I have some seriously abused and neglected succulents that doesn't a few winters in a dark dungeon as well as getting mangled by raccoons running over them. I want to repot. I'll post pics of a few and questions. I'll start with the first here...







So that's a 2" pot I think. It's all dead save some tiny signs of life. If like to tease them back to the living world. How would you go about this one? Do I cut off each tiny one and plant it try to do them all together?

All the tag says on this one is Kalanchoe. I guess I should be grateful for that. I've seen plants at Lowes with tags identifying plant specimens as " green plant", "potted plant", and "miscellaneous plant". Anyway, it has seen better days. Can I just clip the ends and plant each end with a small amount of stem?

Meet Kalanchoe 'Flapjacks'. This one was a rescue which suffered a couple of years of insults before posing for the picture you see here. Cut off the top and plant part of the stem? Can the rest of the stem be described and used to make more?

These plants are all Gasteria 'Little Warty' in 2" pots. I got them last year. OK to repot? I'd like to expand them. The larger plant was in spike when I bought it and hummingbirds were interested in the flowers which made me even more interested in them. My goal would be to expand this population just because I like them as well as for the birds.

Repot the smaller ones in bigger pots?

For the aggregated larger one? Leave as is or try to break apart?

NOID

Can the stem be planted under the surface of the soil? If not, how to repot? It can't stand up otherwise.

I will try to go in order through all the plants.

1. If this was my plant, I would give up. I don't think it's doing very well and it definitely would not benefit from lots of handling/root damage in my opinion. It is not xPachyveria glauca, based on the image. That is a bluish green plant with waxy powder on the leaves.

2. Yes, you can just cut the tips and plant them to start new plants. Take the opportunity to prune the mother plant back. It looks like there's at least one really good looking stem at 5 o'clock in the picture. Leave that one in there, it may fill out from there.

3. You can also cut the top off this one and plant it to start a new plant. Leave about half an inch of naked stem below the rosette, not more. Give the cut piece a week in bright shade to heal first before you put it on soil, and wait a week after that to water for the first time. The mother plant may branch below the cut but I would remove most of the stem and allow the existing branch at the very bottom to take over. You may see more branches later anyway. This plant will do better (and grow more compact) given stronger light.

4. The Little Warties can be moved to 4-5 inch pots at this time. They look good. I would not separate anybody until they get bigger (and the offset gets bigger, so it has a better start once you do separate).

5. You are going to have to restart the last plant from short-stemmed cuttings if you want to keep it. Burying that much stem would be an invitation to rot. Not that it's guaranteed to happen, but there's a real risk. And in the end it looks leggy, probably would get a better start if you removed most of that stem. Keep about half an inch of naked stem below the lowest leaf.

BTW, I neglected to upload a picture of the larger Gasteria 'Little Warty' cluster I have. It was moved en masse to a slightly larger pot, but that's it... It hasn't been split up or anything other than that.

Just wanted to share one of my personal essential tools for repotting smaller cacti. Pardon the watermark... this is not my photo.


I find this style of tongs incredibly useful when repotting smaller cacti, especially those with longer spines that can be tricky to work with through other means. The shape of the tongs easily gets close to the plant body without damaging the spines. Once the plant is loosened, I'll use them to carefully lift them out of their old pots, as well as to hold the plant steady while filling around it in the new pot.

I need to follow this particular thread because I put succulents in a pot I cannot bring inside this winter. I shall have to move them, and put semps in that pot because they like winter.

Does anyone have suggestions on potting up bareroot plants (ordered online)?

Back east they were potted in pure grit inside and would grow roots. But they'll be outdoors now in 11a California, and I don't think pure grit would hold enough water for long. But I'm worried having organics or compost in my mix would rot a bareroot plant?

Do the inbound plants have roots? If they do, just pot them up in an appropriately sized pot (not overly large at the start, judging by the size of above ground and especially below ground parts) with your usual gritty mix, 50% pumice or whatever. Wait a few days to a week to water, depending on how much damage you think the roots may have endured. Definitely don't water right away, ever. Then water at the usual interval from there on out, aiming for the soil to go mostly dry in between each time. Keep newly arrived plants in a place where you can monitor their status. Give them protection from direct overhead sun at this time of year. If they are root deficient, you might adjust the watering schedule to allow them twice as long in between watering at the beginning, just to avoid wet feet on newly arrived roots.

I have received dozens if not hundreds of succulents bare root and it is actually a very reliable way to transport almost all of them if it's done right. That is, starting with decent roots and not brutalizing them too much in the process. There is a real advantage in you deciding what kind of mix to use from the very start. And it's probably also helpful to see the roots up close, just so you know what's happening down there, rather than having to guess based on above-ground features.

UrbanWild said: BTW, I neglected to upload a picture of the larger Gasteria 'Little Warty' cluster I have. It was moved en masse to a slightly larger pot, but that's it... It hasn't been split up or anything other than that.

Looks okay to me. As long as the container has drain holes, it should be just fine. Wait a few days before you water thoroughly. Position it for a few days in some shade.

When I repotted my similar gasteria, I also did not separate them, since I like growing a big specimen cluster.

UrbanWild said: NOID

Can the stem be planted under the surface of the soil? If not, how to repot? It can't stand up otherwise.

Unrooted cuttings like this still has a chance but requires utmost patience. Two ways you can handle it: 1) cut off the rosettes, callus them and then stick in soil. It will be a long, and slow wait. It is actually good to see as you cut off the rosette if the remaining stem still shows some fresh green inside. The stem that is left may still be viable..I would just stick it in soil and wait. Maybe it will perk up in Fall, and show new leaf growth below cut off point. Position them in shade for now. You can actually spritz them lightly.

Or 2) keep all intact, and just stick that stem in soil. Position in shade..and wait. You may lightly spritz the entire stem. Sometimes, it may perk up the rosette again...or may encourage small side growths. Stem seems long enough and does not show any soggy parts so there is enough energy there. So just keep it by a warm, shade area.

Thanks for the tips Baja! I am not sure how many roots they will have but advice sounds good. I know that in the past. I got plants with basically no roots, just the head. I was able to get roots growing for those in pure grit mix....but never tried it with anything else added. Will give it a go outdoor in shade with some barks or compost added to the grit.

BrendanCS said: Thanks for the tips Baja! I am not sure how many roots they will have but advice sounds good. I know that in the past. I got plants with basically no roots, just the head. I was able to get roots growing for those in pure grit mix....but never tried it with anything else added. Will give it a go outdoor in shade with some barks or compost added to the grit.

All my cactus succulents are purchased online, most of them will arrive with dried roots. I treat them exactly the same as what Baja has recommended, with slightly modification, which is:
- no direct sunlight at all in the first 1 week, then gradually introduce them to the sun
- I start the first watering at the 4th day, but not real watering, I just use a hand spray to spray some water on the plant plus media, very light watering, maybe 1/20 of the normal watering volume, but almost everyday or every 2 days depends on the weather, after I am convinced that the plant is ok, then normal watering as other succulents.
- Not sure if this product available there ( Liquinox Start B1 ), every plant lover in this part of the world believe that this vitamin is the best used to release the stress of the plants during replanting, I started to use this for 2 months, and it looks like this can make the plant freshen-up faster. I lightly spray this to the whole plant when the plant just arrive ( only the leaves and stem, not on the roots as I am worried that the roots will rot), Dose: 1 drop per 5ml of water, this 5ml is enough to spray maybe 10 plants.

Thanks Kaktus. I will look up the b-1. I feel like I've read about it before to help stressed plants.

A few of these will be coming from overseas, so they'll have little to no roots which has been case in the past. Back then I would lightly water them until they showed new growth and keep them out of direct light. But that was in 100% grit, so worried less about fungal/rot problems.

Not sure if watering will be safe at all in my mix here which will have a little organic mixed in.

Baja...I found this for a decent price at my local nursery. Would this be similar to what you use with your pumice/coir combo?

I'm so used to in ground gardening back east and looking for super rich composts for my garden beds at my previous house. Apologies for sounding confused with the mix for my new location, hopefully this bagged compost will work with pumice/coir. Thanks for any thoughts-

https://kellogggarden.com/prod...

Sure, why not. I don't know what it looks like inside (hopefully not terribly fine in texture) and the packaging says nothing about what's in there, but I doubt that really matters a whole lot.

Great thanks. The bag at the store said: "green waste compost. in OR, WA, ID this product contains bark fines, composted dairy manure, composted chicken manure, and seabird guano".

Will mix that up with a bunch of perlite and coir if I can find that.

Baja_Costero said: I will try to go in order through all the plants.

1. If this was my plant, I would give up. I don't think it's doing very well and it definitely would not benefit from lots of handling/root damage in my opinion. It is not xPachyveria glauca, based on the image. That is a bluish green plant with waxy powder on the leaves.

2. Yes, you can just cut the tips and plant them to start new plants. Take the opportunity to prune the mother plant back. It looks like there's at least one really good looking stem at 5 o'clock in the picture. Leave that one in there, it may fill out from there.

3. You can also cut the top off this one and plant it to start a new plant. Leave about half an inch of naked stem below the rosette, not more. Give the cut piece a week in bright shade to heal first before you put it on soil, and wait a week after that to water for the first time. The mother plant may branch below the cut but I would remove most of the stem and allow the existing branch at the very bottom to take over. You may see more branches later anyway. This plant will do better (and grow more compact) given stronger light.

4. The Little Warties can be moved to 4-5 inch pots at this time. They look good. I would not separate anybody until they get bigger (and the offset gets bigger, so it has a better start once you do separate).

5. You are going to have to restart the last plant from short-stemmed cuttings if you want to keep it. Burying that much stem would be an invitation to rot. Not that it's guaranteed to happen, but there's a real risk. And in the end it looks leggy, probably would get a better start if you removed most of that stem. Keep about half an inch of naked stem below the lowest leaf.

Very useful info for me. I'm trying to read first and ask questions as needed. You recommended repotting the Little Warties into 4-5 inch pots. I ID'd mine as best I could as Gasteria Maculata. Am I right? It is currently in a 8,5 cm./3 and a quarter inch pot, but it has four offsets growing nicely, plus a small fifth one that fell off during the first repotting that I propped up between a couple of stones in case it could grow its own roots and it hasn't died yet. I think it needs some more space/food, but I really don't want to lose any of them. Should I wait a while longer to repot? Thanks.