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What to do with this succulent

Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
in Plants
I bought this little succulent a couple of years ago and it's done well in a very sunny position.
But now it's not looking so good due to dying leaves lower down and it's gone wobbly!
The compost has also shrunk a lot.

What should I do? - should I cut the top bit off and replant it, so it's small and cute again? would that work? and if so when is a good time to do that?




Billericay - Essex

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Echeveria perle von nurnberg. I neglect the hell out of mine and it lives in the greenhouse all year round. I once took a cutting and forgot to plant it for about 6 months and it was still fine. Chop the top off in the spring and you'll get loads of side growth for future cutting material. Replant the top and start again with a nice compact plant. Or you could just let it do its own thing and it will probably start to flower soon. I'll take a photo of mine so you can see how bad it looks :#

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Nice one!
    Thanks @wild edges
    I'll follow your advice.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    @wild edges  If you cut the individual leaves off, using a knife, so that you get the whole leaf, especially the bit that joins the stalk, then you can easily make cuttings.

    Once you have cut the leaf off, you leave it aside for 24-48 hours, to callous at the end. Most advice is to plant the cuttings in a gritty compost, or to put them in a container in a bright space (with no soil), until you see some roots appearing.

    I used to sit the leaves in a half a centimetre of water, so that the main leaf is not submerged, but only about the bottom half a centimetre. I would leave them on a north facing windowsill for a few weeks, until the roots appear, and then plant them in a gritty soil. I found this the most successful method. I used to do it with 15-20 leaves at one time, and almost all would root.

    I would then sacrifice the old, misshapen plant, but you could try planting it to see if that takes too.

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    These are both cuttings from my old plant. They haven't been watered much since September and the one is insisting on growing a ridiculous flower spike anyway so it's using up leaves like crazy at the moment.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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