I bought 3 different cactus plants that were all "outlined" in red. One is a jade, one is a hen and chicks type, and the other I don't know (ech???). All have lost the red outline. They sit about 10-12 inches under a plant light. I just lowered the light a couple days ago. Anybody know if this is a seasonal thing, or is the light just not strong enough? What brings out the red outline?

Thank you in advance,
Leda

You may want to ask in the Cactus and Tender succulents forum. I'm sure someone over there will know

Leda, would love to see photo's of your cacti/succulents. Sometimes more sunlight brings out the red. I had a jade that was totally green until I moved it to direct sun where the leaf edges turned a pretty red shade. Check out some of these photo's to see what I mean: Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)

Hi Lin,
Here they are. There are two more in the Violet room but those need repotting. I have got to brush up on my Latin names again! (Naturally, I knocked over a plant just before I took these pictures so pardon the dirt and the clutter.) Every thing in this clutter mess has so much meaning to me, someday maybe we will go to the sandbox and talk about it... (not the scissors or the glasses)

Lin, thank you for the pictures. Yes, my Jade looked like the one SongofJoy had.

I did lower the light about 6 inches so will wait a couple of weeks then I might try new bulbs. This is one of the AeroGarden units that I had salad greens planted in it at first. I do not run it with the water now. I prefer to use it as a plant lamp.

Leda

Oh, lovely, lovely!

The one on the far right may be a variety of Echeverias (Echeveria) or Sempervivum I love those pretty purply succulents too, I've seen them in garden centers before but don't know the name.

The one on the right does look like an echeveria. The ones on the left look like Black Rose (Aeonium arboreum 'Zwartkop')

Deebie: I agree, Aeonium! I knew I'd seen them before but had no idea what the name was. They sure are pretty!

Usually the red is from high light conditions, so my guess is to see if it comes back now that you've lowered the lights closer to them. Variegated Wandering Jew does the same thing-in low light it's mostly green, but in high light it gets dark red/purple in its leaves.

Leda, far right plant looks to be a Echeveria agavoides, possibly a "Red Edge" or other variant depending on look of the width of the head and narrowness of leaf?
My plant has been outside in nite temps of upper 30's and has its red outline on both heads right now and am wondering whether temps have effect on the outline coloring...???

https://www.google.com/search?...

webesemps said:My plant has been outside in nite temps of upper 30's and has its red outline on both heads right now and am wondering whether temps have effect on the outline coloring?

Bev, I hadn't even thought about that but I bet cooler temp's could have something to do with the red coloration as well as higher light.

Bev, thank you for those beautiful pictures! I really enjoyed looking at them! You wonderful folks are opening up a new world for me! My echeveria has leaves at the bottom that are red and sparkle. My iPad camera just does not show it very well unless you enlarge it.

Thank you everyone for your comments.
Leda

My succulents outdoors usually get their red edging when they get cold stressed.

Yes Debbie, they are Aeoniums. They came as a set of four from the grower. I had seen the larger one in a picture online from another grower and was being sold I believe as "Black Olive Bush or Tree (?)." I have a variegated one and a green one that I pulled out off the shelves today loaded with Mealy Bugs. The green one was very stressed because it needed repotting so badly. (My bad, send me to the litter box. ) The variegated one had a few mealy bugs. I washed them both and sprayed them with an indoor spray that is safe for man and beast. I separated them from the African Violets and I hope they have not acquired the mealy bugs too. I will be checking every crevice of every plant for quite awhile I am afraid. Sigh!

Thank you for your comments,
Leda

Cherokeealex,
First of all I am a dog lover and I love your dog and all dogs for that matter. Is that a Collie, a Sheltie, or an Aussie?

Thank you for explaining the Wandering Jew to me. I never thought light was the key, just thought they were different varieties. I hope lowering the light does it for the succulents. If not, then I will replace the bulbs as the manufacturer said to replace them every 6 months and it has been a whole lot longer than that.

Thank you for your input,
Leda

Leda: A good solution for mealies is also Isopropyl Alcohol (common rubbing alcohol). For minor infestations of just a few you can dip q-tips in the alcohol and dab those white mealies. For larger infestations I put the alcohol in a spray bottle and spray the entire plant. Alcohol does not hurt the plant, it will evaporate quickly but it sure does get rid of mealy bugs!

Fantastic, thank you. This was not mild, so I expect to be watching them for awhile. Will alcohol be okay on the violets?

I'm not sure about the AV's ... I grew them once but never had a problem with mealies on them. I know they don't like their leaves wet and even though alcohol evaporates quickly I don't know if it's recommended for Violets. Maybe you could remove one leaf and coat it with the alcohol and see what happens. If you were to dab just the stems and crevices I doubt there would be a problem but I'm just not sure how it would affect the leaves.

AVs do get mealy bugs but it is two specific types. Maybe they are species specific, I hope. One of them is in the roots, oh, there is so much to learn!!!!! Thanks Lin.

Lin, before the weekend I was getting sound notifications on any message that came up on here. Now I am not. Do you have any ideas of why and how I can get my sound notifictations back?

Sound notifications? I'm not sure what that is .. but I am old and not "with it" when it comes to electronics and technology. My husband's Ipad makes a little sound whenever he receives e-mail so I'm assuming it's something in the settings but I don't have a clue how it works. I bet someone else will pop in with an answer soon.