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Cacti & Succulents

Succulent newbie - please help ID my plants; how to water

4 years ago

I recently took on the role of "succulent mom" and will admit they take more of my attention than is probably needed, ha! I have 3 small succulents that I have gotten within the past 3 months, and I have no idea what their actual name/type is. Any help identifying their type would be appreciated!

I'm also wondering how everyone goes about watering their small succulents? I've been told only 1-2 tbsp a week per pot, but I've also been reading about the "drench & let dry" method. The plant in the third photo is looking sad (it's the first one I got) as I think I messed up watering it somehow. I'm curious what others do!

Thank you!!

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Comments (4)

socks
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Water thoroughly when dry. Let water run out the bottom holes. Never by tablespoons. You can tell when they need water by inserting a wooden skewer for a few minutes. When you remove it, if it’s damp, don’t water.

As for the third pic, I suspect the pot is too big for them, and they should be potted a little higher if you are able to repot in a smaller container. The recommended soil mix here is commercial cactus and succulent potting mix combined 50-50 with perlite available from your nursery.

You are on a good start with your succulents. I suggest you take time to read many other threads here, and you will learn a lot. Also there are some good YouTube videos. I like Debra Baldwin, another is Sunshine and Succulents.
Caitlyn Wolter
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you for the info! I did not know of the wooden sweker trick, I'm going to give that a try. I will look for a smaller pot for my plant and see if that helps. Thank you again!
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Oh my. That wasn't even in my initial research. It was frustrating since at times all i could see online were the flowers. That was a great clue. The growth pattern/ habit was confusing me, it didn't look like any of the previous genera i mentioned. It does look similar to that of corpuscularia. I was leaning towards delosperma and when i researched the names you gave me, i found out they were from the same subfamily and tribe, if not interchangeable or synonyms of each other. Difference i could see was that delosperma are papillate and mine has very smooth almost satiny leaves, a feature of corpuscularia. However, most of the Corpuscularia or Delosperma lehmannii in google images really had plump/ chubby and compact leaves. There were a few long-leaved ones but then they have reddish stalks and mine doesn't (though that could just be due to different growing conditions). The longest leaves on my plant are 1.5 inches or 4cm and the stalks have papery sheaths. Thank you so much for that info rosemarie. I guess i'll treat it as a corpuscularia for the time being.
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Hello, Let's see if I can at least get you going in the right direction. I think what I'm seeing is - Portulacaria Afra (Baby Jade) - Haworthia Fasciata (ridged stripes) - Echinopsis (round barrel cacti) I think there's Aloe Alworthia (Black Gem) & a Mammilaria (lower right) in there, as well. In terms of growing medium...I'm not sure. Where are your soil nutrients? I exclusively use pre-packaged cactus soil, which is part river sand, part potting soil and part pearlite. I also feed my potted cacti & succulents tomato plant food monthly during spring, summer, fall. My garden is a mixture of sand & soil. The cacti & succulents on-ground do perfectly well without additional care. Succulents are easily rooted. "Calloused over" just means the cut portion has been allowed to do just that, callous over, and is not oozing. Just allow to sit outside of soil at least three days. The reason is that cacti & succulents hold a lot of water in their leaves / stems. If planted just-cut you have a high probability of rot due to all the oozing. Once calloused over, I place in watered, well drained soil and leave it alone until I see evidence of new growth. That's usually an indication of new root growth, as well. I hope this has been helpful.
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Juan Np, I asked since Sempervivums do not care for too much heat and too much humidity (few other succulents don't). They will grow, but in your hot climate, I would make sure they are not in the hottest sun (usually around noon). Otherwise, they like good light. I have many, but I am in colder zone - my semps grow very well in full sun. They should not be so 'tall' - that seems to be etiolation, maybe it was kept in quite dark spot in the store. It is ok in ground or container. Just make sure there is no water pooling too much around - but you likely know that since you grow other succulents. In ground, I like to plant them on a mound, so they drain. They will grow in very little soil, you'll find them growing over the rocks. They should not have recurving leaves, better light and less water will help. Here is different looking one, Sempervivum 'Oddity' I just got this spring, growing in the container: Here is semp with similar leaves to yours; you can see it is very low to ground and has e number of 'chicks'. The leaves/rosette should not be curving down: They are also monocarpic plants - ones the rosette blooms, it dies. In the meantime, it should produce many offsets (that's why the common name Hens&chicks), that can be left as they grow or separated and planted elsewhere. Hope I am not telling you what you already know :) Your Crassula ovata and portulacaria look very nice, growing them outdoors in good sun makes a difference.
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KarenS, NYC
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Sorry to disagree w/Socks, but I think pot size for pic 3 is correct & actually just right for the trio.

I assume you know pots must have a drainage hole, which I see the clay ones do.

You've been given good advice above.

Guessing IDs:

1st some Crassula, maybe Sedum,

2nd Echeveria of some kind, &

3rd MAYBE Grapto Pachy ?

Nice little plants, enjoy.

KarenS, NYC
SoCal Stewart (San Diego, Ca Zone 10A/10B)
4 years ago
Hi Caitlyn. Please also amend your soil as socks described above. I suspect the reason for that suggestion is because your growing medium appears to have a lot of peat, ground bark or other forest product components all of which retain water. That is death for succulents as it promotes root rot.

Moving them to smaller containers is a good start but the medium really needs amending. Most of us here who use a commercially prepared so called “cactus & succulent” mix still add either perlite or pumice in the ratio that socks states above if not more (heavier on the perlite/pumice).

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