Echeveria

A relative of the money tree and all cacti, echeveria, or echeveria (Echeveria) does not look like them at all. The plant is not just called a stone rose, but for the similarity of a dense rosette of fleshy dense leaves with a real rose. And gardeners will probably say that echeveria resembles young, a popular succulent for solar rock gardens and rockeries.

Rounded, pointed or with a wavy edge, the “petals” of echeveria can be covered with a matte wax coating. But there are smooth, moderately shiny and slightly pubescent. Moreover, their shades can be very different – from green and blue to purple, pink, almost white. Along with uniformly colored plants, there are also variegated ones.

The diameter of the rosettes of adult specimens of echeveria is 5 – 30 cm. Healthy plants look great. Although flowering against this background will surprise. Or maybe disappoint, as it is quite modest. A thin or fleshy peduncle with several bell-shaped flowers can be called an ornament with a big stretch. Rather, the flowering of “stone roses” can be considered a fun addition.

Types of echeveria

There are more than a hundred species of echeveria, but indoor plant lovers have a much greater chance of acquiring hybrid forms. And quite often they do not stop at one variety, collecting entire collections of these charming succulents (1).

Echeveria agave (Echeveria agavoides). Her homeland is Mexico. The rosette of leaves is dense, silver-green in color, reaches a height of 15 cm.

Echeveria white-haired (Echeveria leucotricha). She is also a native of Mexico. Plant height – 15 – 20 cm. The rosette is loose, the leaves are green, with white pubescence, which makes them appear silvery. And on their top – a brown speck.

Echeveria cushion (Echeveria pulvinata). Its leaves are pleasant green, velvety, with red tips. Plant height is about 40 cm.

Echeveria crimson (Echeveria coccinea). Her leaves are grassy green with burgundy edges closer to the tip. They are covered with pile and soft to the touch. Plant height – up to 70 cm.

EcheveriaIt’s hot (Echeveria harmsii). This beauty is from Mexico. Her leaves are green, with delicate pubescence, closer to the tip – with a red border.

Echeveria Desmet (Echeveria desmetiana). Its leaves are pale blue. The shoots of this species are long, as they grow, they hang over the edges of the pot and the plant becomes ampelous. This echeveria is also shade tolerant and can tolerate excessive watering.

Echeveria graceful (Echeveria elegans). Her leaves are light blue in color, with a wax coating, collected in a dense rosette. Plant height – up to 50 cm.

Echeveria Lau (Echeveria laui). This species was found recently – it was discovered in Mexico in 1976. Her leaves are juicy, white-blue. The rosette is dense, it can be up to 20 cm in diameter. And it also has large showy salmon-colored flowers.

Echeveria multistalked (Echeveria multicaulis). The name of this species reflects its essence – the plant branches strongly. The leaves are dark green with a red edge. Sockets are loose. Height – about 20 cm.

Echeveria nodosa (Echeveria nodulosa). She has a very unusual color of the leaves – they are green on the upper side, with picturesque burgundy stains, and red on the inside. Plant height is about 50 cm.

Echeveria Shaw (Echeveria shaviana). Very showy with blue curly leaves. The stem is shortened. The socket is tight.

Echeveria bristly (Echeveria setosa). Another unusual species is that its leaves are green, but covered with numerous white hairs, which makes it look like the plant is covered with frost. The socket is tight. Height – about 10 cm.

Echeveria imbricate (Echeveria x imbricata). Her sockets are loose, but with a large number of green leaves collected in the form of a thicket. The tips of the leaves are yellow-pink in color.

Echeveria care at home

Echeveria are succulents. They grow in dry places and store moisture in fleshy leaves. This leaves an imprint on their care.

Ground

The easiest way to provide Echeveria with suitable water and breathable soil is to buy a mixture for cacti and succulents and mix it with a small amount of soil for ordinary houseplants. Sometimes perlite and crushed coal are added there.

Experienced flower growers recommend that any soil, including for succulent plants, be steamed before use. For example, to destroy nematodes.

It is believed that echeverias are suitable for growing in hydroponic culture, without the use of soil, only on artificial substrates. In this case, the plant receives nutrition only from the solution, which is fed to the roots with a certain frequency (2).

Lighting

Echeveria is photophilous, so northern windows do not suit her. The optimal orientation is south, southeast, southwest. In summer, you can take it outside, but keep it under a roof (protection from rain). Keep in mind that the plant, even if it comes from hot places, will have to be accustomed to direct sunlight gradually, otherwise burns and loss of decorative effect are inevitable.

Take note that recently echeverias are often sold “embellished”, with paint sprayed onto the sockets. They abuse the imitation of snow, they also tint it with pink, lilac, turquoise, even metallic shades! It may look attractive (tastes differ), but the dye layer eventually leads to the death of the plant. Including due to reduced insolation. So echeverias, like other colored succulents, are “disposable” plants, like, for example, a bouquet of carnations or chrysanthemums.

Humidity

Echeveria is considered an unpretentious plant, but occasional watering quickly leads to problems. Water must pass through the earthen ball and go into the pan, from where it is immediately drained. Prolonged waterlogging and watering for future use are unacceptable. Let the soil dry well between waterings.

From mid-April to August, the plant is watered more often, avoiding dryness in the pot for more than a few days, especially on the southern windowsills. In other months, watering is greatly reduced, up to 1 time in 2 – 3 weeks. Some determine whether it is time to water by the loss of leaf turgor. While they are juicy and thick, watering is not needed. But as soon as the soil dries out, the leaves of echeveria begin to wrinkle. So it’s time to water.

Echeveria, like all plants of arid places, are not demanding on air humidity; dryness definitely does not harm them. But excessively humid atmosphere and stagnant air can provoke rot. In addition, spraying plants that are located nearby often leads to the fact that ugly streaks remain on the leaves of the succulent. Particularly capricious in this regard are echeveria with a bluish bloom on the foliage. Even from light “dew” they easily rot. So on the same windowsill with echeveria there is no place for ferns, arrowroot, cyperus and other representatives of moisture-loving flora.

fertilizers

Echeverias are suitable for fertilizing with ordinary fertilizer for indoor plants – once a month from the beginning of spring to the end of summer. But the dosage is recommended to be reduced by 1 – 1,5 times. It is easier to use fertilizer for cacti, where the active ingredients are in a concentration more suitable for echeveria.

Feeding

If echeverias are planted in a substrate without soil, the basis of which is an inert material (pebbles, coarse-grained sand), the main fertilization can occasionally be alternated with top dressing during the period of active growth. The main fertilizer in a smaller dose is also suitable, as well as another remedy for succulents.

Reproduction of echeveria at home

Cuttings. Vegetative propagation is possible by stem and leaf cuttings, as well as by branching side rosettes. Fresh wounds need to be dried before planting in the ground, holding in the air until landing in special soil for at least a few hours, or even a couple of days. Under no circumstances should they be placed in water!

The soil is taken light, the lower cut is deepened to a minimum. Some collectors prefer to propagate echeveria without dropping them even a little, but leaving them on top, until the roots and rudiments of young rosettes appear. And only then they plant.

Seeds. The second method of reproduction is seed. Amateurs rarely resort to it – because of the complexity. Seeds quickly lose their germination, and seedlings in the early stages are very capricious.

Echeveria transplant at home

If the plant feels comfortable in the planting container and obviously will not soon outgrow the allotted volume of soil, it is better to wait a while with the transplant. In any case, disturbing the root system with frequent transplants is undesirable. Transshipment is preferable while maintaining a clod around the roots (3).

If you still choose a new pot, give preference to a shallow one, since Echeveria has a superficial root system.

A quick transplant may be needed for a young, fast-growing plant. Or echeveria, which was planted in an overly large container, “for growth”, and the substrate does not dry out there for a very long time. In this case, a smaller pot is chosen, and the soil is made more permeable so that water does not linger there. Drainage at the bottom is a must.

After transplantation, as well as shortly before it, echeveria is not watered.

Compositions of several different echeverias and other succulents with similar growing conditions look interesting. To do this, use low, but wide containers. As a decor, several beautiful stones of the same breed or a beautiful root peeled and bleached by the sun will come in handy.

Echeveria diseases

Problems with the root system for echeveria are the most typical. More often they appear in early spring after wintering in moist soil (this is a mistake) on a cold windowsill (temperature below room temperature is normal). Sometimes the plant has to be saved by propagating by cuttings. To prevent root rot, Glyocladin or Alirin-B can be added to the soil (4).

In the spring, sunburn is possible, so the owners of valuable collections of succulents shade their plants with gauze for a while.

Echeveria pests

Mealybug, spider mite, nematodes, scale insects – echeverias have the same pests as many other indoor crops. This means that if folk remedies do not help, you have to fight the invasion with the help of proven drugs: Aktara, Fufanon, Akarin (4), etc.

Popular questions and answers

Answered questions about growing echeveria agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mihailova.

Sources of

1. Semenov D.V. Cacti and other succulents at home and in the garden // CJSC Fiton +, 2001 – 256 p.
2. Helmut Yantra. Indoor plants (Ornamental plants in the house) // Falken Verlag GmbH, 1990, Vneshsigma Publishing House, 2000 – 128 p.
3. Gapon V.N., Shchelkunova N.V. True and false about cacti // AST Astrel, Moscow 2001 – 160 p.
4. State catalog of pesticides and agrochemicals permitted for use on the territory of the Federation as of July 6, 2021 // Ministry of Agriculture of the Federation

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