ago
Just cactus mix is what I meant! Sorry if my terms are off
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
7 years ago
Using it straight (out of the bag) may not be that great - sadly, even mix marketed for Cacti&Succulents specifically has lots of peat in it and doesn't drain very well. You could add lots of perlite (easy to buy and not expensive), it should be about 50/50. Adding grit to that mixture would be even better.
lmontestella
7 years ago
I wouldn't rinse them, I'd just crumble off all the old mix off w/ my fingers.

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