Echeverias are fast-growing succulents popular for their special look and low maintenance needs. Their stunning rosette shape, plump leaves, and large variety of colors to give them a striking resemblance to flowers.
When they flower in the summer, they are sensational. They are best planted at the start of their growing season in the Spring. Many echeveria will stay relatively small, no larger than a foot wide, however some species will turn into small shrub-like, 2-foot tall plants.
How To Care For Echeveria – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Native to parts of Central America, South America, and Mexico, echeveria are succulents and members of the Crassulaceae household. Their care is similar to sedum and kalanchoe succulents, which indicate they all have fleshy, thickened leaves and stems that store water.
They are well-suited to intense, dry environments and appreciate durations of neglect, making echeverias perfect houseplants whether or not you have a green thumb. Never let water sit in the rosette, as it can trigger rot or fungal illness that will kill the plant. Likewise, get rid of dead leaves from the bottom of the plant as it grows; they supply a sanctuary for insects.
Light – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeverias need a significant amount of light to flourish. They require a minimum of 4 to five hours of brilliant, direct sunshine daily– ideally 6.1 If echeverias do not get full sun, they will end up being elongated and leggy, and it is not likely they will flower. Move your echeveria outdoors throughout the summer months to help it flourish. If you move your plant outside after overwintering indoors, solidify off the plant, providing it a gradual shift. Intense afternoon sunshine can trigger sunburn, so place your plant where it gets a little shade when the sun is strongest.
Soil – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeverias require a well-draining, permeable growing medium to keep excess wetness far from the roots.1 Standard cactus potting blends, which can be found at most nurseries and garden centers, are sufficient for echeverias. You can develop a cactus mix by combining three parts of routine potting soil with 2 parts of coarse sand and one part of perlite. Echeverias make ideal houseplants and grow well in garden beds, as long as the soil is well drained, and the pH is 6.0 or somewhat acidic.
Water – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeverias, like many succulents, do not require much water, however they likewise do not like to be too dry. If the leaves start to wrinkle, it’s an obvious indication the plant requires water.
Wait up until the soil has actually dried out completely prior to watering your echeveria, and then offer it a good soaking by letting the water stream through the pot’s drainage holes. Echeveria will need to be watered throughout the summertime months more frequently than in winter.
Temperature and Humidity – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeverias flourish in hot, dry conditions. They do not endure cold temperature levels or cold drafts well. Excessive humidity can cause root rot.1 The typical home temperature and humidity levels are sufficient for echeverias however do not place them in a damp area, like a restroom or laundry room. Many echeverias are cold durable to USDA zone 9a and can grow in the ground with typical winter season temperatures no chillier than 50 F. In wintery weather condition regions, move the plant inside when frost threatens.
Fertilizer – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
They are susceptible to fertilizer burn if over-fertilized.2 Occasional fertilizing throughout the spring and summer season can assist echeverias during their active growing duration but be mindful. Utilize a cactus and succulent fertilizer or a controlled-release well balanced 20-20-20 liquid fertilizers watered down 2 to 4 times more than usual.
Echeveria: A Succulent For Every Type Of Gardener – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeveria is large, extensively hybridized genus including around 150 species and more than 1,000 cultivars. A large pot filled with a range of echeveria types makes an engaging visual display screen. Here are a few favorites:
Ghost echeveria (Echeveria lilacina): Pale, silvery-gray fleshy leaves; leaves are more lilac-colored in winter season; can produce pale pink or coral lantern-shaped flowers on long red stems when mature.
Echeveria peacockii: Spoon-shaped, powdery blue-gray leaves with red ideas that grow in a rosette formation.
Mexican snowballs (Echeveria elegans): Also frequently called white Mexican increased or Mexican gem succulent; features thick, fleshy blue-green to silver-green leaves.
Mexican firecracker (Echeveria setosa): Scoop-shaped leaves with a rose-like look; each leaf is covered in tiny, brief white hairs, providing the plant with a fuzzy appearance; late spring, mature plants produce foot-long flower stalks with lovely red firecracker-like urn-shaped flowers with yellow tips.
Echeveria agavoides’ Lipstick’: Lime green leaves with pointy red edges, offering it the nickname “Lipstick”; its botanical name originates from its agave-looking foliage, with thick, triangle-shaped leaves.
Pruning – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Pruning echeveria from time to time can help avoid rot, encourage brand-new growth, and help your plant live longer. Generally, echeverias do not need regular pruning, but if your echeveria becomes leggy and extended due to a lack of sunlight, cut it down to keep it looking appealing.
Pruning is best done at the beginning of their growing season; nevertheless, you can prune anytime. Eventually, the lower leaves will dry up and pass away, which is the plant’s natural life cycle. Remove the dead leaves by carefully pulling the dead leaves away with your fingers so they do not rot in place. Getting rid of the leaves may also assist encourage brand-new growth along the stem.
Echeveria Propagation – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
They can be quickly propagated by leaf cuttings, stem cuttings, offsets, or sowing seeds. Taking cuttings is an outstanding method to avoid a plant from getting leggy.
Leaf, steam cutting or offsets propagation:
Step 1: You’ll need a tray, cactus mix, a plastic bag or clear dome, and a pot with ample drain holes. If cutting a stem, you will require sterilized scissors or pruning snips.
Step 2: Carefully separate a leaf from the plant’s main stem by gently wiggling it side to side up until it pops off. Always propagate more than one leaf, as not all will turn into a brand-new plant.
Step 3: If taking a stem cutting, snip off a stem that has actually become leggy.
Step 4: If using an offset or spin-off (pup) growing off the primary stem, thoroughly snip it or pinch it off the primary branch.
Step 5: Lay the leaf cutting, stem cutting, or offset flat on a tray and allow it to callous over for a few days prior to planting the calloused end in the pot filled with succulent or cacti mix.
Step 6: Mist the soil, and cover the pot up until the brand-new plant sprouts. Place it in a bright place– but prevent direct sunlight.
Step 7: As soon as roots have actually developed (you will see new development), water sparingly as you would with a fully grown succulent.
Step 8: After about a month, a tiny rosette will begin to establish at the end of the leaf. Do not separate the leaf from the rosette, as it supplies the brand-new succulent with energy and nutrients. In time, the old leaf will shrivel and die as the brand-new succulent ends up being more independent.
Growing Echeveria From Seed – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Scatter seeds, leaving space between each of the seeds on a bed of soil (60%), grit or sand (30%), and perlite (10%) or a succulent and cactus mix. You can use a terracotta pot or any container with sufficient drainage holes. Moisten the soil and keep it moist by covering it with cling wrap or placing it into a zip-closing plastic bag.
Place the pot in a bright space but not in direct sunlight. Uncover the container once a day for an hour to provide the plant ventilation. A perfect germination temperature level is around 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
After about 3 weeks, the seeds need to begin sprouting. As soon as the seeds have actually grown and tiny rosettes form, get rid of the plastic covering. Keep the soil a little moist (never let it dry) and provide ample light (but not direct sun). As seedlings, give them water every three to four days when the soil dries up.
How To Pot And Repot Your Echeveria – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeveria plants do not need regular repotting and needs to just be repotted once they have actually outgrown their previous container. If repotting, it is normally advised in the spring as the plant will enter its active growing period.
To repot an echeveria plant, guarantee the soil is completely dry before removing it from its potting container. Gently eliminate the plant from the pot. Thoroughly get rid of the excess soil from the roots before putting the plant in its new pot. Eliminate any rotted or dead roots at the same time. Place the plant in its new pot and backfill with potting soil, expanding the roots as you repot. Deal with any cuts with a fungicide. Wait a week before watering after repotting to prevent the threat of root rot.
Overwintering Your Echeveria – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Echeveria can not survive the winter exterior. It can’t manage temperatures below freezing. The very best method to overwinter Echeveria is to bring your plant inside. Echeveria will not require to be kept exceptionally warm however at least above 45 degrees. It will go inactive during the cooler months and will not require as much water, just needing water about as soon as a month.
Don’t Let Pests And Diseases Ruin Your Echeveria! – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Pests rarely look for echeveria, however many succulents are prone to fungi gnats, spider termites, and mealy bugs. Fungus gnats appear like little black flies that hover above the soil. Spider mites are tiny dust-like creatures that typically dot the underside of leaves; their tell-tale sign is great webbing on the plant. Mealybugs have a white, cottony, or waxy look. Insecticidal soaps and neem oil can eliminate these insect invasions.
Fungal problems normally take them out when succulents fall victim to diseases. Cold or wet conditions or overwatering are typically to blame, triggering rot. Rotten tissues turn red, brown, or black and normally turn soggy, slimy, and odor bad. You will need to restructure your watering regimen, reducing the amount or frequency.
To deal with the rot, remove the plant from its pot, clean the roots completely, and cut away dead roots. Permit the plant to air for 24 hours and repot it in a brand-new or sanitized pot with fresh soil. Give the plant a fungicidal soil treatment according to the bundle directions.
How To Make Your Echeveria Bloom – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
An echeveria will not flower up until it’s developed for at least 4 seasons. When it makes its ornate flower stalks, it’s normally in the spring or summer.
Fertilizer can help echeveria flower. Utilize a thin, diluted high-phosphorus formula for blooming, like a 5– 10– 5 ratio fertilizer (or perhaps 10-15-10). Apply it monthly from April up until September.
Leggy or spindly echeveria normally won’t produce flowers; low light is usually the cause. Guarantee it has well-draining soil since soggy feet kills flower production and, ultimately, the plant.
Echeveria’s Most Common Problems – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
The majority of Echeveria species are not made complex succulents to grow. Just like all succulents, careful watering routines and offering plenty of light will assist to ensure success.
Discolored Or Soft Growth – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Browning or blackening of leaves or parts of the plant or mushiness is generally brought on by excessive humidity or overwatering. Stem rot disease triggers soft, mushy stems. If stem rot has actually established, your plant has a fungal infection. Fungal infections are usually fatal, however you can attempt to save the plant by unpotting it, removing rotted roots, stems, and leaves, airing it out, and repotting it in fresh soil with a fungicide application.
Yellowing, Wilting, or Leaf Drop – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
Overwatering will cause leaves to appear bleached. Bugs can trigger plants to lose vigor and eliminate a plant if left unattended.
Limp, Shriveling Leaves – Tips For Keeping Your Echeveria Succulent Happy
If echeveria leaves begin to shrivel or wrinkle, it is likely lacking water. The plant will begin to look wilted and droopy. Leaves will lose their plump, firm feeling. You might even observe dried-up, brown, dead leaves toward the bottom of the plant. Most succulents can get better after a comprehensive watering.
