What good success you are having. Pretty plants.

Thank you!

Gill

Wow beautiful plants:). Very jealous. How do you deal with 35C and no AC? I'm assuming that you have no AC. That's some heat especially when not use to it! It's hot like that in California until Oct. How long does the heat last like that where you're at:)?

Thanks Kara!

Floor standing and desk fans, as you're correct in assuming AC is not a feature of 99.9% of U.K. homes, we do have it in the modern cars though. My curtains are closed and all windows open to hopefully get some through draughts, but we struggle! It's 44 C in the direct sun and the thermometer in the g/h is over 100f I think it's boiled over! Whatever that is in C, it's an old thermometer! Been like this for 5 days or so, it usually ends with a Big Bang....massive thunderstorm! Not our usual summer temps, doubt if it will last much longer, forecast says cooler gain w/end and next week, usually it's mid twenties, that's ok to deal with, but we are struggling at the mo. Hard to get to sleep at night as it's staying in the mid twenties. Constantly drinking and cold showers too. Plants are wilting in the garden, my fish in the pond are wondering what's going on, keep gasping for more air, the big Koi keep making huge sucking/kissing noises, lol.

Gill

Wow! I have never seen Compton Carousels that look so good!

I was just about to put a sweater on...it's only in the mid 70sF with a chilly rain here in the almost tropics :)

It's nice to see some happy healthy Compton Carousels after all the recent posts about sad and struggling CCs!

I was gonna say Gill. I bet you love driving around in a car with AC. My mom's car is like an ice box. Just blast cold air. My car has AC, but not nearly as good as hers:). Whatcha gonna do with all your Comptons:)? I finally bought one. They're really pretty plants. I love the creamy white with the blue green.

Gorgeous plants, Gill. They sure like what you're doing!

I was looking for one but after reading of all of the issues people have been having, I got scared off and quit looking for them. Those that I saw online had prices of $35 plus. Too much for me for a plant that seems like may not like my Summer conditions. I think in July- October/November would be just too hot.

Tyler

Thanks for the further comments guys and gals! A few are earmarked for a friend nearby. The others I plan to grow on and just see what happens.

Laurent, do you find your CC's eventually grow tall on a bare stem? That one is large specimen you have it looks healthy. I recall Bernard also has a very large plant, maybe bigger than yours even. Not seen him on here for a while now, hope he is OK.

Kara, yes the car AC is good in this weather.....I just bought a new car last weekend :-)

Gill

Oh I bet that thing blast chilly air:)!

Laurent, your CC is gorgeous!!!

Gill, I thought our weather was tough here in Alabama, we have humidity at least 50% some days and I swear the other day it was over 100%.

Your CC are magnificent! I did purchase one online and it last about 6 weeks. It finally got rot on the stem and quickly it died. I so want to try another. I only watered this one maybe twice and then very little but next time I think i would not water at all for a long time

Clarify pls. those lovelies are Echeverias, right (not Orostachys)? TIA

Quite pretty, especially if one loves green & white variegates like I do.

The original pup was given to me in good faith as a CC and I had no reason to doubt its identity. What are the defining differences between a CC and a Orostachys? I have yet to get one to flower so can't use that as a clue. Google images can't always be relied on I feel. The variegated form of Orostachys appear to have longer leaves, not rounded like mine.....

Gill

IIRC, Orostachys is biennial? If it was Orostachys, wouldn't at least main plant be dead by now -after blooming? Just wondering, I do not have either...

Gill, beautiful plants.

Gill

You got beautiful beautiful plants. Well done!!

Gill, your CC are very beautiful. I managed to purchase a couple of them. So far they have been growing ok for the past 3 months. Let's hope I can keep mine as long as your ones.

By the way, I have left my CC in the conservatory and yes it's very hot even with the windows opened. At the moment they seem fine with the sun and heat. Don't know if I should also move them to a shaded place.

Lan :-)

Hi Rina, thanks! mine haven't flowered yet, but your news makes me really hope they're not Oros which you say will die once flowered :-(

Thanks Anton, you also have some beautiful plants in Cape Town too, I have very fond memories of my last holiday with my dear late d/h which was spent in S.A. Kirstenbosch was stunning.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the two biggest will root again after being cut down.

Gill

Laurent, your CC is very beautiful and healthy! Let's hope mine can grow as large. How long did it take for your CC to grow to that size?

Gill

The flowers are very different from Eheveria too...as I said, I do not have any of these plants, but remember reading about them. All photos of blooming Orostachys shows a 'spire' from the center of rosette, similar to Semps.

I am not sure how correct is the statement that Orostachys are biennials (have seen that on few sites), since O. spinosa is supposed to take about 5yrs to full maturity. So maybe some sp are biennial, some monocarpic? Or perhaps more correct - they are all monocarpic plants...And they are quite hardy, hardier than CC.

Hello Lan, your post wasn't visible to me when I was typing my last response above, so here's a belated thanks for your comments :-) Your plants look very healthy too don't they? Seems like we have both got their culture correct, let's hope that will stay that way! I going to have to check my records once I'm done with this post to see when I received them as these appear to be the only plants I possess without any info tags in the pots. I'm usually pretty good when it comes to labelling, lol. I bet they are older than I recall, I'm guessing 2 yrs old.......? We will see! Yes the weather is rather hot isn't it, been cooler and fresher here today in Middle England. Stay safe Lan.

Laurent, do you fertilise your CC to get it to grow so large?

Rina. Thanks for the further info. Hadn't spotted a flowering Orostachys in the pics I looked at, I should have specifically googled one shouldn't I? They do look very different from what I would imagine an Echie to look like. Yes, monocrapic sounds a better bet doesn't it, a lot of these rosette types are monos.

Gill

Gorgeous CCs there!

Those are some miserable temps, Gill. At 95F (35C) -- which is not, unfortunately, uncommon here in the summer -- I hide out wherever AC can be found. Did have AC growing up as a kid, and I can remember not sleeping for several night running because of the heat. 44C (111F) is just nightmarish. You have my sympathies!

Those are great looking plants. Is there any chance we could get a photo of the soil mixture you use, underneath the top dressing of decorative stone?

I am also a big fan of gritty mixes. I have my compton planted in four parts of screened turface, four parts of fir bark, and two parts of 1/4 to 3/8 decorative stone. The stone I buy is not so much more expensive than the other ingredients, so I use it liberally in the mix, but it becomes visually dominant if I don't use less of it. I strongly prefer the turface to perlite. Perlite is ugly to my eye and it tends to float. Turface is really purpose built and is highly attractive if you want to create an appearance of a desert environment.

Gill, so funny seeing you on this side of the forum....knowing how well you do with your Adenium. Trust things are good with you. Beautiful plants, indeed. Wish I could find them!

Beautiful CCs, what a family!

Paul, thank you. This afternoon and evening it has gone very heavy and humid, dark mists and low clouds reduced visibility and it looked like a storm was really brewing. Nothing came of it so hopefully it will be a calm night...but we will see :-0

Westes, I'll try in the morning, its way past my bedtime at the moment!

Hi there Howard :-) yes I also frequent the dark side of the forums here on c/s, but then I also say that when I'm here and am referring to adeniums, lol. I'm doing OK thanks, the kids still keep a watchful eye out for me:-) You have an email btw.

Lisa, thank you. My family is growing both plant wise and in real life too :-)

Gill

westes

That is 'interesting' mix. 4pts of turface + 4pts of bark - don't you find it quite water retaining? I am not saying it's bad, just wondering. (I do not know what climate/growing zone you are in either).

I used to use equal amounts of grit+screened perlite+screened turface and found it too water retentive. Stopped using that mix quite some time ago. Now I use only about 10, maybe max 25% of turface (if I want more water retention). I do not use bark any more either, since it is difficult to find. I would use pumice rather than perlite, but it is also difficult to get around here.

I don't think that turface is replacement for perlite, since turface has approx. 52% water holding capacity comparing to approx. 28% for perlite - that is according to Kevin's (ewwmayo) testing of different substrates, results are here - click me

Hi Gill,

Apologies for making confusion, but nowhere did I see mention of genus, so I wanted to be clear. They look like Eches to me, but wasn't sure; was just looking for clarification. Sorry folks.

Really spectacular beauties, w/ such high contrast variegation & near perfect looking rosettes; can't help but smile at them.

Karen, no need to apologise, but pls take a closer look at my opening paragraph once again, where you will see it does actually mention the Echeveria genus! :-)

Gill

@rina, I don't have a lot of baseline experience with other versions of the gritty mix, but I can say that my more water-retentive version tends to be fairly dry six inches down by the second day.

I don't perceive that moisture is bad for succulents, as long as the soil is structured to allow air to remain in the soil at all times. I think people confuse water retention of a soil that is structured with water retention of a dense compacted soil that has peat and other organics, or has particles that are too small (e.g., sand). Have you had problems with succulents not thriving in moist structured soil? I find it is nearly impossible to overwater a plant in gritty mix.

@rina, I thought it might be useful to look at one of my gritty mix pots, and this one is about 45 days old. It's not great resolution but should give some idea. I have massively overwatered this pot - about once a day for 30 days - and as you can see the succulents are not complaining about it. If I were using commercial cactus soil or any peat moss-based soil I am sure the plants would be showing a lot of stress. The second photo shows more detailed view of what a 4-4-2 gritty mix looks like.

Ok Gill! Now you have me started on succulents, don't you? Beautiful plants you got there! I want!!! :)

Gil, beautiful plants. Thanks for sharing with us

westes

Than you for the answer and great photos. Definitely agree with: ..."I don't perceive that moisture is bad for succulents, as long as the soil is structured to allow air to remain in the soil at all times. I think people confuse water retention of a soil that is structured with water retention of a dense compacted soil that has peat and other organics, or has particles that are too small (e.g., sand)"...

I do not have problems with a mix I use (no bark, no soil, no peat); it drains very well. I leave my succulents outdoors as soon as weather permits, and do not worry about the rain...we had so many rainy days recently, I would have to take them in (or cover) if they were in dense soils/peat.

Bark in your mix looks very nice, are you able to get it that size? I wish I could...only huge bark is available around here - I have many other plants besides succulents, and would love to find good sized bark (for reasonable $ - I could buy orchid bark, but that seems to be quite pricey). I would keep them all in gritty mix, but some are in pots too large and would be too heavy to carry (they are already heavy as they are :)

@rina fortunately a local supplier started selling "professional orchid bark" in 2 cu ft bags and they are doing a great job with the filtering.

Hi Westes, apologies for forgetting the pic you asked for, will try to remember to take one tomorrow as once again it's 01:03.......yawn !

Hello Elena, I only have a few types of succs...my CC's, lots of jade varieties, Port afra, and a some stapelias. I have one pokey cactus, a saguaro of all things! Plus a few holiday cacti.

Manuel, thanks! It's nice to see you here again, hope you are OK and your plants have recovered suitably following the 'incident' a while ago :-)

Gill

Gill : "Laurent, do you find your CC's eventually grow tall on a bare stem ?"

It happens especially when I remove the offsets.

Gill : "Laurent, do you fertilise your CC to get it to grow so large ?"

I fertilise all my plants but only that CC has grown so large. I think the soil is different for this pot. CC can become larger than that.

Lan_UK : "Laurent, ...How long did it take for your CC to grow to that size ?"

I'm sorry I don't remember, 1 or 2 years.

Thank you Laurent for your reply :-)

Gill

I got inspired and bought another CC last night, this one will be twice as large and it was $50. It hasn't arrived yet. I plan to keep in house in south western window and not water for a long time.

This will be the last one I try, I'll let you know how it goes.

letsgobird7b - good luck with the new CC when it arrives, it is a beautiful plant. Just look after it like all Echeverias - don't water too often.

Thank you Lan. Echeverias are tough here in Alabama with our high humidity. I probably have 2 dozen now and I'll still lose one here and there due to rot.

Im going to be extra careful this time!!!

Let'sgo- I didn't realize you lost both CCs. I knew you had lost your one.

That sucks. Sorry to here that.

The new one will be bigger so that should help:). Keep that little guy away from humidity! You know that tho:). The leaves of CCs are sooo much more delicate than other echies. I never understood why people had a hard time growing these, but now that I have one, and I've seen it and have felt it. I can see why.

Yes Kara, my sister and I both lost ours. It started with losing a both leaf here and there, then the whole side fell apart and you could see a black spot of rot on the stem. That was the end.

I wont even try to put it out this time. And no water for at least a month, then watering away from the stem .

I guess there are some advantages of living in an arid environment.

Letsgo, please do show us your new CC when it arrives, best of luck :-)

Gill

Yes, I will post a pic!!

Hi Everyone,

Longtime forum lurker, first time poster. I've been following this post and a couple others regarding CC's.

Gill (or anyone else who might know), how much of the stalk do you leave on your CC's when you separate and repot them? I received a CC recently and there was a 3.5 inch stem. Should I trim it or leave the length as is? How much of the stem do you "bury" into the "soil" mix?

Thank you for any direction - Lily

I bought mine a little over a couple months ago and I just realized mine has no stem. It's just the CC rosette and then roots.

If yours is nice and healthy I wouldn't mess with it:). You don't want to start something when it was fine to begin with:).

But maybe Gill could give you some better advice she does grow these really well:).

Hi Kara,

Thank you for your response! I've read through some of your posts and comments and I'm really happy to see your reply. I've kept it as is for the time being. *fingers crossed* it survives, the crown seems solid, the lower leaves are a bit droopy. I think I read somewhere on this forum that it's a normal process while the new plant acclimates and grows new roots (shipped to me bareroot)...