Echeveria pulidonis Propagation Update 9 Months

It's been about 9 months (36 weeks) since I pulled a leaf off my Echeveria pulidonis succulent on January 2, 2015. I've been posting a few updates since then following the progress with photos. I wanted to post this update to show the latest progress! I also noticed my babies look very different from the mommy plant, and I think it has to do with the amount of sunlight they get.

Echeveria pulidonis - Propagation 9 months

The mommy plant sits on the lower shelf of a window table and doesn't get as much sunlight, that probably explains the longer leggy leaves and lack of red tips

Compare the mommy plant to the baby - pretty easy to see the difference! I don't know if I would think this was the same plant if I didn't know it was a leaf propagation. It's technically the same exact plant, same genes!

The parent plant sits in a succulent pot on the lower shelf of a window table and gets less sun than my windowsill babies

Echeveria pulidonis Propagation After 14 Weeks

I'm not going to post all the photos over again, but you might remember I'm propagating Echeveria pulidonis in a ramekin on my windowsill. It's been a very slow process, slower than I imagined when I saw other blog posts of succulent propagation. They are nonetheless adorable and growing a lot quicker now that they have 'leaves' of their own and more roots.

Echeveria pulidonis propagation from leaf after 14 weeks

Take a look back at the first 8 weeks in these progress photos. I decided that these babies are big enough for their own tiny adorable terra cotta pots from Walmart (only 32¢ each). 

Echeveria pulidonis - a rare look at the delicate roots between pots

14 week Echeveria pulidonis in a tiny terra cotta pot

Cute succulent babies!

New tiny terra cotta pots in the window

Faucaria tigrina Tiger Jaws Succulent

I spotted this cool and kinda creepy succulent in Lowe's, I have never seen it before. It's called Tiger Jaws [Faucaria tigrina] and looks like little monster mouths opening. A tiger isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I see this, I would say it's more of a shark mouth, or an alien, or a dinosaur. It might make an interesting addition to a carnivore garden even though it's not actually a carnivorous plant. It just looks mean!

Faucaria tigrina - Tiger Jaws succulent

Cryptanthus bivittatus Turning Red

I re-potted my Cryptanthus bivittatus into a ramekin on the windowsill in fresh brand new succulent mix potting soil and covered the top with quartz chips. Shortly thereafter, I noticed the Cryptanthus bivittatus turning pinkish. Now I've seen pink varieties in the store, so I thought - maybe it's supposed to be pink and it's happy to have new soil?



As they weeks go by, the Cryptanthus bivittatus is turning redder and redder. It's a dark maroon red now, and my denial is fading. I'm pretty sure I over-watered the little sucker. The quartz chips not only make it harder to see when the soil is dry, but it holds the moisture in longer as well. I think I flooded it out, and it's basically sitting there half dead and bright red. I'll let it go a bit longer, because actually it's quite striking, but I'm not very optimistic.

Cryptanthus bivittatus - Thursday, March 19, 2015

The 'before' photo - February 22, 2015

Succulents at the 2015 Indiana Flower and Patio Show

I took too many photos to put in one post, so I'll split them up by posting just my succulent photos in this one. Plenty of succulents to be seen at the 2015 Indiana Garden Show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, officially called the Indiana Flower and Patio Show (57th annual).



The succulents were gorgeous, and many were mixed into the surrounding landscapes - so I got to pretend I live in a climate that supports perennial succulents hardy over winter. Unfortunately, not all the succulents had names. A lot, in fact, were lumped into "various succulent" displays and sale shelves.

Cordyline australis 'Red Sensation' also called Cabbage Palm (Zone 7b)

Aloe humilis 'Hedgehog' also called Spider Aloe (Zone 9b)

Musa acuminate 'Sumatrana Zebrina' also called Blood Banana hanging out among the tulips

Above, I'm not sure what this tiny succulent ground cover is called, but it's by Proven Winners. Maybe I can find it on their website somehow. From Google searches it looks most like Sedum ‘De Oro’, gold moss stonecrop.

Yellow Stonecrop, Sedum acre 'Aureum'

Windowsill Succulents Changing Colors

I noticed my windowsill succulents changing color - and in these bleak snowy times I have the luxury of over-analyzing the smallest change in my house plants. So let's take a closer look at these color changes and try to figure out what's going on.



First up, my Echeveria pulidonis (a popular blog post topic these days) is not only getting bigger, but the parent leaf is starting to turn yellow. Presumably, the nutrients in this mommy leaf are about used up, and the new baby succulent has developed underground roots of its own. It really seems to be speeding up in growth these past couple weeks. My only question is why the other leaves aren't turning yellow yet since they were all plucked around the same time.

The mommy leaf is yellowing and shrinking, and the growth of the baby succulent has sped up

Echeveria pulidonis parent leaf turning yellow

Next, check out what is happening to my Cryptanthus bivittatus on the windowsill. The leaves are turning pink in some spots. While I have seen varieties of Cryptanthus bivittatus that are pink intentionally, I think this might be attributed to over-watering and possibly triggered by the fact that more direct sunlight is coming in. If you look closely, the only spots that are pink are the ones that are getting direct sun - so maybe that's the answer. I'm going to hold off watering for a week and see if there's a change.

Check out the before and after, notice the pink on the leaves. But also, see below, the pink seems to be in the exact spots that get direct sunbeams in the morning.

Cryptanthus bivittatus turning pink in the sun, possibly aggravated by overwatering

Echeveria pulidonis Propagation Week 8

Echeveria pulidonis after 8 weeks, and 'Baby Jade' [Crassula argentea] after 24 days

This is my photo update for Echeveria pulidonis propagation. Tomorrow it will be 8 weeks since I carefully plucked leaves off this succulent and placed them on top of the soil. To simplify, here are photos from the 8 week progress so far, but I also have blog posts at Week 3, Week 4, and Week 6 if you want to get more in-depth.



When I re-potted the babies last week, I noticed they had single longer white roots below the soil. I didn't want to up-root them just for a photo - so perhaps more is going on underground. On top, the 'leaves' are getting fuller and larger ever so slowly. They are taking a loooong time!

Flashback: Week 0

Flashback: Week 3

Flashback: Week 4

Flashback: Week 6

Echeveria pulidonis after 8 weeks!

Baby Jade [Crassula argentea] after 24 days

Aeonium haworthii or Echeveria pulidonis?

I was in Lowe's just now and saw a succulent that looked just like one of mine that came in a 'various' mixed potting. After hours of scouring the internet for photos trying to identify the succulents, nothing beats seeing another one in the store with a name tag!



This one has little baby shoots coming up the sides even though it is so small, but the leaf shape and texture is unmistakable. Not to mention that it's probably from the same supplier in the same location, my chances of having a match are much better than just surfing the net looking for Google images that look similar. 

A name tag really helps when I'm trying to be as pedantic as possible

Ok, so what I thought was Aeonium haworthii all along looks like was really Echeveria pulidonis - a completely different genus. Oh geez, I was way off!

Comparing side by side it's easy to see how I could have been mistaken. Both have bluish green long succulent leaves with pink reddish tips. Photo on the left is mine, photo on the right from GreenMeadowGrowers.com used for comparison.

Echeveria is a genus originating from Central America and Mexico - which makes a lot of sense since the mixed succulent pot I got was made in Mexico. Aeonium, on the other hand, is a genus originating in East Africa.

Now I have to go back and re-label all the posts I had incorrect, luckily there are only 4 of them so far. Ugh!

Baby Succulents with iPhone Macro Lens

Check out these macro photos of my baby succulents. I got up close and personal for super detailed shots using just my iPhone 6 and these inexpensive clip on lenses. The kit comes with a macro lens and two fish eye lenses. They're surprisingly good quality considering how cheap they are!



My Aeonium haworthii Echeveria pulidonis after 6 weeks are still very tiny, but with many more leaves and roots than before. Flashback to Week 3 and Week 4.They're growing quite slow, but filling in a little more and more each day. Most of the roots are pointing toward the soil and might be growing more underneath.

A tiny Aeonium haworthii Echeveria pulidonis - 6 weeks old

This Aeonium haworthii Echeveria pulidonis baby already has pink tips on the leaves just like the parent plant

A detail I didn't notice before, the tiny red tip to the emerging root on this Crassula argentea

What ZZ Plant New Growth Looks Like

I gotta say, this ZZ Plant [Zamioculcas zamiifolia] has been a complete joy since I bought it on sale at Lowe's. It looks lush and glossy, and thrives on neglect. The one in my bathroom has already sent up a shoot of new growth, a tiny spear of leaves that unfurls into a new long stem of lighter green leaves.



It starts with a tiny spear head that peaks out of the succulent bulby base. One of these spear heads has been there for a while - it's as if they get set and ready to go but wait for optimal conditions to shoot off, and then once then do there's no going back.

Little spear tips wrapped in brown sheaths ready to take off. Once they do it's sort of all or nothing.

A new shoot starts, and once it does it really takes off quickly! It explodes with new lighter green growth.

This new stem shot straight up in the bathroom with weekly watering and humidity from the shower.

This new stem has 13 leaves compared to 8 on the next longest stem. I bet each new stem gets more and more leaves until before you know it you have a monster house plant.

Crassula argentea 10 Day Propagation Progress

I got this 'Baby Jade' [Crassula argentea] back in January, but it wasn't until 10 days ago that I decided to try making Jade babies through leaf propagation. I pulled off a couple tiny leaves that wouldn't be missed.

Jade succulent plant [Crassula argentea] leaf babies after zero days, February 5, 2015

10 days later, one of my Jade leaves is sprouting a little white root

I have high hopes for the larger Jade leaf that I plucked off, because I used a very careful wiggle method - rocking it back and forth slowly - to make sure I got the entire base of the leaf. Some websites even suggest cutting with a knife a tiny portion of the stem in addition to the leaf to make sure you get the entire regenerative tissue at the base of the leaf.

The parent plant is doing fine as well, I didn't re-pot it yet but I did hide the brown plastic pot it came in inside a coffee mug I don't use anymore. Of course I'd like to have a nice set of matching white ceramic succulent pots on my windowsill, but for now it's coffee mugs and ramekins.

Checking In: Succulent Propagation Week 4

We're really cookin now! After a solid month since I pulled the leaves off the Aeonium haworthii Echeveria pulidonis plant, progress is speeding up - roots are shooting out - and I believe I'm seeing multiple baby plants not just one on the tip here.



See also, my previous post for the first few weeks: Succulent Propagation Week 3

Baby succulents emerging after 4 weeks