Succulents After a Hail Storm

Well, this has certainly been an unusual winter so far.  Not only has it been freezing cold by our standards, but last week we had three hail storms in a row.  Hail storms are not unusual in this part of the world, we are surrounded by water, so it can never really snow.  When the temperatures drop we get hail, and lots of it.

Hail can cause considerable damage to succulent leaves, and sadly this what greeted me, when I went in my yard this morning.

My Crassula got the least damage

The lovely Kalanchoe Leaves

The top leaves badly damaged

The Kalanchoe Marmorata

The problem with succulents is that the leaves are very persistent and can last a long time.  Hail damage is terrible for them because they do not recover.  My biggest worry is the big Kalanchoe because the top leaves are just about dropping off now.  The damage may cause fungal or bacterial infections and I need to remove the dead leaves as quickly as possible, or I run the risk of losing the plant.

On a better note, the Schefflera was not bothered by the hail at all.  The leaves are thinner and the plant was totally unaffected.  The Plumbago was also unaffected, it has lost all its foliage now for winter, and there are only a few twigs.  

It is still the middle of February, so I cannot rule out more bad weather.  I am hoping that the temperatures will go a bit higher though because I don't think the succulents can suffer another hail storm.  Fingers crossed.

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Succulents: Roots Out!

In my previous post I mentioned how one of my succulents grew top heavy and collapsed completely over the pot.  I haven't really done anything about that yet but I left it in the same spot ignoring it completely.  I haven't watered it or given it any fertiliser at all, I thought it was dead anyway.

This morning I take another look at it to see how it's doing and I find the stems which I thought were dying have grown roots, right outside the pot in mid air! 

Roots coming out of the stem

I have already propagated this plant in another pot and I really have no space to put more of these plants.  I need to put this plant to good use and find something else to do with these cuttings. 

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Succulents - Crassula Perforata Variegata

Crassula Perforata Variegata

Finally I found a name for one of my succulents :)  This succulent is a native of South Africa and is of the Crassulaceae family.  It and can be grown in full sun or partial shade and prefers bright light and good airflow.  The spot I chose for it in this container gets about 4 hours of sunlight a day and it seems to be doing quite well.

As with all my other plants I planted this in compost but I should have used a sandier soil.  I had originally placed the succulents in a smaller pot and it was getting quite crowded.  As a result growth was restricted.  Since I placed them in a bigger pot these plants have flourished and have grown at least another three inches since then.

Unfortunately the roots are a tangled mess now so I cannot remove them from their current location to a dedicated pot. The only choice is to keep upgrading their pots every once in a while, which is a shame really because these plants can grow up to 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide!

Despite being a succulent they don't drink that much, I hardly water them at all and the soil remains moist for a long time.  I keep getting alarm bells in my head thinking root rot (!!) but it's been almost six months now and they seem happy and growing strong.  I should move them to a sunnier place in winter though to allow some of the water to evaporate due to increased rainfall.

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An Easy Way To Propagate Succulents

Here's is a little story about how easy it is to propagate these succulents.  I didn't have any faith at the time but now as you can see in the picture below, the new plant it really taking shape, so here's how it happened.


As I was repotting my original succulent a leaf fell off, I didn't think much of it at first but I noticed it had roots coming out of it. It must have falled in the soil and rooted. Anyway it fell to the ground and I thought nothing of it until my dad came to visit.

As I was showing him my latest collection he found it on the ground and asked me about it. I figured, oh nothing just throw it away... He found my old pot which hosted my poor portulaca, now long gone, and stuch it in the soild which was still there.  He said, this will grow, just give it a little water around the cutting but don't fill the whole pot. Words of wisdom, my dad being a veteran in container gardening. So I left it there and watered it whenever I found the soil was dry as a bone. To my surprise after a few weeks it started growing:

Succulent after a month

This was quite a surprise and so I found another leaf one day from it's parent (you can see it in the background in the pic above) and I stuck it in there, no roots or anything.  To my surprise I now have another plant growing right next to this one! Who knew it was so easy to propagate these plants.

Succulent one month later

So the good news is (if this can be good news) that if my original succulent dies from lack of judgement at least a part of it still remains and now I have learnt my lesson, these plants grow big and fast!  No overhanging this time, I'll make sure of that.

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Succulents - The Meaning of Top-Heavy

Succulent when I first got it

In this post I relate how I got to know the meaning of top-heavy plants.  Unfortunately I had to learn the hard way so I hope this will give you some insight so you have time to take action before the same happens to you.

When I first got this succulent it was a little small than this so I put it in a small pot thinking it was quite big enough for it.  As you can see in the above picture it started hanging over the pot a little but I didn't take much notice.  I thought it was just growing and was actually pleased with the progress! Silly me!

Now this plant has grown to a point where it fell completely over the side and I think the stem is half broken.  The only thing saving the plant I believe is the fact that it is resting on the shelf.  I started noticing that it wasn't drinking as much as it used to but I didn't even realise it was broken until I lifted it up one day to check on it.  The plant now looks like this:

Succulent with broken stem hanging over the side of the pot

I should have bought a support for it from the start when I saw it overhanging the pot, or else put it in a bigger pot.  I can still trim it back now or just cut off the stems altogether, these plants can be propagated so easily, here's the story.  Trimming will also encourage root growth, this plant grew so fast the stems are not thick enough to support it, trimming will lessen the load and thicken the stems.

In any case the damage is done now and I need to fix this before it dies.  Next time I'll definitely plant this in a bigger pot and keep it in check. 

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Succulents - My latest additions



Succulents badly planted

More succulents and Cactii

This summer I got myself some succulents.  They are the easiest plants to grow, just leave them there and when the soil dries out water them.  How easy can it get ?  I have no idea what each of them are called so I will have to do some research on all of them and perhaps dedicate a page for each but for the time being I just grouped them together under one name. 


As you can see I placed them on a shelf in the shade.  They get some morning sun for a couple of hours but then it's mostly shade.  I read however that most succulents are able to thrive in the shade and actually some do not require full sunlight all day.  This is ideal for my yard however since I don't yet know what they are I need to monitor them to see how fast they are drinking water and their growth rate.

My biggest grower by far is the second plant in the second picture.  It is growing taller than I can manage.  It must have doubled it's height in the month that I had it and I believe I will have to find a new pot for it soon or I risk it toppling over!  I have sent a picture of it to the nursery where I got it from in the hope that they can tell me what it is because it was unnamed when I got it and they just told me it's another succulent. (Very helpful of them).

Update - since then my nursery told me that it's 'probably' a kalanchoe.  I have yet to find a similar image of this plant online but at least they narrowed my search from about 1600 species to 125, it's a start...

The picture below is a week after I first got it:

Kalanchoe after one week

As you can see it has now grown considerably taller.  I looked for it online but I couldn't find an image for it anywhere.  I water it every other day and I have never given it any fertiliser.  I drinks alot though and it keeps on getting taller, it reminds be of the giant beanstalk in Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, who knows maybe it will just keep on growing...

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