What's this plant?: ID and Care of First Succulent

Replies: 7 Views: 105

Print

Author	Comment
somuchbetter Raleigh, NC August 15, 2008 2:52 PM	My mom gave me a really fun succulent. Unfortunately, I have little to no gardening/greenthumb skills and I am hoping to get started at least one plant at a time! :) The only tag that was with it was "full sun, well-drained soil". The thing is growing like crazy. It has gotten very tall and is starting to lean in the pot towards the window. I've been taking off the yellow/brown leaves since they were obviously dying. So a few questions: 1: What is it? 2: Should I re-pot it? 3: Any pruning advice, or should I just let it grow like crazy... or cut it down, or spread it out? 4: What are these little white hairs coming out of the stem, new branches maybe? Sorry for the not so great photo! Thanks so much for all your help! View Larger
mayniac69 New Castle, IN August 15, 2008 6:03 PM	whatever it is, it's gorgeous. I think your photo is great!
staceysmom (GayLynn) Appleton, WI (Zone 5a) August 15, 2008 7:22 PM	I would ask the gang in the cacti and succulents forum. They have lots of knowledge about them over there. I'm sure they'd be willing to help.
ecrane3 Dublin, CA (Zone 9a) August 15, 2008 8:48 PM	It might be a Kalanchoe of some sort, although I couldn't find one in Plant Files that I thought matched exactly. If nobody here knows it, you might try posting your picture in the Plant & Tree Identification forum, I'm sure someone there will know exactly what it is. In terms of care, the best thing you can do is make sure you're watering it properly. I worry a little bit about the yellowing/dead leaves that you removed--that could just be normal, all plants lose some leaves from time to time naturally, but it also could be a symptom of overwatering. The plant overall doesn't look like it's suffering from too much water, but it wouldn't hurt to check just to be sure (I like to check by sticking my finger a couple inches down into the soil and see how it feels--for a plant like this you want to let it dry out pretty well between waterings). It doesn't look to me like it needs to be repotted so I'd leave it where it is for now--with plants that are sensitive to overwatering, you don't want to have them in a pot that's too big because that makes it easier to accidentally overwater them.
somuchbetter Raleigh, NC August 16, 2008 7:58 PM	Thanks everyone! Yeah I'll go repost this on the cacti/succulent forum. I overlooked that! :)
dp72 Woodway, TX (Zone 8a) August 16, 2008 10:34 PM	Would you please post your conclusions back to this thread? Your plant is beautiful. It certainly looks like a kalanchoe- the way the leaves are arranged, the "scar" left when lower leaves drop off (normal), the size of the stem, its succulent nature....May I suggest a terra cotta pot when you pot it up a size? (It will be fine in that pot for a while. Succulents need to be potbound to some extent.) It won't be as pretty, but it won't retain moisture like an glazed pot does. I notice the leaves have a slight sheen to them. Most kalanchoes have "furry" looking leaves. I can think of three things that might make the leaves less velvety- not as much light as the plant prefers, too much water, or too cool temps. Light is probably the most likely culprit. If you find out the name of this cultivar, I'd like to know because I'd like to find one and order it. I collected them 25 years ago, but have never seen this one. BTW, the preferred pronunciation is , although most people here say .
WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland (United Kingdom) August 16, 2008 10:36 PM	I also think the plant is Kalanchoe, it looks healthy to me however noticing how dark the soil is means you have only just watered it, or, it is siting in damp/wet soil. I would either water this plant from the bottom, by placing it in a bowl of water till the soil turns dark, an indicator it has taken up enough water, then allow the pot to drain away any excess water before placing it back onto the saucer, the little hairs you mentioned on the stems are new roots, these sometimes grow where foliage/leaves have dropped off or been removed for whatever reason, if the plant is growing all to the one side, this could be it is growing towards more light, so move the plant closer to light but not set in a window where it will be scorched by direct sun shining through glass, the glass acts like a magnifying glass and will burn or dehydrate the foliage but not the roots as much, without the fleshy leaves the plant would soon die, because your plant is a type that has a sort of fluff/tiny hairs on the leaves, try not to get water splashes on the leaves as this will rot them and this maybe a reason for the foliage turning yellow, this is another reason to try water the plant from the bottom in a bowl of water as this way there is no chance of water being in contact with the foliage, to prevent the plant growing lop sided, rotate the pot say every week, less time than that if you can, this allows the plant to get even light flow and will prevent it growing towards the light, it also helps to harden up the new growing parts of the stems, they will grow more upright too. hope all this helps, but if you want to gain further experience of growing these types of plants and see all the different ones that others grow, then as mentioned, there will be a proper forum for just that. hope this helps, good luck. WeeNel.
bagel_k Central, NJ (Zone 6b) August 18, 2008 10:07 PM	I am not sure, but it looks a lot like Echeveria coccinea [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com] . It will do better and stay more compact with more sun (sunny windowsill or outdoors). Let it dry out completely between watering. Or it also could be Echeveria 'Pulvicox' [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com] . This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 10:38 PM

You cannot post until you register and login.

Other What's this plant? Threads you might be interested in:

Subject	Thread Starter	Replies	Last Post
Fern - Maybe Treefern?	growin	9	Dec 5, 2008 1:44 PM
plant identification	Kaytucci	5	Dec 5, 2008 12:40 PM

Other Forums you might be interested in:

Flowers

Gardening Questions

What's This Plant?