Let it root before watering or it may rot. Water when you see signs of growth. Otherwise, sounds like a plan! Good luck!

So only water when I see it popping new leaves? Won't it die before that though?

Rina as always, with a bucketful of good info.

Ok I have done the pruning but I did have to wash it 70% Isopropyl alcohol because I think I spotted some mealy bug eggs in the soil(little brown specs at the base of plant). Whether it is or not, I soaked anyway because it came in a pot with other infected plants.

This Echeveria/Graptoveria was infected along with the Lenophyllum. Had to wash those thoroughly in alcohol.

Here's hoping the little buggers are gone for good. I'll be putting these on the table away from the rest of my plants to keep an eye out for more bugs.

Just don't keep them wet - at least these 2 photos look wet (maybe just a photo?). Did you wash the plants before potting them up? If yes, I would have left them to dry off before planting - the rots - but rubbing alcohol dries up fast. While wet with alcohol, keep out of direct sun.

You probably mentioned already what you use for mix (I don't remember) - but it look very organic to me?

If you suspect they had mealy bugs, it is probably best to get rid of all soil they came in - unless you did; off the plant roots and all in garbage. (Not trying to tell you things you already know).

My mix is Grit, Coir and Rice Hull Charcoal at 2:1:1 ratio. It might look a bit wet since the coir was moist but it dries up so fast, like within a day its gonna be bone dry.

So I did wash them, that's how I spotted the bugs in the first place. Then I soaked in alcohol, but I did then do another rinse after the alcohol dried. Oops, should I take it out and dry? I think that'll do more hard to the roots. Considering this is terracotta and the mix is quite airy, it should be fine right?

Oh yeah there definitely were those suckers. I would have incinerated the soil If I had an incinerator. I bagged it and into the garbage it went.

And no worries Rina, doesn't matter if you do tell me something I already know it will just further help me confirm my facts. Still a newbie so I am eager to learn as much as I can.

I have an issue with a succulent I have yet to identify but it has grown so too heavy. gets tons of sunlight so I know that now it. the leaves dry up and off? there are new growths at the top but should I do what the gentleman did above? and can most succulent that drop a leaf that is still in good looking condition be left to calus then post on a soilless mix? the 2 sticks on the right of picture are what's holding this plant up.

Yan

If the plant was very wet from washing off the old soil, It may be good idea to let it sit on some newspaper or paper towels just to soak off extra water. If just alcohol, it probably doesn't matter so much since it dries up fast. Unless they were sopping wet, you may leave them as they are - but I wouldn't water for a while. If it is warm where they are, it would help. You could also use a small fan to get better air circulation - that will help with drying. If very humid, fan is usually good help. I don't know anything about rice husks, but you have good amount of grit in the mix and that should help. Charcoal probably too. If the leaves are staying wet for too long - maybe just blot them with paper towel? (probably not needed...)

AF

I can't tell what the plant is, could you take clear close up of the leaves?

To get rid of that elongated (etiolated) growth, beheading is way to go. Dropping leaves and leaves being yellowish & softer is usually sign of over-watering.

Rina

Yeah it was kinda dripping wet, with water, when I planted it.

Rice husks, I use this because I can't find turface or pumice or perlite. Not available in this country. It is a hydrophobic material, so it keeps the mix well aerated, and doesn't let the coir compact in between the granite. Was the best draining mix out of the other experiments (If you are interested, I have my findings on a post on reddit, otherwise just ignore this link

• (https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/comments/62zefv/need_help_with_soil_mixture_limited_availability/dfvjvdi/)

I think the leaves are already dried since I did leave them under a fan for a good hour or two. But nevertheless, to be safe I will let it get fanned tomorrow too. It is quite hot here, thesedays it gets upto 35C all day. So I think it will dry up fast, plus the mix was quite dry so it will wick up some moisture too.

Akerman

Yeah the way to go is to snip the tip and let it callous and then replant. Like what I did.

You know, that does look like an very etiolated Echeveria, but you said you give it plenty of Sun, so I'm not sure. How much Sun do you give it exactly? Direct or through a window?

Yan- Those ghost plants are very prolific. Very easy and reliable to get babies from:).

Your Echeveria reminds me of E. diffractens:). I just bought one. Google some pics there are some that look more like your's:).

Sun starts from Sun up to Sun down in this window. where abouts do I cut it from?

Akerman

To behead plants, you need to leave some stem. It doesn't need to be very long, maybe couple of inches.

Yan,

Grapto are very easily propagated from leaf cuttings, as I learned from this, my very first try! I just happen to have some going right now. Just remove the leaf (twist off) & place in DRY soil on any flat lid, like this:

I very lightly mist them with a small spray bottle once a week, just to provide humidity. But not to the point where the soil ever looks wet. Here's what we have after 2 weeks:

The baby rosettes get all their water and nutrients from the leaf! I'm just going to let them grow 2-3 months. Will spray more as they establish more roots.

Maria Elena

Maria

Thank you, that is very informative. I have been drying the cut off and a leaf for about 2 days now, I shall put them into some soil now.

Great! Don't bury them, just barely tuck the tip into the soil. Notice how I have them just leaning on the edge of that 1" Biscotti lid. The idea is to cover the wound to promote root growth. Also, keep rooting plants out of direct sun so all their energy goes to putting out roots. These are on what I call my "recovery table" on the porch ... Airy, high lumen indirect sunlight, shielded from the elements.

I use this soil for just about everything potted including plumeria, adenium, cactus & succulents. It's really fast draining. It's 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 pine bark, 1/3 small perlite. I add a small handful of course, gritty river/construction sand per gallon. It's important to note this sand consists of crushed rock. It is completely different from beach sand, which consists of finely crushed marine shells and is very high in salt ... Beach sand will suffocate the roots of your potted plants. Amazing how that does not apply to palm trees lining our beaches!

Maria Elena

Yan: How is everything coming along?

Acherman: What about your plant? Did you cut off all the rosettes and root them? That's what I would so. When a plant turns into unproductive (and unsightly) bare stems, it's best to prune to start new plants ... leave a 1/2" piece of stem on both sides of each rosette when you cut. I may be wrong but believe your plant is similar to our Graptopetalum. In which case, staking is not the way to go. The pups want to hang so they can land on soil and bury their roots.

Rina: My Graptopetalum stems gave me nothing. I was hoping for baby rosettes, like you show above. What did I do wrong? Maybe it's too soon? I know they also just randomly just grow on the leggy, hanging bare stems of the mother plants.

Here are the Graptopetalum leaf pups, growing quite nicely at the one month mark. They are still on the porch and I mist them almost daily now ... They're on a 1/2" tall lid.

Maria Elena

Maria Elena

It looks like your stems rotted - probably because you mist? If I have a piece of stem, I just lay it on top of mix and forget about it :) I do not mist at all (I do not mist leaves either, only when there is plantlet and good roots growing). Some stems rot, some dry up hard and some grow babies. Sometimes, they do better if left unpotted. Maybe not all plants, but few do. I just leave them until they either start growing, or are total goners - that's when I dispose of them. I always leave end of original stem with existing roots in pot, and it will grow offsets almost always (not 100%).

Here are 2 pieces of stems from beheaded xGraptoveria 'Fred Ives'. They are pretty hairy with many air roots, and there are quite a few offsets growing all over the stems. They have been on that wire shelve for months:, and never received any water at all. There was one more stem, but I just sent piece with couple of bigger offsets to someone:

'

Rina,

I believe whether or not to mist is relative to region. Every region has its own requirements ... What applied for me in NYC does not work at all here. It's currently 90ºF w/ 70% humidity where I live. The heat index is high ... 110ºF yesterday.

When I refer to misting, it's a very fine mist from a travel size spray bottle. I only mist the leaves, not the stems because they have no roots.

The stems are not rotting ... there is no mushiness. One is yellowed and a bit dessicated looking, the other is green. Perhaps they need more time? It's only been a month. If they die, no harm, no foul. I have 8 plantlets from the leaves!

I am going to leave them in the tray until I'm ready to transplant the individual plantlets in 2-3 month (July/Aug). The original plant cutting consisted of only one rosette and about 8" of bald stem, which I cut in half ... There were no roots. The main rosette is planted separately and has rooted, as evidenced by new growth:

Maria Elena

Totally agree that in much higher temps, watering would need to be more frequent. The humidity isn't that great for succulents - but not much you can do about that! Do you mist when humid?

We get some humid days, but not for prolonged periods of time (few days are too much for me :). Today, temps are 'extremely' high for us: 88*F!!!, humidex 95....but only for a day (back to 55*F on Fri.) These are temps we usually have in July or August...

Rina, will PM you. It is always humid here but my C&S have adapted very well. On the other hand, I have not.

Lady Latina

It has been a week since I've put it into a pot. So far the plant looks fine, don't see new growth though. I'm tempted to pull it out to check for roots but I shouldn't really.

However the original plant has rotted off at the base. I had to propagate the pups on that stalk.

The remains

Oh yeah that Echie in my post is dead. The Lenophyllum also had rotted roots. That pot was all over watered, the nursery didn't really take care of them well.

Oh, my goodness! So sorry to hear that. Those 2 pieces look clean enough to root ... did you plant them? And propagate the leaves, as well.

Please don't unearth anything. You know better! I'm sure it's just beginning to root. It takes about a month for new root growth to get established.

Sending good vibes your way for success in saving all of these.

Maria Elena

PS: You made me laugh ... Lady Latina sounds like a super hero / dominatrix! Perhaps my alter ego!

Oops, I mean you're not LADY LATINA???

I misread the name haha. My apologies, but I may or may not carry this mistake from now on.

They are sitting in a tray on some tissues to callous over, sprinkled some cinnamon to be safe. Gonna pot them when they callous over, maybe 4 days to a week later, its awfully rainy here these days, i.e super humid. Just look at this torrential rain this afternoon.

The leaves I will just set them on my propagation tray.

Thanks for the vibes, will need them. And lots of it because this weekend I'm going to rescue some more :)

Oh Yan I feel for you! I will try to send some California dryness you way:). You should see are hills they're already brown and a huge fire hazard. I saw Caltranz cutting brown weeds next to the freeway yesterday. A couple summers ago a crazy lady started a fire on the hill behind my house. That was scary:(.

I promise you will get the hang of it. Sounds like your plants are pretty overwatered when you buy them. If I could make this suggestion again. Since where you live is sooo wet. Get small tiny tiny tiny pots. Even if they're plastic they will dry out faster because they're so small. You may not be able to do the pretty little arrangements of succulents in pots. May just be too wet. No airflow. Goodluck:). I bet you could grow pretty epiphytic cactus easily. Rhipsalis would probably do well.

Maybe the cuttings you should leave out on a paper towel until they start showing roots. Putting them in the pot just after they callus may not be working. Your climate may be too wet. Wait until you see roots to pot them up:).

Yes! It's not only humid but also gets super hot and I have a tray of props that were accidentally put out in the sun for an hour or so, and now they are all dead. But the torrential rain is just the monsoon coming( we have 2 per year haha), normally its just plain hot.

I am definitely going to look for small terracotta pots this weekend, if not, like you said I will acquire the plastic ones.

Also about the cuttings, won't they dry out due to the heat like that? I was propagating some leaves and I think most of them never sprouted. Maybe I should keep them in a cooler area and less bright. Right now its indirect light/shade on a sunny veranda. I think I just need to be patient and more experience. So this time I will try keeping them out till they sprout this time!

Patience and experience comes with time:).

I keep a lot of my leaves/cuttings out of mix until I see roots. It's very important to keep the cuttings/leaves out of direct sun. Just keep them in a dry shady spot on a paper towel, and they will be fine:). Goodluck:).

Yan, you made me laugh!! My son loved that comment.

You know, so much depends on learning what works for your specific region. In my region, the temps right now are 90+ degrees F / humidity 70% with a "real feel" of 100+ degrees F. It gets worse in July / Aug / Sept. We are on the equator, so the sun is a super scorcher. Yet, we have topical trade winds (and sand) blowing in across the ocean from the Sahara.

Kara is right ... epis, bromeliads, etc all turn into air plants and literally grow in the air in these climates. So do aloes. When I root a cutting, I just stick it in dry soil right away ... No callousing over required. I only lose a plant when I water it precipitously. Right now, I have some adenium and plumeria cuttings rooting in dry soil. They are leafing out and I can actually see new roots coming in at the bottom. They are on the porch, away from direct sunlight but not in darkness. They are under a roof but do receive high lumen indirect sunlight all day.

Kara, I suspect that Yan's roots may cook/desiccate if left uncovered. They'd be cooler under dry soil. Then again, plants are so miraculous, I've seen them bury their own roots when needed and close off their own leaves when getting too much light.

Maria Elena

No no I don't mean keep them outside. I would keep them somewhere in his home. Cool and dry. For me in the summer if I keep cuttings outside even in the shade they would shrivel up and die. It so dry and hot they would be little raisins:). I keep them in my garage. It's still hot, but cooler. I will sometimes keep them in a cool bedroom. I keep them out of any direct sun.

I gave this advice only because I think even tho the cuttings are callused and he's using grit. I think it's so humid that the cuttings are not getting airflow and beginning to rot before they even have a chance. So I would think keeping them out of mix in a cool dry spot may give them a better chance to at least pop out some roots to help absorb that humidity that's in the "dry" mix. I think it's so humid that even tho his mix is seemingly dry, it's still damp from the humidity. Am I making sense:)? Sometimes I know what I'm thinking, but it just doesn't come out right.

Thanks Kara and LatinLady!

I will try to see what happens this time.

I'm also living on the equator so want to ask, do your plants do well in full sun? Or is it too much? Also how come such high humidity doesn't affect your plants? I always thought high humidity means you should water them less and keep them dryer. Especially when propagating. We are usually at 80% humidity but then again that may be because of the rains.

Just saw your comment Kara.

Yeah I understand what your concern was. I will give it a shot.

On another note, I'm thinking of improving my mix. Was gonna make a post about it but I thought I'd get some insight beforehand here. I'm thinking of removing the organic components, the coir and risk hulls, because sometimes it retains too much moisture and adds too much unpredictability to each batch.

How will I know what is optimal, like, usually how many days do you want the mix to be completely dried out?

I live in California so right now the precipitation is at 0% and humidity is at 37%. So I never see the type of humidity you see. Not even close;)!

It's always good to acclimate your plants to full sun. Never shove them in full sun. They will not be happy. Plus there are some succulents that will never be happy in your all day sun. Your just to dang close to the sun;). Always start out with morning sun to ablout 12 then shade. Go from there. Like Sempervivums would hate your all day sun. It's good to do a little research on the plant too. It really helps to know where they come from. Their origin will tell you a lot:)

TBH I think it's so humid where you are. That your mix will never be completely dry as a bone. For example in the summer I can hang a bathing suit up in my garage out of any sun. In an hour that suit will be bone dry. Where I'm at the moisture gets sucked out of everything.

I would think keeping your mix inside would be the driest. I'm not sure how long it will take for it to get as dry as a bone. I wonder if microwaving the mix first to get moisture out would help. Then let it cool down for a day. Then plant your plants. This is all just me thinking out loud and throwing out suggestions:).

Yan, I forgot to say you should switch to all grit, and get rid of anything organic:). Like the coconut coir.

Kara

Thank you for your ideas. I don't think it's THAT humid that everything is moist. Today seems to be better 66% humidity. I don't usually check humidity, so I'm not giving a proper description of my climate haha.

I think a good example is that when we hang out clothes to dry, it will dry within an hour in the sun. That's most common, but if it rains it will dry only the after putting them under the fan for the day and maybe overnight too. Idk if I'm just rambling useless info, maybe it'll help you understand a bit better.

About my mix. Yes I was thinking that. Because coir has issues like water retention, fungus and salt water. I found a local clay like ingredient (they call it Kabook, after much hard research it might be some clay ironstone, but idk) that seems to work like Turface, absorbs water, you hear the crackling when it gets wet. So it absorbs moisture and releases slowly while providing a lot of air space. Still need more testing to confirm more.

I'm worried pure grit would be too harsh since, no moisture, no minerals, and then I'd have to fertilize quite often right. It'll basically be hydroponics.

Yan

Using grit is not quite hydroponics :) Yes, you would need to water more often in pure grit. But better that then plants sitting in muck.

Mixing grit & coarse perlite makes well draining and fast drying mix; adding smaller amount of turface (or similar product) will give some retention - it is best to experiment with amounts of it. I have plants in any of the above, and they are all growing just fine. And while not recommending to others, hardly ever fertilize succulents.

Check what your product, Kabook, is 'made' from and if it is baked or not. It could be equivalent to turface.

Rina

Yes I researched a bit more. It's a natural forming stone of sorts. A bit like red brick, in that it's porous and quite hardy as they use it for construction back in the day.

From doing some Google-fu, I found that it may be a by product when granite decomposes. But I think the important part is that it is porous and natural occurring stone. Would you think it would work well by itself or together with grit?

I would think so - just about anything would work. Only question would be if it tirns to mush or not and length of water retention. If you have some, test it - couple of simple tests, something like this:

1. Get some in a plastic cup, cover with water. Put in the freezer until it is frozen. Take out, let thaw. Repeat at least 2 more times. If it doesn't turn to mush, it is good to use for substrate.

2. Put some in a clear (see-thru) cup. Punch drainage holes. Fill with water and watch how it absorbs water. You can also see how fast water drained. If you want to be fancy, you can even time how long it took for water to drain, and how much did drain out and how much stayed in it (measuring amount of water poured in). I believe there is thread by Kevin (ewwmayo) describing tests he did with different substrates - probably more sophisticated than what I suggested - but he is the expert, I am not...

I wonder if it is just a retail name of kaolin (by-product (?) of granite weathering/decomposition)

What color is it, and what size are the pieces?

Ohh thanks, those are exactly what i was looking to test for. I will be busy this weekend! I saw Kevin's post some time ago, which is was inspired all this haha. Was really busy with work last month so couldn't take the time to do stuff like this but now I can :)

It's actually a local name of the item, its not commericalized in any way, they just sell this stone they mine/make/??? from somewhere.

This is what it looks like, it is kind of reddish brown. What you see here is someone has used it as ground cover on some grounds. I can find several different sizes at the shop, some really fine about 2mm and then as big as the ones you see here, roughly around 30mm.

Ideally, particles of any substrate you use should be quite similar in size. 2mm smallest, not really bigger than 6mm for the mix IIRC. If it performs, name doesn't matter much, haha. Looks very similar to turface.

Haha true, I shall get to testing and will post my findings soon!

Thanks for being such a great help Rina :)

Yan, I was being a little nosey and checked out your weather forecast for the next week. Holy smokes! It is definitely the rainy season for you. I hope you get to dry out soon;).

Hahaha that's hilarious. I don't mind at all.

And now you know. This is my life now.

So I did some testing. I can't give the exact values because I'm sure I botched it and it is pretty inaccurate. But on a basic level I conclude on a few things.

First the test subjects(Battery for scale):

1. Regular black Grit (3-5mm):
   
   
   
   
2. "Kabook" Grit(Regular)(5mm): I should sift out the big stones I know.
   
   
   
   
3. "Kabook" Grit(Small): 3-5mm
   
   
   
   

The Conclusion

• The regular Kabok and grit have the same porosity as they both took the same amount of water to top to the brim. The smaller Kabok took less water since you could fit grit and weighed heavier before adding water. Therefore, the small kabok has the least porosity and air space, as the particles are smaller.
• Draining: As expected the grit drained the best. Most, if not all the water came straight out. The others drain pretty well too but hold more water, as explained in next part.
• Water Holding Capacity: Grit held the least water back. And the substrate that had the largest difference in weight before and after watering was the small Kabok grit. As expected since the smaller particles size means there is contact surface for the water to hold onto with capillary action.
• Drying Speed: Now here is something unexpected. I did this before the weighing and measuring stuff for the draining and WHC tests. I let the rocks sit in a plastic cup with a drainage hole for a few days after a good soak. When I emptied the contents when I the bamboo skewer showed it was dry. The small Kabok grit was the only one that was actually dry. The regular grit and kabok was still wet at the bottom, with the normal black grit being the wettest. I'm thinking this is because the normal grit doesn't absorb water, so if it doesn't evaporate, it just sits at the bottom of the cup until it does. However the kabok can absorb the water into the stones themselves and evaporate slowly but does not leave any sitting water. The smaller grit dried faster because it allowed air to come in when it absorbed the water up faster since it had more contact area with the water.

My Opinion

So with all that I'm gonna try using the small Kabok Grit on a few plants and see how it goes. I really don't want to use the black grit unless it is my last option because it doesn't really look good with the plants. I like the natural brown colours of the other option.

Another reason is the smaller sized grit is easier to plant the smaller plants in like this. BTW I did find small terracotta pots, yay me.

Next is I realise the size variation for the regular kabok is quite large, I will probably have to sift our larger particles when I use them. And I may use that size for larger adult plants, at least plants in pots 4 inch and above.

I don't know if this interests anyone here because this material does not concern anyone else but I just wanted to share.

I apologise for the long post.

TL;DR

I refuse to use grit despite it is the easiest choice. I will now use the smaller (3-5mm) sized grit for smaller pots, less than 4 inches and the larger (5mm) for larger pots. Also, grit allows water to pool at the base if the container does not 'breathe'.

Maybe I am not reading it right - but I have to disagree with what you described here..."Also, grit allows water to pool at the base if the container does not 'breathe'"...I have not heard about water pooling at the base if container is filled with grit. Unless there were no drainage holes in the container? Grit drains faster than turface. Turface will hold more water - grit doesn't. I am assuming that turface and your Kabok are quite similar - and still not sure about it. I wonder what is you regular black grit?? Is it granite or???

Here is a very good thread by Kevin (ewwmayo) with results of his testing of different substrates: -porosity & water holding capacity-

Yeah that's what I thought too rina. I'm repeating the drying test again so I can double check. I saw ewwmayo's thread before, its how I did my tests on the porosity and all that.

The container is definitely well draining, its a plastic up with a huge triangle I cut out at the bottom. Not sure what this black grit is actually. They call it chick grit or black grit. It is what they gave me when I asked for crushed granite. So I assume it is crushed granite or very similar.

If granite, I would be very surprised about water pooling.